Rizzo: Year One

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Rizzo: Year One is an anthology of the comic strip Rizzo, authored by Chris Riseley and Sean Simmans, published in 2007 by KCU Comix & Boox.

The book is an anthology of comic strips, "900 pared down to 300," according to the notes, representing the first "year" of Rizzo's documented adventures in Tromso. In fact, the timeline of the book seems to be closer to fifteen or eighteen months, rather than a year, and the strip count is closer to 280-- though there are many supporting illustrations and never-before-seen episodes.

This is the first time the cult hero, Rizzo, has appeared in book format.

1 Characters
2 Story
3 Controversy
4 References

[edit] Characters

Characters include the titular Rizzo, a squat, bald, neurotic writer and teacher, and his friend, Bill, an artist who seems to spend his life in a lizard costume. In addition, there is Rizzo's wife, Roberta; his son, Delroy; the shoeless substance abuser, Byron (allegedly loosely based on a Calgary musician named Byron Davidson); Andy, the devout Mormon across the street; and Tweed, Bill's "pet" extraterrestrial. Bit players like Phil, Rob, Jackie and Mr. Foot, the banker, also make appearances.

[edit] Story

Rizzo: Year One, though billed as a "cohesive whole", hardly reads like a narrative. There is no plot to speak of, other than that Bill continues to live in Rizzo's basement (and garage) despite commiting atrocities that should have gotten him evicted on Day One; and the ever-opinionated Rizzo flits from cause to cause, friend to friend, without ever achieving connection to Utah (where the strip is based) or to the world.

The book is better read as a series of loosely connected and increasingly bizarre skits. Rizzo dresses up as a bear. Bill collects Cuban weaponry. Rizzo encounters the ghosts of his deceased parents. Byron takes out a bank loan in order to buy pot and 33 rpm records. Strong themes include alienation, friendship, consumerism and dark politics.

[edit] Controversy

Rizzo: Year One contains all the 9-11 themed episodes that got the creators, Simmans and Riseley, placed on an FBI watch list. Bush is bashed, repeatedly and gratuitously, and one episode goes as far as to call The President "Homo Ignoramus."

Mormonism is also bashed, lightly, and John Wayne makes an appearance from beyond the grave. The latter is the event that allegedly prompted Mike Blanchard to threaten the strip creators with a lawsuit. The case was settled amicably out of court in September, 2006, and Blanchard has since claimed, in Slug, that he is "a convert to Rizzoizm."