Palookaville 3: Seth Loses His Virginity

 

This issue finishes the tale begun last issue.  Basically, it tells of Seth losing his virginity and getting his heart broken.  Here are some random thoughts on the comic:

*In two out of three issues, Seth has drawn his penis.  That's how one knows one is reading an alternative comic, I suppose.  That usually doesn't happen in The Amazing Spider-Man.  Well, at least not in the official Spider-Man comics that Marvel publishes.  There are probably some Tijuana Bibles out there that take the amazing in Amazing Spider-Man to new heights, or lows, depending on one's perspective.

*There was a long pause between issues two and three.  That had to be a bit irksome to have to wait two years to finish the story, both for Seth and for his readers.  Fortunately, I missed out on it, since I didn't start buying Palookaville until about 1993 or 1994 anyway.  I have certainly experienced long lagtimes between issues though.  Issue 21 has been once again delayed, this time until November.  For the 21 years that the title has been published, Seth has averaged about one issue a year.

*The issue closes with a nice bit of symbolism.  Seth remembers a time that he and a friend were out fishing and got caught in a storm.  It seemed like they'd be drowned but they made it to shore and later realized the storm wasn't that impressive.  Clearly, Seth is commenting on how overwhelming the emotions of heartbreak are but how quickly they also pass.  The other fish symbolism I'll let you figure out yourself.