92615_RAA_LooseCannon_Text_R1_PROOF

Similarly, in “A Column Title Suggests Itself,” in which the stated aim is to identify what makes a great comic, he takes us inside a wine tasting at a local spirits establishment so effectively that we can practically smell the wood of the bar and the musty pheromones of the old broad elbowing him out of the way; and yet, does he ever reveal what does in fact make a great comic? (Hint: No, no he does not. The bastard.) While you do not need to be a fan of comics to enjoy this book, being one will of course enhance your enjoyment of it; because while Larry always has a way with words, his writing is most effective on the subjects he loves most. Personally, as a Batman and Superman fangirl, I got so lost in Larry’s Batman/Superman crossover proposal in “How Not to Submit a Story Proposal,” that I found myself freshly heartbroken when I remembered that the whole premise was that this unspeakably brilliant thing didn’t get made. Fuckin’ suits. And of course, comics fans will find no end of easter eggs and references to delight them, but Larry’s columns offer so much more. As a burgeoning standup comedian, I find myself excited to send several columns to my non-comic-reading colleagues – because what better advice can there be – in art or in life – than “don’t do what other people are doing, because, you know, other people are doing it, already, and better than you.” Larry per sonifies that advice in “The Long View,” in which he takes the opportuni ty of Hunter S. Thompson’s death to eulogize the still-living Harlan Ellison so effectively that I forgot Hunter S. Thompson even died. In the end, my favorite part of the book was reading about Larry’s “rock solid, take-no-shit, New Hampshire Yankee with a granite exterior and a heart of gold” father. In these columns, we get a vision of a man who loomed so large that he blotted out the sun. We sense the patience in a man who sat in the hot Texas sun endlessly twisting the rubber band pro peller of a balsa wood rocket so that his son might win his own version of the Space Race; the gravitas in a man who saw profound teaching oppor tunities in sweaty amusement park lines; and the wisdom in the man who taught Larry that The Rules Do Not Apply To You. The twist ending to this collection may be that, twenty-odd years after these columns were original ly published, Larry himself is the rock-solid, take-no-shit gentlemen with a granite exterior and a heart of gold – but the San Francisco version. You know... where all the cool stuff happens.

Nancy Sen Boston, Massachusetts April, 2024