Meet Oldguy: your regular aging superhero whose powers have dwindled over the years, and whose very mechanics are seriously fizzling. In seriocomic misadventures, Oldguy valiantly attempts to continue his former heroism in a somewhat wry version of Faulknerian endurance, defeating his enemies time and again--if not through superhuman abilities, then at least by 'outliving the sons-a-bitches.' With comic book-style illustrations, Oldguy inhabits a space all to itself--not strictly a poetry collection, not quite a graphic novel--in a hybrid comic-chapbook sure to visually and aurally delight.
About the Author :
The current Poet Laureate of Missouri, William Trowbridge is the author of six full poetry collections and three chapbooks. His new collection, Tilt-A-Whirl, is forthcoming from Red Hen Press in 2017. His awards include an Academy of American Poets Prize, a Pushcart Prize, a Bread Loaf Writers' Conference scholarship, a Camber Press Poetry Chapbook Award, and fellowships from The MacDowell Colony, Ragdale, Yaddo, and The Anderson Center. He lives in the Kansas City area Tim Mayer is an artist working from Omaha, Nebraska. He has contributed art to projects such as The Anywhere Man, Midnight Circus, and Prophetica. He also teaches for the Art of Imagination program at the Ollie Webb Center.
Review :
Welcome Oldguy: Superhero—Bill Trowbridge’s hilarious guide to the perils and sly pleasures of aging. In this reader-friendly collection, Oldguy earns his superhero status when, among other adventures, he takes a driver’s test, gets a physical, and confounds Death himself. Shattering preconceived notions of senescent angst and addled-ness, Trowbridge imbues Oldguy with an enviable inner life full of covert panache. Oldguy: Superhero is an exhilarating read that I didn’t want to put down except to laugh and to shake my seventy-eight-year-old head in admiration. Oh, and Oldguy sings, too. You don’t want to miss that.
— Ron Koertge, author of Yellow Moving Van
When has geezerhood been handled so appealingly? (Well, except for those movies where Ann-Margret is inexplicably cast as a senior citizen.) Oldguy may exit the Oldguymobile creaking and farting, but comedian-con-simpatico Bill Trowbridge so ably super juggles hijinks and empathy that, despite all the geriatric odds, a true American hero is born. Don’t know a ‘Packard’ from the ‘Oscar Meyer Wienermobile,’ or ‘Roundheads’ from ‘the Blob’? Then snap your trap shut, punk, and give a listen: Oldguy’s here to save your day.
— Albert Goldbarth, author of Saving Lives
Author featured in I-70 Review's 2021 edition literary magazine.
