Living Situations (As You Were #4) by Mitch Clem

Living Situations (As You Were #4) Reviews

• 
  Robert

  The 4th volume of this delightful anthology of punk comics focuses on housing, so there's all kinds of desperate living depicted, including plenty of bad roommate stories, and presented in a generally lighthearted, entertaining fashion. The relatively swanky paperback format is unexpected with such a zine-like project (in a good way). Overall, this brought back lots of fond and not-so-fond memories of all the trouble I used to get into in my younger days. 4 outta 5.
• 
  Matt Graupman

  Mitch Clem. *sigh* Best known for his early punk-themed webcomic Nothing Nice To Say and (less so) for his autobio strip My Stupid Life, Clem has been relatively quiet for the last few years. I get it. As a sporadic artist myself, it can be very hard to keep those creative fires burning. So, if we can’t have new Mitch Clem comics, I suppose the next best thing is a new issue of his “punk comix anthology,” the living situation-themed “As You Were #4.” With contributions from such notables as Liz Prince, Liz Suburbia, Ben Snakepit, and early works by Nomi Kane and Sarah Graley, it’s the comic book equivalent of “all killer, no filler.” Despite a wide variety of tones and styles, every piece in “As You Were #4” is excellent, proving that, though he may no longer be a consistent maker of comics, he’s still very successful at compiling them.
  
  FAVORITES:
  “Draws A Comic About Every Human He Has Lived With” by Rick V - Literally, comic strip-style gags about every roommate the creator has lived with.
  “Nightmare On Milwaukee Avenue” by Nomi Kane - Future comics superstar Nomi Kane recalls living with a male roommate who was - let’s say - uncomfortable (unreasonably, obviously) with her female bodily functions.
  “Roomate From Hell” by Ben Snakepit - A clever inversion of the other pieces, Snakepit explains why HE’S the worst roommate to live with.
• 
  StrictlySequential

  "silver 060"
  
  I am so glad to be done with the three of these that I had bought.
  
  These authors are simply dorks that listen to punk music and their storytelling and art are Junior Varsity and Fresh/Soph.
• 
  Matthew WK

  2.5 stars. A mixed bag with a few really enjoyable stories, but most were average or slight below. I like these anthologies as I get introduced to new creators so from that perspective, it does it's job. Overall though, hard to recommend as I'm not sure if I'll return to it again.
• 
  Jason

  I love this anthology -- Mitch Clem and Avi Ehrlich always put together a talented and varied roster of cartoonists, and most of them fall outside of my (limited) comics radar, which is refreshing. The theme of issue 4 is "Living Situations," and it probably ties with issue 1 (
  "House Shows") as my favorite one so far. My personal favorite stories were "Nightmare on Milwaukee Avenue" by Nomi Kane (which was so good I immediately read it to my wife), and "Buying the Baron's House" by Erin K Wilson (an ambitious story told through two parallel timelines). But they're all good.
• 
  Keith Schnell

  This is the fourth volume of Mitch Clem's excellent As You Were series of comics anthologies, all of which I recommend wholeheartedly. The selection of work here presents a wide variety of viewpoints under a very broad umbrella of "punk," while the authors are a combination of can't-miss favorites like Liz Prince and lesser-known but very talented ones like Steve Thueson and Erin Wilson. The real value in all of these anthologies is the way in which they introduce the reader to a much wider variety of talent, all of it well-chosen, than their short lengths would suggest.
• 
  Ryan Mishap

  The horrid cover art proves the old maxim as there are many awesome pieces inside. If you liked the first three, then this is recommended. As it is not as solid as the earlier ones, if this is the first you've heard of the title, check out the first one.
• 
  Mike

  I love this series.