It’s Shocking!

Shame on me for not plugging my entry in Philadelphia Citypaper’s wonderful Culture Shock column a few weeks ago.

The editors asked me to write about “something that you’re into these days.” Here’s what I chose:

F. Rex’s ribald, allusive, and downright blasphemous graphic novel parodies the excesses of modern capitalist culture as it finds bathos and transcendence in a debased, Vatican-themed Las Vegas casino. With a colorful cast of characters that includes Thomas Carlyle as a down-on-his-luck drunkard, Karl Marx as an overweight vagrant donning a beer helmet, T.S. Eliot as an uptight casino-floor manager, and Jesus as an oppressed janitor, plus a dozen other characters too profane to mention, Vatican City, Las Vegas reads like a version of The Waste Land re-imagined by R. Crumb. Let’s hope that Philly’s slots parlors don’t turn out like this . . . though if they do, they might wind up being a lot more fun.

If this piques your interest, check out the website, and order the book on Amazon.

I’m planning to interview the author — who is a friend of mine — in the near future.