I Seem To Be On A Black And White Kick

True Story, Swear To God: 100 Stories (2004)
AiT/Planet Lar
Tom Beland, writer and artist

I don't remember when or where I first heard of Tom Beland's autobiographical True Story, Swear To God series, but I must have heard good things that made me curious to give the series a try. So a few years back, I purchased the first 10 issues of the second volume of the series.

I didn't know at the time I bought these issues from Image Comics that they were from the second volume of the series, but the first issue played catch-up, recapping how Tom met his fiance, Lily, on a trip to Orlando, Fla. Tom, from the Napa Valley, fell in love at first sight upon meeting Lily, who hails from Puerto Rico.

The rest of those 10 issues detail the point in the pair's relationship where Tom has relocated to Puerto Rico to be with Lily and must get used to a new culture and strange language. It's a funny, romantic, easily relatable story told in an entertaining way. And Tom's art is simple, clean and cartoony, and his characters are very expressive.

I wanted to read more of the story, so I recently went looking for issues from the first volume of the series and found the Image collection True Story, Swear To God Archives Vol. 1. Along with that volume, I also saw this trade, True Story, Swear To God: 100 Stories. While the Archives book collects the entire first volume of the title, originally self-published by Tom about meeting Lily and the early days of their relationship, the 100 Stories volume is a little different.

When Tom first met Lily, he was working as a cartoonist and page designer at a local newspaper. The cartoon strip Tom produced bears the same name as his eventual comic book series, and covers much of the same territory: his family, daily life in the Napa Valley, his budding relationship with Lily and his experiences learning about the Puerto Rican culture. The only major difference is that instead of a single, continuing narrative like in the comic book series, the True Story strip is more random slices of life.

This collection made me laugh and nod my head in shared understanding just as much as the True Story, Swear To God comic series, both volumes. My life is not identical to Tom Beland's, but the experiences he shares are told in a way that emphasizes the universal experiences we all go through. Pick up any of his books, and if you don't feel something, you're no longer human!

Here are a few more samples to enjoy: