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Steve Martin, Harry Bliss: Number One Is Walking: My Life in the Movies and Other Diversions (2022, Celadon Books) 2 stars

Review of 'Number One Is Walking: My Life in the Movies and Other Diversions' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

I’ve enjoyed Bliss’ one panel strips previously, but this book demonstrates he’s not the strongest multi-panel comics artist. Some uses of swoosh lines to indicate movement were awkward, he transitions face styles from Bliss, to somewhat lifelike, to photo-referenced without any logic, and far too many unnecessary shots of Bliss in-panel laughing at a punchline, creating a comics equivalent of a laugh-track. Honestly felt like Martin’s light anecdotes would have been better as little paragraphs of text. The first 1/3 seemed to function as filler for their gag strips in the back and padding the book to sellable length.