Speaking of classics, here's another sui generis masterwork that belongs in every library. When Reid Fleming first arrived on the scene, lo these thirty years ago (thirty years? how is that possible!?!), it existed at the cusp of the waning underground comix scene and the nascent direct market for alternative comics that was just starting to gain some traction. It was just right there at the crossroads; if any comic book can be said to capture that moment, it's that first issue. With Reid Fleming, David Boswell created a cartoon archetype that served – and continues to serve – as an anger fueled eulogy for the vanished world embodied by the figure of the milkman. This massive hardcover volume collects the initial 1980 stand alone comic book – which was all that there was for the first five years of his existence, and that really says something about the character's staying power – along with what is arguably Boswell's masterpiece, Heartbreak Comics, which, naturally, stars Reid Fleming, and then the entirety of the Reid Fleming mini-series published by Eclipse Comics in the late '80s. 224 pages in all! And there is a second volume in the works which will collect the remainder. So, rejoice!
