By Anya Davidson. Published by Fantagraphics. Hardcover, 250 pages, Colour, 2016. Peanuts meets The Young Ones in this graphic novel about a noise rock band in an alternate reality Chicago. This is a graphic novel about a noise rock band, based in an alternate reality version of Chicago, and their community of friends and acquaintances. Though beset with disaster at every turn—and frequently reduced to squabbling—they stick together because the band is the core of their existence, and they help each other find their way. Band for Life is a love letter to people compelled to create with no hope of financial reward. "I was raised on old school adult comics from the '60s to '80s, the artwork of Pedro Bell, Overton Loyd and Ronald Stozo of the Parliament-Funkadelic Universe, Ralph Bakshi movies, and the like. When I came across Band For Life, I was immediately drawn in. The art reminded me of Funkadelic album covers, but with its own original swagger. The storylines spoke to my personal experience as a lifelong musician and band leader/member, in the same way that This Is Spinal Tap made me cry once I realized my life was as absurd as the movie. Anya Davidson is tapped into the very human experience that makes life in a band the story of family." — Norwood Fisher - Fishbone "Anya Davidson gets that being in a band is generally about 5% playing music and 95% anything but. In true punk form, Band For Life kicks into high gear with page number one and never lets up." — Brian Chippendale - Lightning Bolt "Band for Life is a warped and hilarious portrayal of the banality and adventure of bandhood from someone who lived it, but embellished gloriously by Anya's imagination. Fucked up, feminist and funny. If you have ever ground away late nights in a basement trying to desperately remember the bad songs you just wrote, you will recognize your strife here with "the Wildest Band on Earth."" — Jessica Hopper - MTV News "Anya's comics look like Dick Sprang and Boody Rogers got locked in a Pez factory and were told they would not be released until they produced hundreds of pages of a gutter punk Herculoids meets Josie and the Pussycats soap opera dripping soul and neglect." — Gary Panter - Rozz Tox "Davidson's work reads like a return to the aggressive no-fucks-given attitude of the underground comix scene of the late '70s and early '80s, but with a much stronger focus on fully developed female characters. She's committed to exploring the women of Guntit's complex personal lives, giving Band For Life deeper substance underneath the bold visual style." — The A.V. Club
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