AT HOME: ALEX

Written byMark Kalesniko

That fact that Alex is the only anthropomorphic dog in a small Canadian town full of humans is the least of his problems-in fact, no one actually seems to notice. As he awakens bleary-eyed on a park bench is his hometown of Bandini, clutching a high school yearbook at the opening of Mark Kalesniko's trade paperback, he has bigger things to worry about, namely his new life as a loveless, burgeoning alcoholic, after losing his lifelong dream job as an animator at the libelously named Mickey Walt studios.

Alex collects the former Walt Disney Studios animator's suspiciously autobiographic five-part miniseries of the same name, charting the downfall of the titular protagonist, Alex Kalienka through bought of binge drinking, rage-fueled property destruction and explosive diarrhea, as he attempts to readjust to life in his old hometown, all thanks to his recent inability to draw the cute and funny bunnies the job requires.

It's a grim tale, to be sure, amplified by the starkness of Kalesniko's thin and shakey Schulz-esque lines. There are a few moments humor, and a handful that offer hope-or at least glints of positive change through self-realization.

Alex is alternately entertaining and heartbreaking from panel to panel, from the opening image of a drunk on a park bench in front of a polluted factory backdrop, to its ultimate inability to provide a happily ever after, constantly driving home the point that reality often happens when we least expect it.