Sunset City Book

Sunset City is a typical retirement community. Its residents enjoy golf and gossip and they all seem content to fritter away their golden years. Except Frank McDonald. A retired widower, he wrestles with the question: why am I here? Reading the newspaper, Frank keeps up on the minutia of the day; it provides a buzz to an otherwise humdrum life. One morning, Frank is overcome by a startling story, and he does something extraordinary: he takes life by the balls.

Publishers Weekly

This graphic novel picks up a serious subject, then bobbles it. Residents of the eponymous Arizona senior citizens' development are in golden age hell, walking their pets, playing age-appropriate games and watching impotently as young people turn the world into shit. Frank McDonald has been shut down emotionally since his wife died of cancer, but he realizes that he hates the life he's living now and yearns for something to connect with. He's shocked, then galvanized, when he watches the elderly manager of a convenience store gun down some punk robbers. When an especially loathsome murderer escapes punishment, Frank decides to take action. Osborne's black and white art is fittingly muted, the architecture sun-bleached and empty, most of the characters grimly stoic. The story doesn't quite glamorize gray-haired vigilantes, and its depiction of the people who live in Sunset City is fairly nuanced. Still, Frank is rewarded for expressing the personal desperation that underlies his hunger for "justice"; moreover, his choice has no relevance for anyone who doesn't have a pistol hidden in the closet. It's good to see comics confronting real human concerns, but this story would be even better if it kept focused on the issues rather than blinking at the last minute. (Nov.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.