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Digestate: A Food & Eating Themed Anthology
"Digestate" is a monstrous 288 page food & eating themed comic anthology. Contributors include Jeffrey Brown, James Kochalka, Renée French, Alex Robinson, Marc Bell, Noah Van Sciver and many more!
288 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2012
3 people are currently reading
164 people want to read
About the author
J.T. Yost
15Ìýbooks36ÌýfollowersJ.T. Yost founded Birdcage Bottom Books in 2009 after receiving a Xeric Award, a grant for self-publishing. Birdcage Bottom Books has published over 70 comics and graphic novels.
His work has been published by NBM Graphic Novels, Three Rivers Press, Vice Magazine, Silver Sprocket, Kilgore Books, Hic & Hoc Publications, and the Arthritis Foundation.
His work has been published by NBM Graphic Novels, Three Rivers Press, Vice Magazine, Silver Sprocket, Kilgore Books, Hic & Hoc Publications, and the Arthritis Foundation.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 5, 2012
Best book I ever read/edited/published!
November 4, 2013
The second "themed" anthology I've read recently (the other being ). Once more, I find myself confronted with a wild mix of quality. A few are quite good (and I'll list them below). Others are not as good, but still acceptable. And others... well, they range from terrible to incomprehensible. I'm always willing to accept that I may not like every story, or even most stories, in an anthology. But, in this particular case, there was so much to dislike aside from my personal preferences.
Problems this anthology had:
1) There were typos. This seems to be common to indie comics, as I assume no one wants to touch the art (lettering) of their peers, but it looks sloppy and unprofessional and it's just distracting. There were also problems with some pages being chopped off at the margins, but I will assume this will be fixed in later printings (if there are any).
2) Some of the comics weren't about food. This is a big problem when it's supposed to be a food/eating anthology.
3) Some of the comics that were about food didn't tell much of a story or anecdote.
4) Some comics weren't about food, but instead told a standard story where all the characters happened to be food.
5) Of the comics that were about food and did tell a story, they leaned overwhelmingly vegetarian. I have nothing against vegetarianism, but I was hoping for a more balanced approach, maybe where people would talk about a special dinner, or cooking with their family, or traveling to another place and trying new foods. More like , less... "meat is bad and factory farming is bad and you should feel bad."
6) Those Josh Bayer comics. I find his art messy, unappealing, hard to follow, and while someone may have eaten in them, they did not seem to be about eating/food. Maybe the Comics Journal gave his latest book a good review, but I think they try to hate everything I love, so of course I would hate something they loved. I ended up skimming through, and later skipping all of Mr. Bayer's segments.
Lest you think I completely hated the book, here are the segments I recommend:
"Gwenaëlle the Baby Sitter: The Shitty World Explained to Children" by CHA
"Soul Food" by Hazel Newlvant
"Successful Slaughter!" by Marek Bennett (the BEST story in the book!)
"That Peanut Butter Kid" by Alex Robinson
"Dead Meat" by Jeremy Tinder
"In Defense of Meat" by James Kochalka
"Slaughterhouse Stories" by JT Yost (the second best story)
"A History of Eating" by Liz Prince
"City Chickens" by Jess Ruliffson
"The Tell-tale Burger" by Pranas T. Naujokaitis
"Tell Now, The Tale of the Argus Mushroom!" by Neil Brideau (this one is weird, in a good way)
"Boycotts" by Nicole J. Georges
"Picky Picky" by Tod C. Parkhill
"So... Brisk" by Jonathan Baylis and Lisa Rosalie Eisenberg
So, while there are parts I enjoyed, I can't recommend the book overall. There's too much crap to sift through in this tome and much better anthologies out there to read with a higher overall level of quality.
Problems this anthology had:
1) There were typos. This seems to be common to indie comics, as I assume no one wants to touch the art (lettering) of their peers, but it looks sloppy and unprofessional and it's just distracting. There were also problems with some pages being chopped off at the margins, but I will assume this will be fixed in later printings (if there are any).
2) Some of the comics weren't about food. This is a big problem when it's supposed to be a food/eating anthology.
