'Long Road to Liquor City' by Macon Blair with illustrations by Joe Flood is the story of two hobos on the road to the mythical Liquor City.

Jed and Thanny are a couple bums trying to catch a train when they smell a fresh baked stew pie. Taking the pie has a tragic end and they find themselves on the run from an overly vengeful railroad cop. Their escape leads them to a tent revival and in to the halls of the Hamburger King. They are leaving a trail of destruction in their wake on the way to Liquor City.

This was a loopy story that took weirdly dark turns. It reminded me of something by the Coen Brothers, and that was ok. The art was kind of cartoony which felt weird and upbeat with some of the violent turns.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Oni Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

I giggled a lot during reading this. It’s been quite a while since I’ve finished it and I forgot to post my review, but it was a nice read. If you’re into comics, this might be fun for you

Long Road to Liquor City: For those who have never seen a weiner tree

Oh Macon Blair.. Oh Joe Flood.. Oni Press and the lord in heaven.. Thank you for making this glorious comic.

Two hobos a story does not make.

To get a really amazing story, insert any of the following and shake vigorously: hijinx, a vengeful lawman, a hot dog tree, a one handed dead woman, sexual tension, goat theives, apple pie, crucifiction, treasure maps, river rafting, snake venom sucked from body parts, religious fireballs, walking skeletons, bearded ladies, backfiring guns, spit in a guys ear, carnies, badass ladies fighting the law, dudes kissing dudes, bonfires, false kings, comraderie, the open road..

And of course, the promise of Liquor City at the end of it all..

If only these here hobos could decipher the map, all would be hunky dory.

Get ready for some hobo surgery, someone go boil a pickle.

Amazing artwork! Leans to the rougher sketch soft pencil comic days, and avoids the hypersaturated post anime influence. 5 pages from the end confirmed my suspicions and blew my mind!

This review was based on a review copy supplied by the publisher.

Two hobos on the run after they're falsely accused of murder. This is a humorous graphic novel. I really enjoyed the funny musical cues. The story starts out so innocent with hobos stealing a pie from a window, but it quickly gets darker. From there on, it's quite the adventure. All of the classic tropes from Depression-era stories are present. There's even some queer representation, which happily surprised me.

I enjoyed the concept of this graphic novel, but couldn't really get into it. I'll give this book a 3/5.

This was...OK. The story of two hobos and their misadventures as they try to find the mythical Liquor City. They are hounded by a railroad cop who blames them for the death of his wife. The book is strangely dark sometimes while others being irreverent and goofy. The dialogue is very stilted and olden.

Four and a half stars. This comic looks as if it'd be hard to place, what with its juvenile-seeming artwork, and story peppered with C-bombs, lost hands, snake-throwing religious maniacs, real cock fighting, and so much more. Our legend of two are-they-aren't-they hobos (they're definitely hobos – just read between the lines, as this book expects us to) on the trail of a legendary city of peace and booze is a really good adults-only romp. Riffing off classic hobo tales, from O Brother backwards, and other classic films, this shows great nous, a fine sense of humour and some real gory bits now and then. Malevolent cops, fantasies of escape, circus 'freaks' – yup, I'm already dreading the Cohen brothers film version.

Published by Oni Press on February 19, 2019

Liquor City is a legend, a place of which hobos can only dream. Until, that is, a legendary hobo bequeaths a map to Jed and Nathaniel. They follow the map as best they can, although they aren’t much for map reading. And while even other hobos tell him there’s no such place as Liquor City, Jed has faith. Without faith, Jed says, he has nothing. On the other hand, a woman tells Nathaniel that where you’re heading might not be as important as where you are. The differences between those two points of view drive the amusing but surprisingly serious story told in this graphic novel.

Jed and Nathaniel take an American journey, the kind of journey Mark Twain might have imagined, populated by fools and the scoundrels who fool them. Chased by a railroad guard who holds them responsible for his wife’s death, the hobos make their way to a tent revival and then to a hobo jungle where transgressions are punished by fighting a rooster to the death. (The king of the hobo jungle is thinking of franchising.) They search the swamp for a woman who knows ancient secrets (map reading perhaps being among them) and encounter a human trafficker of circus freaks.

The story is fanciful but entertaining. Nathaniel might prefer a less dangerous journey to New York (he has heard tales of hot dogs on every corner in this magical land) but Jed has been there and the residents are too strange for him — unlike the hobos and circus freaks with whom he travels.

Long Road to Liquor City blends action and laughs, all suitably rendered in an artistic style that straddles the line between cartoonish and noir-inspired realism. While the story features a variety of offbeat characters, it finds its heart in Jed and Nathaniel. The journey tests both their endurance and their bond of friendship. Whether Jed and Nathaniel will overcome their philosophical differences is the question that readers will ponder between chuckles.

