Go, Dork. Go!: The Collected Dork Tower Volume VIII    by John Kovalic Order:  USA  Can Dork Storm Press, 2005 (2005) Paperback     Reviewed by Lance Victor Eaton If the Dork Tower series had a subtitle, it would have to be something along the lines of 'The Complete Pop Cultured Geek.' This volume of collected web-comics really does overflow with a great range of pop culture, and while only the highest ranked geek will enjoy all the jokes, your average geek will get a great many of them. And let's face it, there's a bit of geek in all of us. Whether your source is Buffy the Vampire Slayer, American Idol, MTV, or Lifetime, there's some snippet of culture at large that makes you drool, and you may be at times embarrassed to admit to this fixation. Don't worry; there's help in the form of The Dork Tower series, which lets us geeks on the inside celebrate our quirks and appreciate each other's eccentricities. Igor, Ken, Matt, and Carson the dog dominate most of the panels, with occasional cameos from other people, both famous and mundane. Ranging from one-panel to several pages (as well as ongoing themes throughout several individual pieces), these shorts focus on pop culture events from the past five years. Concentrating mostly on such things as video games, sci-fi and fantasy movies, comic books, special events such as the Star Wars Trilogy DVD release, computers, and other related pockets of geekhood, the artist, John Kovalic still ventures beyond his borders on occasion to throw a curve ball to his readers. The only real deviation in format and art is the occasional pseudo-advertisement which provides momentary distraction from the continual set-up and delivery of jokes that comes to dominate these strips. Not that this is bad, but often compilations like these are best taken in several sittings rather than a single one. This is the kind of graphic novel that you put on your coffee table and flip through in-between commercials of your favorite geeky show; be it Star Trek reruns, Sci-Fi Channel premier movies, or the season finale of Lost. Not every strip will get you laughing or even smiling in this volume, but more than enough will strike a chord of amusement that will keep you flipping through to the end. Its timeliness to geek cultural events and fantastic way of getting right to the center of the many dilemmas geeks must face with the never-ending quest for entertainment and community explains why so many people read the web-comic on a daily basis and why these graphic novels are so popular. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Fantasy books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews