Mark Kalesniko - Alex torrent

'Alex'

Fantagraphics Books, 2006

Written and Illustrated by Mark Kalesniko

It's morning in Bandini. In a small park near the river, Alex sleeps on a bench. When he awakens, we can see that he's a mess. He is coming off a colossal bender. As he stirs, a book falls out of his coat: a high school yearbook. He flips through the pages and finds himself. "Alex Kalienka: Alex likes watching T.V., drawing cartoons, and doing nothing. Future places: Sunny California and Mickey Walt Cartoon Studios." Alex closes the book and vomits in the river.

Alex is the story of failed dreams and the consequences faced by a man who discovers that accomplishing his career goals are no route to inner peace. It is a story about the redemptive power of art, and about how fleeting those chances for redemption can be in a society that emphasizes different values.

This existential, 250-page exploration of depression and the healing power of art was originally published over ten years ago as a six-issue comic book series and is collected here as one book for the first time.