The Daily Compulsion #4

The latest outing from our boy Nate-o, and the first since moving to Texas. Eeeh, why would anyone do a dumb-ass thing like that? I mean, can you imagine when he's in, like, a bank with that towering pineapple he calls a haircut and some longhorn loser spots him: "Waaaaaaaaaaaaah, baaaaaaaaaaaaah! What the haaaaaaal is that on yer hay-ud, bah?" But if this latest edition of The Daily... is any indication, such fish-out-of-water propositions have only fueled the kid's alienation...to the point of suicide. Not that Rice has EVER been a big ball of laughs, or good tiding...even when he made the generally benevolent Pinhead State his home. But now, relocated in the bustling (and supposedly "hipster"-friendly) metropolis o' Austin (also home of fellow - and currently MIA - Kapital Ink contributor Erin "Nudie" Nelson), the futility of life has only become more apparent. But within the stark and scrawled textures of Rice's luscious pen-strokes, not to mention the "life sucks" mantra, I can't help thinking there's a wrinkle of self-deprecating irony that makes this more a tongue-in-cheek venture than an actual suicide note. I wouldn't give the boy any sharp objects anytime too soon, but don't take his self-loathing as a self-fulfilling prophecy either.

reviewed by Joe S. Harrington for Kapital Ink #3, Spring 2007