4 out of 5

I guess the main knock against “The Complete Dog Boy” is that it’s… not complete. Now, look, having a trade collecting all of the Cat-Head and Fantagraphics DB issues – the latter are somewhat easy to find in used bins, but not the former, and same goes for online shopping – is awesome, regardless of how you title it. While reading the whole thing in a run does draw a starker contrast between “peak” Dog Boy and when the second volume started to feel a bit more forced, this is still fantastic stuff, and it’s always rewarding to watch an artist’s style / voice grow and change, issue by issue.

That said, it’s kind of annoying when you crack open the page of a book with a title that contains “complete” in it, only for the foreword to tell you – hey, no, this isn’t complete; we actually excluded some stuff.

Because DB wasn’t limited to his series – he also appeared in some anthology mags Lafler worked on, like Buzzard, and, on the one hand, it’s equally awesome that any of that stuff is reprinted here, in a “bonus” section towards the end, which is an impressive 45 pages of such material. But, yeah, that mention at the beginning makes it hard to feel like this is everything everything. …Though I suppose you could argue it’s the complete collection of comics actually named “Dog Boy.” Fair enough.

So I’ll offer another slight critique then, which is that this is (I’d guess) print on demand, and if you’re familiar with that general quality, there’s a definite reprint vibe to the book – there are ample borders, but some page edges feel cut off, and the printing, on stark white paper, isn’t very “deep;” the paper stock inevitably gives things a flat look. Which isn’t to say that it’s cheap or poorly constructed: the 300+ pages are clean, crisp, and well-bound, with the softcover feels substantial but flippable. The balance of cost-effectiveness versus the quality of the contents (and its readability) is definitely a win overall, just noting this is more a collection of convenience than an archival thing.

And some additional quality of life improvements I’d’ve asked for would include a table of contents – I get that this is in sequential order (and with covers and page numbers, thank you!), but having an easy reference to get to issue #6 or whatever would’ve been good. Plus: man, a Dog Boy checklist. I realize that’s going above and beyond, but because it’s not complete, having some rundown of what’s maybe missing would’ve made this lil’ collector’s heart shine.

But that’s it! I’m done nitpicking! Really, the takeaway here is: if you’ve been interested by any of Lafler’s work, his DNA of loosely linear, consciousness-expanding and yet chucklingly random narratives are here, with the majority of the Dog Boy series being when I’d consider Steve as having been at his funniest. Which isn’t a knock to his other stuff, but the tone of this book was more geared towards that, and even if you own all the originals, imagine having a not bagged and boxed set of those books to read?