Despite Everything: A Cometbus Omnibus by Aaron Cometbus If you've ever been a reader of fanzines, then there's no doubt that you've at least heard of the almighty Cometbus. For over 20 years, Aaron Elliot has been self-publishing this impressive fanzine full of journal entries, fiction and interesting historical sidenotes. His dedication to quality over quantity and to producing a completely consistent body of self-published work has made Cometbus legendary in underground circles. Despite Everything: A Cometbus Omnibus is an extensive collection of 20 years of Cometbus fanzine. Weighing in at 608 pages, you can be assured that all bases are covered, from his early "embarassing" issues up until the present. Even if you're one of the rare few who owns every issue of Cometbus, this is an essential purchase with plenty of extra goodies thrown in for good measure. In the computer age, the word "personal" has often carried negative connotations. With the glut of whining web-logs, self-obsessed personal webpages and reality TV, most people would be happy to live their life not touching or viewing a single thing that carries that tag. But, to describe Cometbus as anything but a personal journey of self-reflection, struggle and joy would be an injustice. The difference lies in Aaron's approach to showing readers his world. Everything has a purpose and a place, and it's obvious that with each issue he has gone above and beyond the realm of your average web-logger or personal zine creator to pick out what's important and trim away the excess. Above all, Aaron is a story-teller, and a fabulous one at that. If you're already initiated, I won't have to say much to convince you that this is the most entertaining and informative book you will buy this year. But for those who haven't yet caught the Cometbus bug, let me give you a brief glimpse of what you're in for- A walking tour of Berekely, CA complete with hand-drawn map, trips through Europe, everything you ever needed to know about Greyhound buses, comics, interviews with people that walk a road all their own, the adventure of getting to a punk rock show, hitchhiking, coffee, cereal, and on and on and on. Most importantly, it's not the subject matter that will draw you into this collection, but the way everything is presented. Every single page is reproduced exactly as it appeared in the original Cometbus fanzines. Aaron's meticulous handwriting relays each section, scattered through a series of bold graphics, photographs and clippings. Last Gasp did a terrific job reproducing the pages of this book, and in a lot of cases, I think the pages actually look crisper than some of the originals. You'll even find extra materials like pages of the zine during editing, fliers that Aaron has created with his signature Xerox art and even a small scrapbook section with additional photos and artwork. Top notch production on this one. At $14.95, you'll do a lot better to swipe up a copy of this book than paying upwards of $25 to buy earlier issues of Cometbus on eBay. This is the real deal- a testament to what can be done in a relatively short amount of time when someone actually applies the creative do-it-yourself ethics of punk to their own life. Despite Everything: A Cometbus Omnibus> is not only the most entertaining book I've read this year, but it is also easily the most inspiring piece of work I've come across in ages.