I Love Led Zeppelin by Ellen Forney

I Love Led Zeppelin Reviews

• 
  Imogen

  I have such a crush on Ellen Forney. Seriously. It's gross. I want to do it with Ellen Forney and
  Justin Hall at the same time.
  
  Uh, I've gotta go.
• 
  Stewart Tame

  Ellen Forney's work makes me happy. I stumbled across a copy of I Was Seven in '77 in a comics shop years ago, and have been a fan ever since. This volume collects comics that have presumably appeared in various places over the years. Some were done in collaboration with others, but most were done solo. The book kicks off with a section devoted to How To strips, as Ellen explains how to do various things. Where else but in an Ellen Forney comic would one find instructions on how to put on stripper pasties and then get the tassels to spin in opposite directions? Probably my favorite piece in the book is the one she did in collaboration with Ariel Schrag about hair. There's just something about the rhythm of the dialogue and the way the art works with it that just shines. Ellen Forney is like a cool older sister who has a gift for explaining things without making you feel stupid or ashamed for asking. I recommend all of her books, but this one makes a pretty darn good starting point.
• 
  Meen

  I was a Led Zeppelin FREAK in high school!
  
  (And it never hurts to get more pointers on how to fuck a woman with your hands.)
• 
  Joanne

  3.5 Well I learned a lot from this one, including how not to get a date with Camille Paglia, what song not to pick for my final death scene soundtrack, and how to re-attach my own finger. PG-13 for sure, make no mistake, kiddos. One-of-a-kind and entertaining.
• 
  jess

  ellen forney's comics are hotter than five-star curry (?) and there's a reasonably good chance they could cause some panty-dropping. there's an adorable scrabble-playing gramma alongside all the homos you could shake a stick at. hair cuts, love stories, courtney love, military funerals, and a smattering of drug stories: this is the material of our lives. forney's comics tell us something about how we feel about the world. she gives us one moment to decide for ourselves - funny, or tragic? dan savage's First Time with a dude is here, alongside an almost-date with Camille Paglia. i laughed a lot, especially at the illegal drug stories, and i wanted to take the book and put it in the hands of someone i care about, and ask them to read it and then wait smugly for their Thank You, handshakes, hugs, and joyful tears. i got it from the library, though, so i can't actually give this copy to someone. i hope that, instead, you will go and find a copy of these comics, and read it yourself, and then thank me.
• 
  Tatiana

  SWOON. I want to be Ellen when I grow up. This is the coolest, most beautiful, most inspiring book of art ever. Her brushwork knocks me over with a 2x4. The beautiful paper used makes her formerly-newsprint-published work gleam like the magnificent museum-quality specimen it is. ALL HAIL ELLEN FORNEY!
• 
  Erika

  Hilarious. Fantastically gay and hilarious. There is a how to section in the beginning and if I had never made it past those pages I still would have given it 5 stars. Who doesn't want to know how to twirl your tassels in opposite directions or become a successful call girl?
• 
  Michael

  This book collects mostly one-page (though a few are up to eight pages) strips that Ellen Forney has written & illustrated for various sources, mostly alt-weekly newspapers. Common themes involve gayness, drug use and fetish culture. It's a great book - and considering that I don't have much of a personal connection to any of the three recurring themes (though there are exceptions, humorous anecdotes, dating stories, etc.), beyond knowing people, it's impressive how much Forney allowed me to connect with what she was doing. First, she plays everything absolutely straight, never imposing her viewpoints or ideals on the audience. You bring your own baggage to each tale. Second, her cartooning is so lively and playful that you feel the humanity behind every single thing that you read, including "how to heroin detox." The layouts are very imaginative, using traditional comics, diagrams, and creative layouts to communicate lots of information.
  
  It's a fun, upbeat, engaging book. The strips are all very dense and it's a little hard to read in a single sitting, but it's worth looking for.
• 
  Bryan

  Fascinating collection of various styles of comics by Ellen Forney. I didn't know about this author, but this book popped up on a "you might like" recommendation and I just loved the title. I'm glad I checked this out because the comics in this collection are just so wonderfully strange. For example, there's an informative strip on how to fix an amputated finger. Couldn't help smiling while typing that. Will definitely be checking out more from this creator.
• 
  ╟ ♫ Tima ♪ ╣ ♥

  DNF @ 22%
  
  I don’t normally dnf such short collections, especially not ones that I spent years trying to track down. But, sadly, this collection did not hold up well after 20+ years. There is a lot of very outdated information (of course, this i expected!) and just overall unfortunately wasn’t something I was willing to drudge through in the name of completionism. I have massive admiration for the author still, this one just does better staying in the time it was released 😅
• 
  Amy

  It was fun to read this now, as someone who was alive, but a kid during the main years these comics were written. And also fun having lived in Seattle, and knowing about some of the people (Dan Savage!) and places. Times have changed, but maybe not so much. I do like Forney’s drawing style, too.
• 
  Peacegal

  3.5 stars--Unique comic book, illustrating everything from various people's life experiences to how-to guides for the very silly to the deadly serious. I liked the comic in which a young man learns his boring mom once partied with the band Deep Purple. Definitely an eclectic collection.
• 
  Elizabeth D

  extremely uneven collection of comics. there are some good ones (like the Camille Paglia one, which is what drew me to this book in the first place) and some sound good sense in some of the ‘advice’ columns, but also quite a lot of stuff that was just alt-comic-cliche-cringe
• 
  Mark Desrosiers

  First section offers pragmatic instructions that say more than what they're really saying ("How to Twirl Your Tassels in Opposite Directions", "How to Fold the Flag and Present it to the Next of Kin", "How to Roller Skate Backwards").
  