RECOMMENDED

2 stars
Just not my cup of tea (or liquor in this case). An interesting, if not exaggerated, story of two hobos searching for a lost city where liquor is plentiful and one has to do nothing. A tall tale of adventure and escapades with plenty of action and close call escapes. Their paths cross a warped law man who is accusing them of killing his wife.
Its all a little too graphic with a lot of strong language for my taste. The story isn’t enhanced by this style at all and the story line is just too absurd for me. Again, this story just didn’t appeal to me. Others will likely thoroughly enjoy the humor and style.
Thank you NetGalley and publisher, Oni Press, for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Two tramps take off for an adventure with high hopes to find their mythical destination: Liquor City. It turns out, though, that finding mythical destinations is not as easy as the two had hoped - but they find something more important instead. This is a good story, well-told and well illustrated, and the turn it takes is only *slightly* unexpected - but it's a good one.

Sit back and enjoy a tall tale about two hobos – Jederex “Jed” Jones & young Nathaniel “Thanny” Mageau – as they embark on a journey to find the legendary Liquor City. These good-natured fellows live the kind of simple unencumbered existence where an abandoned barn in a rainstorm is “very near serenity” and if they have to help themselves to the occasional free meal or jug of wine, well, it's understood that they would gladly pay for these things if they only had the money to give... probably... maybe.

Living off the land as they do involves engaging in a variety of scams, flim-flams, and survival techniques with colorful names like The Cleveland Grab n' Scram, The Georgia Scoot, The ol' El Paso Handshake, The Half-Holy Hustle, and The Santa Fe Spur. Again, it is understood that it's all in good fun. Nothing personal to it. They are just making it a bit easier for the “Haves” to contribute to the well-being of the “Have Nots”... They're actually performing a public service when you consider it that way.

But, alas, as so often happens to the pure of heart and free of spirit, their journey is not an easy one. Along the way they run afoul of a menacing railroad guard who is intent on pursuing them to the very Gates of Hell if necessary. So our heroes (such as they are) make their merry way towards the hobo equivalent of Utopia, at first unaware of the closing pursuit, encountering many wondrous things.

An unseen narrator guides us along with witty asides, theme music suggestions (I could almost hear the twang of the frenetic banjo) and an occasional ominous prediction. At times it kind of made me think of some of the old Disney cartoons (Robin Hood or maybe The Jungle Book). Great caricature-style art, and a truly fun story.

I absolutely loved Long Road to Liquor City! It's fun, irreverent, and silly with the occasional serious moment. The characters of Jed and Thanny would not be out of place in John Steinbeck's Cannery Row or Mark Twain's Huck Finn tales.

I highly recommend The Road to Liquor City. It's a hoot!

WARNING: There is strong language (a few F-Bombs, and other choice words) and some content of an adult nature (more suggestive than graphic).

***I received a free digital copy of The Road to Liquor City through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Two men of the road follow a magical map to take them to Liquor City, a place where liquor never ends and there are no troubles. We walk with them through absurd situations they find themselves in, from being accused of murder to fighting a chicken. There are peculiar characters, weird plot-lines, and big angry pursuers. The story is funny and lighthearted, it had me laughing since the first page. The artwork is also very appealing, it’s colorful, beautiful, and as fun as the storyline. I am looking forward to the next volumes.

With Long Road to Liquor City we follow two hobos, as they follow their dream and map to get to the mythical "Liquor City".
All the while as they hop from train to train, city to city, we have a 'black dog' police officer following them to extract revenge for Maggie.

We have fights with crazy chicken, we have love in the air, jealousy (I called it from the start okay!), and a 'hamburger king' and his crew! Oh also, a crew leaded by a werewolf look a like that just wants to get to New York to live his dream.

It's all done with brilliant humor, nice color choices and a nice art! Easy and fast read!

This was after a very long time comic book from NetGalley that I really like. I giggled a lot of times reading this, there was plenty of absurd and situation humor, I was smiling most of the time. Two tramps are accused of murder (though they didn't do it), they are on their way to Liquor City and story begins. Making fun of religious ones, blood and few disgusting situations. Love. Diverse and interesting characters. Really nice artwork that made a lot of parts even funnier. Don't except any serious and deep dialogues, this is just pure fun, just imagine how bad is life of hobo and what situations are most likely to happen and that's it. That's this comic book.

A fun and different story full of man humor and ''fart jokes''
The book takes us on a journey to find Liquor City with the two Hobos, and we meet a lot of interesting and fun characters that introduce us to a weird universe.
Honestly, this isn't really my genre nor is it my type of humor, but the story line was good, and I did enjoy some of the characters and the art was good - the art is what made me give it 3 stars.
I definitely see potential in it, and for someone with the same type of humor, I do believe they would love the novel.

I chuckled a lot reading this. A great story with the perfect drawings to illustrate. There is just enough humour to keep me smiling and would love to read more. However I still want to hear the punchline of the joke half told. 😜

Plenty of humour in this one as two hobos (men of the road) follow a magical map in order to find Liquor City which is a place of unending liquor and ease. This is volume one and it tells us the story of the men as they set out.

Needless to say their quest is not an easy one and they are wrongly accused of murder and then they become fugitives. They meet a number of colourful and peculiar characters along the way and as they flee their pursuers and bumble along on their quest, they explore the meaning of friendship, love and community. The artwork is good and the story is enjoyable.

Copy provided by Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

The name Joe Flood attracted me to this book as I have enjoyed his work before. I was not disappointed. Long Road to Liquor City is a great example of a historical story told through words and images.