Skyscrapers of the Midwest

    (AdHouse, 2004-2007)
™ and © AdHouse

It’s not often that themes of childhood fear, alienation, and despair make for great reading, but Cotter brings these all-too-familiar feelings to the surface in this powerful, albeit painful, collection of stories about youthful innocence colliding with real-world trauma.

Cotter’s world is a rural one populated by everyday people, but they are people portrayed in such non-human guises as felines and robots. The emotional blows dealt to these innocent-looking fantasy characters hit the reader like a sucker punch to the back of the head. A lonely child not allowed to play in a ballgame fantasizes a grisly death for those who spurned him. An unwanted birthday present comes to life and walks out of a boy’s life. Another boy lives in fear of his drunken father’s wrath. Each story is steeped in sorrow and sadness, yet, as in real life, they can’t just be ignored. Cotter complements the issue with fake advertisements and letter columns that add a bit of dark humor but also further hammer home the dark side of being a kid. It’s enough to make one think twice about longing to return to childhood.

— Jim Johnson
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  • 1
    #1
    Nov 2004
    Cover: $5.00
    W: Joshua W. Cotter  ·  A: Joshua W. Cotter
    B&W
    2 copies from $4.98
  • 2
    #2
    Wraparound cover by Joshua W. Cotter
    Jul 2005
    Cover: $5.00
    W: Joshua W. Cotter  ·  A: Joshua W. Cotter
    B&W
    1 copy for $9.95
  • 3
    #3
    Wraparound cover by Joshua W. Cotter
    Jul 2006
    Cover: $5.00
    W: Joshua W. Cotter  ·  A: Joshua W. Cotter
    B&W
    2 copies from $3.98
  • 4
    #4
    Wraparound cover by Joshua W. Cotter
    Oct 2007
    Cover: $5.00
    W: Joshua W. Cotter  ·  A: Joshua W. Cotter
    B&W
    1 copy for $14.95
  • Bk 1/HC
    Book #1 Hardcover
    Hardcover Edition
    May 2008
    Cover: $19.95
    W: Joshua W. Cotter  ·  A: Joshua W. Cotter
    9 copies from $17.00