BOP!: More Box Office Poison collects short stories from Alex Robinson, the creator of Box Office Poison. The pieces come from various anthologies, a one shot issue, and as a special treat, from Robinson’s next work, Tricked. Although BOP! contains odds and ends, Robinson’s odds and ends turn out better than many longer graphic novels. BOP! is a cool B-side collection from a great artist, a real treat for long time fans but good enough to keep newcomers interested.

Box Office Poison started as mini-comics, and the influence still shine through. Robison uses space impressively focusing on small, everyday events. In the longer Box Office Poison trade paperback, Robinson links these stories masterfully making little character observations form larger, complex stories. Because BOP! includes pieces left out of the larger collection, the works here don’t fit together neatly making BOP! more of a companion volume than anything else.

Without any large over-arching plot, BOP! still entertains. Robinson often tells funny stories dealing with relationships, crummy jobs, and working poverty. Robinson’s characters tend to be likable people who almost have everything together in their lives, if only they’d believe a little more in themselves. These are people you’d like to be friends with; or maybe, they already are you friends.

Alex Robison’s art is clean, with attractive character designs. Everything has a slight cartooning influence, which serves to make the characters a little more expressive, but nothing looks unrealistic. He can draw anything, just look at Sherman dancing on the cover.

BOP! is a welcome collection for Box Office Poison fans since it includes a number of hard to find short stories. BOP! will entertain new readers, but the larger trade would be a better place to start. I’m anxiously awaiting new work from Alex Robinson, but in the meantime, some time with some favorite characters can’t hurt.