Teen Power

Otsu began 5 years ago as a vegan-themed store in San Francisco. They sold animal free products like shoes and clothing along with papergoods, books, records, accessories, bags, and snack treats. In 2004 they launched their own publishing company, Little Otsu, with a line of calendars-planners and journals made with recycled or tree-free papers and soy inks. Soon they moved to a new space (which they share with the McSweeney's offices) with a new papergoods store (no more shoes) and a new focus on unique publishing collaborations with their favorite artists. They are constantly releasing new and original designs of stationery, greeting cards, journals, planners, datebooks, wall calendars, posters, and other paper goods.

Teen Power, by Joe Sayers, is Little Otsu's first step into a world of non-interactive art books. This book reproduces the hilarious self-published mini-comics Passing Periods and Absolute Power as a softcover edition. The book quality is exactly what you expect from Otsu: 100% recycled paper stock, high quality cover and binding with animal-free glue. Plus, the little touches, like the wide format and the blue-ink interior printing, come from L. Otsu's design experience and add the to quality of the publication.

The book's content features the fucked-up and awesome comic strips of Oakland cartoonist Joe Sayers. Each comic was conceived and drawn in under 5-minutes. The first half of the book is a collections of strips about teen issues entitled Passing Periods: Tackling Tough Topics for Today's Troubled Teens. These are, bar-none, the funniest comics I've read since Gary Larson retired the Far Side in 1995. Centered around drugs, sex, authority figures, and popularity, some of these comics are instant classics.

The second half of Teen Power is called Absolute Power and features Sayers' take on super heroes. These comics, which are mostly one-panel splash pages of various useless, yet super-human abilities, a silly and and funny but just not a raw as the ones in Passing Periods. Still, they are funnier than anything found in the New Yorker, and are all created in under 5 minutes, so I'm still impressed.

The drawing style is very simple and that only enhances the unexpected punchlines and clever twists in the work. Sometimes it is the drawings that make the work extra hilarious. This is a perfect book to keep you company in the bathroom, and I hope more work of Sayers gets compiled and published.

Check out Joe Sayers' regular comic strip, Thingpart, and his website and blog. It will make you chuckle.
Check out the full line of Little Otsu's projects at littleotsu.com.
Own your own copy of Teen Power by checking the online bookstore at Rowan Morrison or hitting this book-buyin'-button right here.