  Second section is a handful of bent, heartfelt excursions into blacksmithery, alligator-gazing, and yoga.
  
  The section entitled '92-'94 makes you wonder what else you were missing. Includes her date with
  Camille Paglia and the wonderful metaphor (simile?) (interpretive dance?) called "Trapeze".
  
  And towards the end you get two revealing collaborations with Dan Savage, plus an odd excursion into Tom Waits backstage at Toad's Place.
  
  If you've never encountered Ellen Forney before, this is a great distillation of her genius (yeah I said it): lusty, curious, pro-vice, anti-ideology. Strange, communal, and exuberant. Never depressed, never soggy .. but never cartwheeling or chipper either. Always kinky.
  
  This volume is published in large format, more to enhance her details for your gaze.
• 
  Brad

  Having read the Stranger for awhile, I feel familiar with
  Ellen Forney’s comics, but hadn’t read many of them (besides her Lustlab personals gags) until I picked up this book today. I really enjoyed the first section full of various “How to” diagrams—ranging from a guide to erogenous zones to performing a military funeral. Her art reminds me a lot of Joe Sacco’s—it’s heavy on interestingly-lettered text—but she doesn’t crosshatch nearly as much as is a bit more cartoony. Forney is really good at cramming an entire story into a page, kinda like
  Jessica Abel.
  The collection drags during her strips from ‘92-94, but I like the collaborations with
  Dan Savage and David Schmaeder (both also write for the Stranger) toward the end.
• 
  Mel

  I came across this very cheap in the fantagraphics sale and as I'm always interested in reading comics by women writers and artists (especially queer ones) so I decided to get it. I enjoyed parts of it but I didn't love it as much as I thought I would. I think this is cause I always prefer comics to cartoon strips, I just want more plot and character development. But there were some funny moments and some that I really did enjoy. (It also explained a bit of Dan Savage's prejudice against bisexuals which was interesting) I don't think I will get anything else by Ellen but I'm glad I got this and read it.
• 
  Jennifer

  I really wanted to like these comics and some of them I did (the ones about drugs and transvestites towards the back made me giggle), but this book sat on my shelves for months and months. I think it took me so long because It's not a graphic novel with a main character and plot; rather it's alot of fragmented comics. I wasn't lured in by a story. It seemed to me the artist creates alot of her comics for sheer shock and punk value which I guess I can appreciate, but overall I'd say this is a coffee table book.
• 
  James

  The Pekaresque confessional pieces (the best is about a near-date with Camille Paglia) are combined with quirky and catholic graphic expository non-fiction ("How to Re-attach a finger"). I especially enjoyed the collaboration with Dan Savage relating his first time in drag (Brownie drag at age eight), in which he describes his parents as "alarmingly supportive."
• 
  Susan

  I enjoyed everything about this graphic novel, even the panels/story boards that took me out of my comfort zone. I want to BUY a copy of this particular novel, not to mention check out/read the rest of Forney's collection. A talented outspoken voice of (essentially) my generation, This was a fabulous read.
• 
  HeavyReader

  This is a fun collection of comics from the great Ellen Forney. I especially like the first part of the book which gives instructions for how to do a bunch of things, like how to reattach severed fingers and how to be a call girl.
• 
  Jackie "the Librarian"

  An eclectic series of short comics, many just one page, addressing adult issues such as drugs and sex(orientation, technique, etc.). I enjoyed the longer collaborations more, as there was more story to them, but it was all fascinating.
• 
  James Specht

  "I Love Led Zeppelin" is a bit of a hodge podge of Ellen Forney's work from the past 15 years or so. It's all interesting and Forney's thick inking style has great stylized (and pretty sexy) lines. It's a lot of fun and her work with Dan Savage is a hoot.
• 
  James

  I love these comics. There's a lot of how-to, like how to make love, how to be a call girl (the honest version), romances, coming-out stories, and lots of fun stories. Real good art too. I absolutely loved these and I gotta read more stuff by Ellen Forney.
• 
  Leilani

  Sherman Alexie wrote the forward to this book. That's all I needed to know to read it. Glad I did, because this book is hilarious. Especially her awesome story of her non-date with Camille Paglia. Awkward.
• 
  Steve

  Loved this. The "How To" section was fun and weirdly (wildly) informative. Really liked the page layout and the info design aspects. Lots of great artwork here (reminiscent of the Hernandez Bros. "Love and Rockets" stuff) AND a heartfelt, rambling intro by Serman Alexie.
• 
  Jenna

  Very fun, and full of life. I don't care if she's doing a comic about yoga or drugs or reattaching a severed finger. Whatever filters through Ellen's brain comes out fun, interesting and full of life.
• 
  Agathafrye

  Love it!
• 
  Melody

  By turns bittersweet, hilarious and profane, Forney's comics are terrific.
• 
  Jess

  Funny part in there on how to smoke pot and not get caught. Very humorous and a bit mind-blowing. X-rated stuff included as well. So this is not for the sensitive or young.