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Playing with Dolls by Spike

Voyeuristic Sims 2 dramarama; screenshots with marginally amusing text accompaniment, arranged in a story-ish format. Or something. Kind of like a daytime soap opera, if daytime soap operas had bisexual goldiggers having their father-in-law's babies.
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Brigid Sullivan's Review of Playing with Dolls

I've never read anything by Spike I didn't like, and "Playing with Dolls" is at the top of the list.

Oh, Sim games. How I love you. I think most people do. Who doesn't want to play God, after all? Or Chief Architect? Building little cities, waging tiny wars, or even slipping into the microcosm of single neighborhoods of families. A lot of people play Sim games. Very few of them make comics using Sim games. Fewer still make good comics. "Playing with Dolls" is an illustrated narrative using EA Games "The Sims 2" as its illustration. Spike plays the game, guides the characters, and fleshes out their often incomprehensible behavior. It's just a game, and it's just a comic, yet Spike manages to lambast social interaction, family dynamics, sexism, racism, religious charlatans, sexual roles and relations, and internet personalities. It's consistantly funny, although the humor is usually dark. Give it a try. ... read it now!

Gerry Swanson's Review of Playing with Dolls

When I first saw "Playing With Dolls" my first reaction was to say "this is cheating!" Seriously, it's just screenshots from a video game with text beneath. But things aren't so simple. "Playing With Dolls" is actually completely hilarious.

When most people play video games, it's a fun diversion. But when Spike plays The Sims, she creating three dimensional characters who come to life in the most twisted ways imaginable. The story of "Playing With Dolls" centers mostly around the disfunctional Experiment family, but we also get to see other delusional citizens of Pleasantville. Often written in a diary style, we're given a glimpse inside these characters lives and minds, creating a voyeuristic feeling. "Playing With Dolls" is completely worth your time! ... read it now!

Christopher Lowrance's Review of Playing with Dolls

Spike is... surprised by the popularity of this comic. She shouldn't be.

Sure, the art is entirely composed of screen captures from the game Sims 2, but that's not the point. The game is merely a spring-board for Spike's amazingly caustic wit. Seriously, if her wit was liquid and came in little bottles, you could use it to clean concrete mixers.

Fortunantly for everyone other than concrete mixers, Spike's wit comes in the form of prose fiction. She fleshes out the horrid, horrid lives of her Sims one installment at a time, switching between first-person diary entries, close-third narration, and even the occasional goth poem.

If you've ever spent an excessive amount of time trolling Livejournal for no other reason than pure schadenfreude, Playing with Dolls is for you.

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