TOO COOL TO BE FORGOTTEN has that perfect melding of title and cover that makes for a perfect image, so absolutely clever and funny that it begs to be read. Luckily, the story inside lives up to the hype of the outside imagery.

Andy Wicks wants to quit smoking. Now 40, he’s been puffing away since he was 15, when he took his first drag while trying to look cool at a party. It led to a lifetime of addiction. As a full-grown man in middle age, with a wife and two daughters, he desperately wants to kick the habit but has found it difficult, if not impossible, in the past.

When his wife drags him to a hypnotist, he’s not sure what to think. But he’s willing to give anything a try, no matter how goofy it may seem. And so he finds himself in a center for holistic medicine undergoing a procedure he doesn’t know what to make of --- especially when he awakens from his trance as a 15-year-old in 1985. (Those who are math-inclined may notice the timing is a little off, which is most likely intentional: Either the modern-day portion of the story is set in 2010 or the numbers aren’t meant to add up. It’s probably the former, but this is a book that comes with the following disclaimer, so the latter is possible too: “Page 84 includes an error in which the protagonist…thinks the word “Dad” instead of “Did.” This will not be corrected…. We apologize if the author’s stubborn refusal to listen to reason, demands or threats at all diminished your enjoyment…”)

The author, Alex Robinson, has made a name for himself with the graphic novels BOX OFFICE POISON and TRICKED. Here, he manages to deliver a subdued work that perfectly walks the line of wittiness and pathos. Alex isn’t desperate to relive his teenage years --- he barely made it out the first time --- but he is determined to understand what he’s doing here and why. When he gets the chance to amend his younger days and to approach his love life with the courage of an adult rather than an awkward teenager, he does so only for his own edification, not for revenge or for the opportunity to take advantage.

Robinson wisely saves the book’s most tender moments for the riveting finale. The payoff is not so much a surprise --- it can’t be; it feels too right and too familiar --- but it still catches the reader off-guard.

TOO COOL TO BE FORGOTTEN is full of some special touches, too. Fans of sci-fi and fantasy who have contemplated the ramifications of time travel will appreciate Andy’s dilemma regarding the perplexities of what’s going on (like how much can he change in the past and still arrive at the future he knows?). Andy’s amazement at the sheer potential that was present back in high school serves as a touching reminder of what brought him there in the first place, a need to quit something that was holding him back and threatening his future. The conclusion he ultimately reaches in this regard is the true emotional center of this excellent work.