Boy in my Pocket

Top Shelf Comics

Writer/Artist: Dean Haspiel

So the title sounds like a bad chick flick. So what. Boy in my Pocket still entertains.

A quirky little love story that’s part film noir, part Scrubs, and part Apartment 3-G, Boy in my Pocket shows a day in the life of Billy Dogma and Jane Legit. Billy’s a chiseled tough guy who looks like Marv from Sin City, and Jane’s his svelte journalist girlfriend. Billy tries to make it in the corporate world, but three hours of paper pushing convinces him he can’t be part of the machine. Jane accepts his failure, comforts him, then fantasizes about him all day. Mildly surprised, I realize how much this sounds like an English grad student’s dream come true.

THE OBLIGATORY WARNING: some mild adult content. A marvy chin cleft.  

Boy in my Pocket revolves around Jane’s hallucinations at work. Jane sees Billy’s face on every delivery boy and repair man who visits the office. These visions prompt (hilariously) overwrought fantasies that use phrases like “a fleet of smiles” and “a choo-choo train of succulent poultry.” Writer Dean Haspiel’s clever writing complements the purposefully cheesy art well, and the end result is about as enjoyable as a romance comic can get.

Also in this volume is a wordless, fifteen-page anecdote called Volcano Girl, a brief-but-lyric tale about heroism, frustration, and a strange romance that somehow works. Both of Haspiel’s stories are lively and charming, and deal with the way seemingly impossible relationships prosper in spite of reality. It’s Haspiel’s eccentric nod to noir and Jack Kirby-esque fantasy, though, that makes Boy in my Pocket a winner. It’s at least better than a bad chick flick.

Worth the money? Give it a spin.