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retroCRUSH BOOK REVIEW
Dave Cooper's OVERBITE
drawings and paintings of mostly pillowy girls
Robert Berry robert@retrocrush.com

Fantagraphics never ceases to amaze me. From Robert Crumb to Dan Clowes to Johnny Ryan, they have continually published the best graphic novels and comic books the world has ever seen. While Marvel and DC have tried to outdo each other with their movie tie ins, crossovers, and merchandising, the Seattle based Fantagraphics has quietly become the showcase for all time classic wonderfulness.

I have to admit, I've heard little of David Cooper until I got a copy of his all new book, "OVERBITE: Drawings & Paintings of Mostly Pillowy Girls" but the vivid crazy ladies portrayed within are like nothing I've ever seen.

These crazy harpies are both revolting and alluring at the same time. Every roll of fat and splotch of cellulite is painted with such love and desire that you can't help but want to pinch the pages! In Cooper's world, sexy pinup girls are laughed at and mocked by twisted Down's Syndrome glamour queens that smash skinny girls between their gigantic varicose breasts while eating pieces of fried chicken.

These are the women we see on the streets talking to themselves while they pick the scabs off their arms. These are the women who you point at and joke about with your friends, but invariably go home with after too much to drink. They'll give you the time of your life when the alcohol is dancing on your brain, but if you don't run away before they wake up in the morning, you'll end up as breakfast.

Fantagraphics has just made a second printing of this wonderful tome, and it features an introduction by Mr. Show legend, David Cross who explains Cooper's work as, "...the images that might run through the mind of an indigent Appalachian hillbilly just as he is about to reach climax-- a dizzying unstoppable montage of naked ladies and bug-eyed people/things in various stages of undress and desire." He said the same thing in the latest collection of Thomas Kinkade's work, but it seems more fitting here.

Dave Cooper's "Overbite" is available at cooler comic shops and through FANTAGRAPHICS.com for $16.95!