True stories of unusual deaths make for the perfect counterbalance to Gennis’s artwork. Straddling the fence between caricature and realism, Gennis, with bold black strokes, is able to coldly render facts, as well as dark humor, with surgical precision. Franz Reichelt and S.A. Andrée both failed, but Gennis is able to depict their tragedies with scathing irony. Reichelt fell to his death from the EiffelTower while attempting to construct a workable parachute, but only two days before, an American successfully parachuted from the Statue of Liberty. S.A. Andrée and his crew attempted to hot air balloon to the North Pole—they quickly became the stuff of mysteries until their bones were discovered over thirty-three years later. Sure, Gennis is affirming that life is cruel—and bleakly humorous—and that the irreproachable machinations of chaos are endless, but a few pages of great comic storytelling is somehow able to make some sense of it. The zine is bookended with annotations and a selected bibliography in case you wish to delve deeper. Support her work and pick up something with her name on it. Highly recommended. –Sean Arenas (emigennis.com)