The world of the graphic novel would not be complete without additions such as “Tricked” by Alex Robinson, which fills the niche of slice-of-life stories that have no fantasy elements what so ever. More in line with Will Eisner’s “A Contract With God”, “Tricked” follows the lives of a few unrelated people who are brought together by one single act of random violence. Unfortunately, while “Tricked” fills the gap between the fantasy and science fiction that populate the genre, it does not do it well. Published in 2005, this graphic novel leaves something to be desired not only in story, but in artwork.

The story of “Tricked” follows a washed-up rock star trying to rebuild a career, a temporary personal assistant working for him, a woman who works at a diner, the two homosexual owners of said diner, a woman looking for her real father, a man who works in a card shop creating fake autographs, and the man who brings them all together because one day he decides not to take his medication, ending up having a psychotic episode and confronting all of these people at once. While the characters are convincing in their particular roles, there is very little to like about most of them. All have their own flaws, whether it is partying to excess, naiveté, or just a negative self image, all of which could have been forgiven if these flaws were not beaten into the reader on every single page.

The plot of each individual story could have been written more cleverly. While Alex Robinson was concerned with showing us every aspect of the lives of his characters, a lot of the filler could have been cut out. There was a lot to this 320 paged book that could have been left on the editing floor while the plot of the story continued to make sense. A few of the characters did not even seem necessary, seeing as they really played no more part in “Tricked” than to fill pages and be something to fill in the background when the climax finally arrived.

Perhaps the greatest sin of “Tricked” was not that its pages that seemed to stretch on for eternity were so very long and thick that it made this author want to put the book down and never pick it up again, it was that the back cover promised an act of shocking violence in a conclusion that would leave the reader breathless, and that was one promise that was most certainly not fulfilled. The climax of the graphic novel came far too late to have any real impact, as most readers would want the story to be over one hundred pages ago. It was also not that shocking in a world populated by stories by the likes of Frank Miller and Alan Moore, where such a miniscule event would mean nothing in the grand scheme of things.

When evaluating the artwork of this graphic novel, one can only compare it to the doodles of a college newspaper comic strip, with less topical humor. The characters are all in black and white, and have crude, just outlined features, making them more cartoon-y than more of the sophisticated graphic novels on the market. All hair is either black or left white to indicate blonde, while others are left bald to seemingly save time on that particular aspect. Uncomfortable smiles and grins are either a single upturned line, or an oval with straight lines to indicate teeth, and in all reflect an art style that never evolved past that doodling stage most eighth graders went through.

If you are a person who enjoys being cornered at a party by someone who knows something about everything, and has a story to tell about his or her husband’s brother’s roomate’s girlfriend, then “Tricked” is a graphic novel you will definitely enjoy. Unrelated stories that have little pointless offshoots combined with long-winded dialogue and mediocre art define this book, and while it gains points for the effort put into the storylines, in the end it just makes it all a big mess.