By Kelly Gaines

Comics like P M Buchan’s Hangover are everything that’s fun about picking up a title with no expectations, and I’m dead serious when I say I went in with NO expectations. I picked the book for a ridiculous and very me reason: I was hungover. I looked at the title and thought ‘Now here’s a book that understands me.’ Was P M Buchan’s Hangover about being hungover? No. Am I happy I read it? Absolutely. If this is what this man's hangovers are like, we need to drink together. Hangover is not one storyline, but an anthology of strange, disturbing, and darkly hilarious short comics. It’s the funny pages for anyone interested in cannibalism, Satan, and things that go bump in the night. I wouldn’t judge anyone who reads it based on that take away alone- shine on you crazy fucking diamonds. This review would go on for pages if I went story by story and talked about my likes and dislikes, so I’m going to try something new in my review structure. There are thirteen stories within Hangover, each one with its own creepy merits. I’ve taken the liberty of giving each story a new title that will concisely tell you what I got out of it, and if I do this right, you’ll be able to pick and choose what may interest you in this title. Of course, I had favorites, and I’ll mention those, but an overall recap will do much more in the way of representing the spirit of the book.

So here are my titles for the thirteen Hangover stories:

Monsters Under the Bed, and On the Bed, and Everywhere
Aliens Will Take Your Face
Drunks Who are Not Pirates, But Then are Pirates (alternate: How to Tell if You’ve Fucked a Mermaid or a Manatee)
Satanist Godzilla
Crazy Cannibal Poison
Cannibal Kid Hero (alternate: A Really Bad Father's Day)
Hunger Games UK
Goblins in Lingerie
Open Mic Night on Noah’s Ark (alternate: My Bastard Panda Son)
Sleeping Beauty With Realistic Expectations for Waking Up a Woman
If You’re Not King Arthur, Don’t Talk to Ladies in Lakes
Pretty Pointless (but really very pretty)
Romeo, and Juliet, and Satan

If any of these fake titles made you laugh, I would definitely recommend reading P M Buchan’s Hangover. The writers are much funnier and more creative than I am. My personal favorites were #3 (real title: Sleeping with Fishes) and #9 (real title: Noah’s Folly). There’s something satisfying about reading work from writers who are boldly unafraid to take risks, roll the dice, and put their raw creativity on display. I’m sure this publication has broken some mothers hearts (hell, this review would break my mothers), but it’s all worth it for the excitement of not knowing what horrifying concept you might find on the next page. Pick it up, get spooky, and keep Hangover far away from children, animals, and easily influenced teenagers. If you are a child, animal, or easily influenced teenager, I’m morally obligated to tell you not to read this. Go get a bible, or a math textbook, or whatever it is they teach in school these days. Dance at an arm's length, leave room for Jesus and all that.

Interesting closing thought: this is the only comic I’ve ever reviewed that gave me a hard time in figuring out the publishing company. My initial thought was ‘screw it, I don’t care who published it, it’s great,’ but I do actually need to list the publisher.

Score: 4/5

P M Buchan’s Hangover
Self-Published