Slutburger Stories

(Rip Off, 1990-1995)
™ and © Rip Off Press

Cartoonist Mary Fleener uses Picasso-inspired artwork to share autobiographical anecdotes of her Southern California life and the personalities that fill it, from her college experience in the 1970s through her adventures as a struggling visual artist in the 1980s. Tales of drug raids, insensitive roommates, artists’ ethics, and cats with stomachaches are equally related in a wry, humorous manner.

Sex is indeed a topic of the comic, but the focus of the work transcends the bedroom escapades implied by its title. Despite the extreme situations in which Fleener finds herself, there is a universal quality to the episodes that reminds us that we all have a few stories like these. These are the stories that aren’t funny at the time they’re happening, but, looking back, one can’t help but laugh. Fleener obviously feels real emotion as she conjures these past experiences, and it is to her credit that the humorous exterior to her work only enhances the reader’s ability to identify with her.

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