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Life Sucks

August 19th, 2008 by

I checked this out from the library, the new graphic novel by Jessica Abel, co-written by Gabe Soria, and drawn by Warren Pleece, after having seen it on the shelf at the comic shop.

Fortunately my loathing for Romero-esque walking dead doesn’t apply to vampires. I enjoyed this a lot, with it being kind of a cross between Buffy and Clerks, with a bit of teen dramedy thrown in. The idea of being immortal not really being a good thing, in that you might just end up being stuck in a shitty-ass dead end job for all eternity, kind of spoke to me in my current work situation. And apparently opening convenience stores is what a Central European immigrant does, whether they’re an all-powerful bloodsucker or not.

It makes for a good modern vampire story, although the goth club came across as a little too cliched for me. But I really liked all the various representations of the vampires, from the club of shop-keepers, the spoiled-brat surfer, to our hero, the vegetarian pacifist. Warren Pleece’s art also seemed very natural, and fit well with the story. It’s realistic, with a subtle feel, and makes the idea of the convenience store clerk being a closet vampire believable.

I want to check out some of Abel’s other stuff now, like La Perdida, and I have to start getting together with Mike to try some of the lessons in Drawing Words & Writing Pictures.

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This entry was posted by on Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 at 4:27 pm and is filed under TPBs/graphic novels. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “Life Sucks”

  1. Martin Says:
    August 19th, 2008 at 4:58 pm

    I can attest to how great this was. Both Florence and I read it, and I really dug it. I had to exercise great restraint not to write a review before Jason did.

  2. florence Says:
    August 19th, 2008 at 10:09 pm

    I did love this, but I also found it heart-wrenching to watch the plausible immortal suffering of a dead-end job!

  3. JeffreyN Says:
    August 19th, 2008 at 10:17 pm

    Definitely check out Jessica Abel’s other work. I have loved her work for a long time and especially love her ability to subtly play with the the medium. She once did a comic for This American Life, explaining how the show is recorded and put on the air.

    Also, the Drawing Words, Writing Pictures is an awesome book. It does such a great job of encompassing the ideas of the Eisner and McCloud books, and providing great exercises. I can’t wait to try some of the exercises myself.

  4. Susie Says:
    August 21st, 2008 at 6:46 pm

    I saw this at Barnes and Noble today, and could not resist buying it.

  5. Martin Says:
    August 23rd, 2008 at 1:45 am

    Florence and I sought out the comic she did for This American Life (because we’re huge fans) and bought it online the other night. (You can find it in the store at thislife.org.)