You have to admire the chutzpah of a couple of creators who (by their own admission) haven't broken into the industry doing a guide for how to break into the industry. That's really the central gag of this book, and it's worth a few chuckles. The rest of the book is a parody of industry standards which I imagine will create a few chuckles amongst comics insiders but raise nary an eyebrow for the casual reader, making this a pretty narrow-focused book. However, if you're a follower of industry gossip and trends with a sense of humor about the whole thing, there are some laughs to be found here. Perhaps not as consistent laughs as I might have wished for, but they're in there.
T. Campbell is a webcomic creator whose previous foray into print comics was FAANS, a Knights of the Dinner Table/Dork Tower type spoof comic. This is sort of a sideways move for him, going from gentle mockery of the fans to gentle mockery of the industry, and while I honestly think that the former has more of a wide audience, I can't deny that Campbell has some good observations to make about the latter. His script has a brutal honesty about it in terms of the chance of success and the sometimes mindless politics that drive the industry, and at the same time somehow manages to not be so abrasive as to come off as bitter.
Humor is of course deeply subjective, and this type of material has been mined pretty deeply, but Campbell definitely has some fun and some new observations to offer. His list of ways to break into the industry using influence was a lot of fun in its over-the-top suggestions of what you could do with some pretty stunning accomplishments, and he hits the nail on the head when talking about the indy-mainstream-indy cycle common to creators or the large array of stumbling blocks to self-publishing. Some of the humor comes across as overly familiar or even stale, such as the store where ideas come from, but most of the book is pretty funny.
Campbell is joined on the book by artist Jamie Noguchi, who is a new name to me. Noguchi has an obvious manga influence in his style, but I also saw more than a little Phil Foglio in his work, particularly in his manic rendition of Alan Moore. At any rate, the artwork, like the story, is kept pretty light and no-frills, but it hits the most important aspects for this type of story, notably expressive and exaggerated faces and comedic timing. Noguchi clearly has plenty of potential, if only by looking at his echos of "regular" art with the sketch of Sandman and Death or pretty believable renditions of Straczynski, Smith and other industry hot talents.
I get the sense from reading this that it's almost more intentioned as a showcase for the creators to show to editors moreso than an entertainment product for readers (the humorous closing page doesn't help this impression). In that respect, it's a success, showing potential on the part of both creators, and for those who have an interest in the mechanics of the industry, it has a few laughs and some fun observations to offer as well.