3) Some of the comics that were about food didn't tell much of a story or anecdote.
4) Some comics weren't about food, but instead told a standard story where all the characters happened to be food.
5) Of the comics that were about food and did tell a story, they leaned overwhelmingly vegetarian. I have nothing against vegetarianism, but I was hoping for a more balanced approach, maybe where people would talk about a special dinner, or cooking with their family, or traveling to another place and trying new foods. More like , less... "meat is bad and factory farming is bad and you should feel bad."
6) Those Josh Bayer comics. I find his art messy, unappealing, hard to follow, and while someone may have eaten in them, they did not seem to be about eating/food. Maybe the Comics Journal gave his latest book a good review, but I think they try to hate everything I love, so of course I would hate something they loved. I ended up skimming through, and later skipping all of Mr. Bayer's segments.
Lest you think I completely hated the book, here are the segments I recommend:
"Gwenaëlle the Baby Sitter: The Shitty World Explained to Children" by CHA
"Soul Food" by Hazel Newlvant
"Successful Slaughter!" by Marek Bennett (the BEST story in the book!)
"That Peanut Butter Kid" by Alex Robinson
"Dead Meat" by Jeremy Tinder
"In Defense of Meat" by James Kochalka
"Slaughterhouse Stories" by JT Yost (the second best story)
"A History of Eating" by Liz Prince
"City Chickens" by Jess Ruliffson
"The Tell-tale Burger" by Pranas T. Naujokaitis
"Tell Now, The Tale of the Argus Mushroom!" by Neil Brideau (this one is weird, in a good way)
"Boycotts" by Nicole J. Georges
"Picky Picky" by Tod C. Parkhill
"So... Brisk" by Jonathan Baylis and Lisa Rosalie Eisenberg
So, while there are parts I enjoyed, I can't recommend the book overall. There's too much crap to sift through in this tome and much better anthologies out there to read with a higher overall level of quality.
January 1, 2018
Outstanding ! I loved JT Yost's factory farming story. It was by far the most emotional and powerful story of the anthology. Other favourites included Sam Henderson, Box Brown, Noah Van Sciver, and Josh Bayer. Birdcage Bottom Books has quickly become one of my favourite publishers.
May 17, 2013
*from my Amazon.com review* Digestate perhaps takes its name from the wet by-product resulting from anaerobic digestion (a sort of compost) that would be fitting when one considers the rich creative contributions that have flourished in this anthology. A number of the contributors are vegans or vegetarians yet the tone is never sanctimonious or condescending.
JT Yost who assembled this anthology also submits its most poignant offering; his `Slaughterhouse Stories' is the testimony of an ex-employee of a packing plant. It is an immensely sad and affecting indictment of factory farming and brought me almost to tears. Some of the other entries have a more sympathetic view to the consumption of animal protein; `How To Eat A Chicken' by Sophia Weideman is a simple yet startling contribution that deals with the ritualistic and familial relationship we have with meat.
There are also contributions which are lighter in tone; Marek Bennett's account of his time in Slovakia is cheerful and funny, Jeffrey Brown's `Bacon VS. Asparagus' is rendered in his usual delightful scrawl and Victor Kerlew brings us the bizarre 'Taco Head'.
This anthology is a veritable smorgasbord of stories; some short and sweet, others more substantial and collectively they form a most satisfying meal.
JT Yost who assembled this anthology also submits its most poignant offering; his `Slaughterhouse Stories' is the testimony of an ex-employee of a packing plant. It is an immensely sad and affecting indictment of factory farming and brought me almost to tears. Some of the other entries have a more sympathetic view to the consumption of animal protein; `How To Eat A Chicken' by Sophia Weideman is a simple yet startling contribution that deals with the ritualistic and familial relationship we have with meat.
There are also contributions which are lighter in tone; Marek Bennett's account of his time in Slovakia is cheerful and funny, Jeffrey Brown's `Bacon VS. Asparagus' is rendered in his usual delightful scrawl and Victor Kerlew brings us the bizarre 'Taco Head'.
This anthology is a veritable smorgasbord of stories; some short and sweet, others more substantial and collectively they form a most satisfying meal.
May 29, 2020
Most pages are the annoying type of vege-vegans that need to preach at (not "to") the reader. The meat enthusiasts aren't as annoying but aren't captivating either. It's the ones in the middle and those who have bizarre food issues that make this palatable and savory.
Even though I weigh in at less than seven meat meals a week the "meat is murder" rhetoric makes me very angry. I applaud those who enjoy a plant-based diet for the reasons of health and might even join their tribe if I had a personal chef with the skill to orchestrate it in such a way that I'd never crave meat but regard the other side of the lean-green flesh-free scene with fervent disgust.
THEY HAVE A PATHETIC AND SELFISH GOD COMPLEX. They'd rather an animal not live at all than have a life pre-slaughter. Their death makes them uncomfortable since animals have eyes and brains *-that remind them of themselves-* but support the slaughter of the scythe since they can't relate to the consciousness of plants who are just as alive and aware even though they lack a brain that we can understand. They're fine with giving their greens -who die shortly after being a seed- the veal treatment.
Instead of dedicating their zeal exclusively to the woefully rampant ATROCITY situations that include chicken warehouses, infanticides and force-fed miseries which need ERADICATION entirely they'd rather waste time initiating the ⨂≠worst kind of genocide- denying existence≠⨂. The vast majority of our meat needs us to eat them to afford them the gift of life and a doomed life is better than none at all.
Even though I weigh in at less than seven meat meals a week the "meat is murder" rhetoric makes me very angry. I applaud those who enjoy a plant-based diet for the reasons of health and might even join their tribe if I had a personal chef with the skill to orchestrate it in such a way that I'd never crave meat but regard the other side of the lean-green flesh-free scene with fervent disgust.
THEY HAVE A PATHETIC AND SELFISH GOD COMPLEX. They'd rather an animal not live at all than have a life pre-slaughter. Their death makes them uncomfortable since animals have eyes and brains *-that remind them of themselves-* but support the slaughter of the scythe since they can't relate to the consciousness of plants who are just as alive and aware even though they lack a brain that we can understand. They're fine with giving their greens -who die shortly after being a seed- the veal treatment.
Instead of dedicating their zeal exclusively to the woefully rampant ATROCITY situations that include chicken warehouses, infanticides and force-fed miseries which need ERADICATION entirely they'd rather waste time initiating the ⨂≠worst kind of genocide- denying existence≠⨂. The vast majority of our meat needs us to eat them to afford them the gift of life and a doomed life is better than none at all.
February 12, 2017
With a number of my favourite comic strip, zine, and graphic novel artist/writers and the subject of food, I thought this was a sure bet when I selected it at my local comic book store, using my birthday gift card from my in-laws (pseudo.)
I was WRONG.
My favourites did not disappoint: Jeffrey Brown, Josh Burggraf, Lisa Rosalie Eisenberg, James Kochalka, L. (Liz?) Nichols, Ben Snakepit.
The rest?
As I told my partner, the anthology read like an end-of-term class compilation rather than an edited anthology. So much was just flat out awful.
Edited by JT Yost, I won't buy or borrow and of their other anthologies. Yost's contribution was among the least appealing, least developed.
A massive disappointment overall.
I don't like to give scathing reviews but this anthology was such a let down and full of so much utter garbage. The recurrent gastro-pukers definitely define how I feel about this tome. I hope the 2nd hand bookstore will take it. Ugh.
I was WRONG.
My favourites did not disappoint: Jeffrey Brown, Josh Burggraf, Lisa Rosalie Eisenberg, James Kochalka, L. (Liz?) Nichols, Ben Snakepit.
The rest?
As I told my partner, the anthology read like an end-of-term class compilation rather than an edited anthology. So much was just flat out awful.
Edited by JT Yost, I won't buy or borrow and of their other anthologies. Yost's contribution was among the least appealing, least developed.
A massive disappointment overall.
I don't like to give scathing reviews but this anthology was such a let down and full of so much utter garbage. The recurrent gastro-pukers definitely define how I feel about this tome. I hope the 2nd hand bookstore will take it. Ugh.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
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