Customer Reviews

You Are Here

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

what fun!

when i first found this book, and began flipping through the pages with a friend- i saw the blood and the naked women, and began to think i'd gotten the wrong book. it appeared so violent and gang-bangish. i was WRONG.

once i began to read the story of the bambi-eyed nature lover, and her conning boyfriend who really just wants to erase the past and begin fresh (with a zillion obstacles thrown in his path), i was delighted!

the blood and naked women are still there (and that bit all depends on your opinions of violence, etc.), but the story is infused with such warmth, humor and fun, i was able to disregard the violence. but be warned, this graphic novel is not for kids, mature readers only!

for all of you mature readers :)- look forward to a delightful tale. the price is steep for a book you can read in less than an hour, so i recommend borrowing it from a friend, or the library (like i did).

enjoy!

I'm a big fan of Kyle Baker, having already read "Cowboy Wally" and "Why I Hate Saturn", so I had high expectations when I got this book for Christmas. They were met and exceeded. Great art and great story. The first few pages pulled me in immediately, and the last few left me thinking about it for days. I particularly liked how he presented three people all arguing in different languages. Check out "I Die at Midnight" too.

Kyle Baker is a remarkable artist and this third book is probably his best (although he was hard-pressed to beat "Cowboy Wally"). The graphic interpretation of emotions does not go overboard, while at the same time conveying a perfect balance to the text. Great story, beautiful artwork, Kyle Baker in true form!

Hint: Amazon.com needs to load the cover of this book so people can get a sense of Baker's phenomenal art. "You Are Here" tells the story of an artist from the city who finds the woman of his dreams in idyllic upstate New York. They have little in common except love, and she knows nothing about his shady past... He goes back to NYC to sell his apartment so he can move to the country permanently and is distressed when his fiance shows up to surprise him. What happens after that in "You Are Here" is both comic and tragic. The art is gorgeous; the colors are unbelievably rich and seem to be very well-reproduced. I can't wait to get his other books, "The Cowboy Wally Show" and "Why I Hate Saturn."

Another great graphic novel (okay, a big, expensive comic book) from one of the premier talents in the biz, Kyle Baker. This may well be the best Baker has come up with yet, certainly outstripping the uneven charms and obscure plotting of "Why I Hate Saturn." In this one, Baker has drawn "cells" from an imaginary animated movie that's fresher and more thrilling than almost anything Hollywood's done in years. These are brilliant storyboards for a movie that cries out to be filmed, a film noir (despite its brilliant colors) that combines romance, action, comedy and violence in startling, artful and thoroughly satisfying ways.

I'm a big Kyle Baker fan. Why I hate Saturn is the first thing that I lend to/buy for friends who "haven't read comics in a long time" or who are first time comic readers.

With "You are here", he's going over some somewhat familiar ground with some not quite convincing characters. I didn't have as many laugh-out-loud moments with YAH as I did with his previous two books. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it and think it was worth the money and is better than most of the junk that out there. However, if you're just getting into Kyle's work, pick up Cowboy Wally or WIHS first.

Kyle Baker, You Are Here (Vertigo, 1999)

During my years away from that curiously undervalued medium that is the graphic novel, I seem to have completely missed the rise of Kyle Baker. In some ways, this is a pity. In others, I'm glad, because now I have a plethora of Baker's works to read all at once. And if all of them are like You Are Here, I've got a hell of a good time in front of me.

Baker's tale gives us an ex-bank robber who's moved out to the country and taken up with a nature-loving new-age type. He has to go back into New York City to sell his apartment, and there his troubles begin. They only get worse when his girlfriend comes into the city to surprise him.

Unlike the majority of modern graphic novels, which seem to be moving into other types of art, Baker is rooted solidly in the fifties comic book and pulp novel cover-- big, bouncy babes, hard-jawed heroes, a villain who bears a striking resemblance to Dean Martin. Everything is so brilliantly colored that if you stare at it too long, you're liable to go blind (and no, I don't mean from staring at the big, bouncy babes).

This is truly fun stuff. Baker's other stuff goes on my TBR list right now. ****