Title: Real Life: The Complete Year One Collection Volume(s): 5+ Creator(s): Greg Dean Format: Unflipped; Left-to-Right Publisher: Starline Media MSRP: $24.95 Genre(s): Comedy Rated: Youth (10+)   Buy From Amazon.com

CONSUMER ADVICE

Parents have little to worry about with "Real Life." Aside from the occasional swear word, there is no foul humor, no sexual jokes of any kind, and no violence to speak of. It's a role model on how more webcomics should be made.

Most cartoonists will sit at their desks, drawing comic after comic, trying to make something up that they hope people will find funny. Jeff Foxworthy (in one of his shows that can be rented on DVD) claimed that in reality, you never have to actually make stuff up, but just write funny stuff down when it happens in real life. It is this way of thinking that Greg Dean embraced when he created his comic strip "Real Life," and it is this way of thinking that has made the comic strip so much fun to read all these years. "Real Life" is about the author’s personal life, nothing more, nothing less. There are moments of fantasy elements that pop up here and there, and I'm pretty sure Greg is stretching the truth a little bit on a couple of the situations he writes about, but otherwise this is a book about real life events and situations. You may wonder why you would want to read about the adventures of someone else’s real-life problems when you have your own real-life problems to worry about, but I think the reason you will want to read this book is that Greg’s real-life problems are, more than likely, more funny than yours are.

Board games have gotten more complex these days.

From addictions to "Final Fantasy," to first love high jinks, to sometimes just having a hard time getting decent customer service at a store, "Real Life" takes real-life situations and makes them funny. The comic strip revolves around Mr. Greg Dean himself and his various friends (who all exist in real life). The cast of characters has changed here and there over the years, but for this book the main cast includes Greg, Crystal, Dave, and later on in the book Tony and Debbie. What these characters basically do is sit around the house, talking about things you and me would normally talk about in real life, and every now and then getting into a fantasy story arc that still rings more true to home than most other comic strip story arcs. Granted, some of the situations are played with a little bit more sarcasm and exaggeration than these situations would most likely require in real life, but for the sake of the comic strip these small changes work very well, and Greg never makes the situations SO outrageous that we can't relate to them! For all the tweaking that goes on, the situations strike a balance that is perfect for this strip. So you must think you get what I'm saying: good characters, funny jokes, and things we can relate to. This all sounds good, but why buy the book when you can read these comics online for free?

This is where I getting to in my Harry Potter obsession.

If this is such a simple (but fun) comic, then why am I shelling about $25 for it? I'm so glad you asked me that. Alongside the comics are LOADS of extras that you can just eat up! I would have recommended the book for the comics alone, but all the extra gravy makes this one stellar book. The introductions by Greg himself and Scott Kurtz (of "PVP" fame) are just the tip of the iceberg. Included with every comic strip is a commentary by Greg himself. And these commentaries aren't your typical commentaries where the author basically tells you over and over again how much they enjoyed making said particular strip (though there are a couple of those as well). No, these are full blown commentaries with history, personal opinions, and even some help in figuring out some of the (rare) pop culture jokes (pointing out a spoof of “Darkwing Duck” in one comic helped clear up some confusion for me). Also included are a couple of comic strips that Greg drew for Animerica, and a collection of comics called "The Forge." "The Forge" is basically a collection of RPG fantasy-based comic strips Greg drew for a site called Swords Online, which published the comics for a year and then went on hiatus. While I'm not as much a fan of these comics as some people are, they are an excellent addition to the book that fans of the comic are bound to love (especially since I'm not 100% sure if the comics are even still on the site at the moment).

Yeah Greg...we believe you.

The cream of the crop, though, is how the strips are presented. My worst fear with any webcomic being published is that the color strips will be forced to be read in black-and-white. This has been my main gripe with the "PVP" books, and it has been a detractor for several other printed webcomics (including "Megatokyo," believe it or not). Thankfully, it looks like Greg got one of the sweeter deals out there, as every comic is presented EXACTLY as it is seen online! Which means all the black-and-white strips are in black-and-white, and all the color strips are in color. You have no idea how happy this makes me. Of course, seeing as how 98% of the comic strips are in color, it most likely would have been a major problem if the comics weren't in color for this book, and might have even killed off any chances of people buying the book. Still, it's nice to see a "Complete Collection" that is actually complete. In fact, "Real Life: The Complete Year One Collection" goes so above and beyond the call of duty, that I have to say that it is easily the BEST book compilation of a webcomic, and it raises the bar to a new high that will not be reached for a very long time! Of course, I would be neglecting one little thing if I let it slip that I can relate to Greg's comic more than other people just because the setting of the comic is where I live.

When the characters go to Sunrise Mall, I smile at that fact alone since the Sunrise Mall is ten minutes away from where I live. When Greg makes a joke about Fry's customer service, I laugh because I know it's true. For some reason, this very fact makes it feel like "Real Life" is my comic. Strange, but true. But it can be your comic too. All you have to do is start reading it. And if you like what you read, do yourself a favor and buy this wonderful book. It's more comfortable reading the comics in the book than over the computer monitor anyway.