Before becoming a very popular and quite controversial political artist, Ted Rall faced a big challenge: How to survive after getting kicked out of college, losing his job, and facing being penniless. What he did was submerge himself in a lifestyle of carefree promiscuity, which he details extensively in The Year of Loving Dangerously.

"Carefree" might not be the best way to describe it. Rall always has concerns about it, although not so much a conscience about how he handles his trysts when it comes to treating his lady conquests gentlemanly. But he does fear for his safety, and an STD scare causes him to reexamine his life in all respects. But before he gets there, he enjoys some rather beautiful sceneries of the flesh.

The book begins in 1984, with Ted a young man ready to sow his wild oats. The book begins with Ted facing one of the mostly unthought-of quirks of the one-night stand: showering in a stranger's place the next morning. Having to use their shampoo and wondering if it's right for his hair type, Ted's dilemma is a metaphor for the larger problems he'll face later on.

The Year of Loving Dangerously contains some nudity and coarse language, as you would expect, but it's not vulgar or obscene. Nor is it really a lesson in morality learned. Rall doesn't have some major epiphany that causes him to change his life (although there are a few minor ones that do give him pause, including a disturbing trip to the emergency room), and the book never enters the territory of "See? This is what will happen if you do this."

The artwork of Pablo G. Callejo is lifelike and gorgeous, with a wonderful 3D quality that makes 1984 seem bright and vivid. It helps bring to life all the experiences of Rall's life back then...and the book makes clear that they were experiences without turning them into bland morality lessons.