Snake Pit 2008

Description

Follow Ben's life through a transitional period, starting the year off with punks and puke and then mellowing out into watching TV and going to bed early. The way he lives his life may have changed, but the way he draws it is still the same honest, real, sloppy Snakepit that we all know and love.

Ben Snakepit is a freelance artist and author of the zinesGoing to California, Pills, and Snakepit. He lives in Austin, Texas.

"Snakepit is a comic zine written by this dude Ben Snakepit. He draws a comic every day of his life. It's three panels and it's pretty repetitive. It's that same repetition though that makes it so awesome. Despite playing in bands and drawing for "Razorcake," Ben mostly just watches movies with his girlfriend, goes to work, hands to mouth it and gets high. Sometimes he gets drunk. It's a really great book/zine. I highly recommend it." --"Korrupt Yr Self Sux" " ... I almost wish time away so I can read his 2009 book and at my age wishing time away is a no no." --"Askew Reviews" ""Snakepit" is a rare glimpse into someone else's life. The ups and downs and how much can be accomplished juggling priorities like work, relationships, and outside interests; White's are music and cartooning." --"Midnight Fiction" "Ben imbues his quick tales with honesty, modesty and an animation style reminiscent of Mitch Clem's -- so if you're an internet punk nerd, this should be comfortable territory." --PunkNews.org "Ben White, a.k.a, Ben Snake Pit, is a member of cool bands. He draws. He endlessly gets high and drunk. He has a babe girlfriend who cooks him rocking meals. He has a cute dog and gets to live in Austin, Texas, the slacker capital of the free world. He also has to work a day job that isn't so great, but at least he has one. Basically, Ben Snake Pit lives the DIY life you once lived, wished you had lived or are happy to live through vicariously by reading his comics. The Snake Pit comics themselves are all three panels in length and while entirely in black and white, they are vibrant and fun. Each strip more or less follows the one before it which allows the reader to follow Ben Snake Pit on his day to day escapades. One of the fascinating realizations in doing so though, is that as you follow someone day to day, you are reminded that even the coolest life has its quotidian elements. Like all of us Ben Snake Pit fights with his significant other, gets colds and experiences disappointment, frustrations and sadness. If Snake Pit at times lacks a more in-depth look at what Ben Snake Pit is truly feeling much of the time, it does subtly capture how even punks slowly, inevitably, get older and start to grow-up, as they open bank accounts, lose friends, occasionally need more sleep and discover touches of gray in their beards. Ultimately, we all need to get through the day, but as the Snake Pit comics remind its readers, how we get through it is up to us." --Ben Tanzer "If Jack Kerouac listened to The Marked Men and Toys That Kill, became a cartoonist and had decided to reduce all accounts of his daily life to 3 panels per 24 hours over the course of several years, he still wouldn't have created a more consistently engaging, entertaining and shit-your-pants funny series of books than Ben Snakepit has. And that's a fact. --Chynna Clugsten, "Blue Monday" "Snakepit is the visual embodiment of DIY punk as it unfolds in its three panels, a day at a time. Much like life itself, on the surface-and to the casual observer-none of this may look like much. Ben sits around, eats buffets, gets high, plays in bands, and works at a video store. Each of Ben's days has an accompanying soundtrack song. Music's definitely important to Ben, but the true driving force is the people he meets; what beats in his friends' hearts, and not merely what's on their t-shirts. Pushing around all the edges, like pieces of paper cut out and carefully rubber cemented into place, are real snapshots of life-as-it's-happening. And when the watershed days do come-Ben finds long-term love this year-they resonate even deeper." --Todd Taylor, "Razorcake"