Author: Mark Kalesniko
Publisher: Fantagraphics

This book is a collection of short scenes in the life of the protagonist, depicted as a floppy-eared puppy, growing up in the small town of Bandini. The main character is ruthlessly picked on by his classmates, refuses to develop a relationship with his father, and keeps making the wishful statement "It has to be better when you're a grown-up."

The Pete Duel of the title was a real actor who killed himself in 1971. Our protagonist asks himself the question in the title, but this choice of title seems to be the response to the main character's wish; it doesn't get any easier.

And you're right; this does come across as a little too much teenage angst, a little too much feel-sorry-for-me autobiography. What rescues the book, though, is the strong artwork and storytelling ability of Mark Kalesniko. He does a great job establishing a mood and allowing the pictures to speak for themselves, like the wordless two-page spread of the main character watching a train go past, capturing the desire to escape, the thoughts of suicide, the overwhelming sense of despair the character feels perfectly. But then we get a reading of the poem Richard Cory which feels too obvious to fit in with some of the other pieces.

I think that if I had not already read Mail Order Bride by Kalesniko I would have thought much more highly about this work, but instead I can only see this as the practice ground for the later, much more accomplished, work. If you've already enjoyed Mail Order Bride this isn't a bad book to read as you will appreciate the art and some smaller examples of touching and troubling moments between characters, but this work doesn't seem to allow itself to be as honest with itself to give it a similar weight.