Inside cover, small text paragraphs. "Has the room opposite Owen's, and conveniently, is dating him as well, which is nice". (first line) Well no, actually its not. I really hate comics that start with an introductory page were the reader exerts all that there is about the characters, eg. "Owen is the pillar of the household." Theres an assumption I care for these seven characters from the get-go and do I fuck. Sorry, but they're not my part-fictional constructs and its five lines of size 6 font. So I avoid the rest of that page and go straight for the comics.
Though an English book, its got a permeating American goodness to this tale of flatshare. Visually, it stechnically efficient though much of the dialogue lacks accentuation, and everyone looks lipglossed for prime-time Tv - at best, theres a girls comic feel to some of the visuals, the characters lost in an 80s pop haze. The first tale centres round the payment of rent, and a hostage situation at the estate agents. Other than that, its all a bit silly in a semi-serious sort of way.
Following, is a seven page story script between two of the characters attempting to develop their emotional relationship. Living in a bustling student town I can relate to these people, but removed from that social environment I'd be less sure of their existence. A tad waffly but not a terrible piece of writing. Its marred by my return reference to the character bios, in that context, theres inconsistency and unbelievability. Otherwise, well-formatted not terrible but adequate ear for dialogue that may be going somewhere.
The final strip involves a burglar who firebombs the flat. For some reason, I'm not quite sure. The author seems intent on making me think its all above board. Apart from the fish... The collection rounds out with a two and a half page email from one character to another about magical aura cleansing, at least I guess thats what its about.
Turns out these are pieces from a webcomic and the whole lots up online. Amidst worries about authors not understnading how the web can work to adapt their stuff, we here have a webcomic artist who doesnt understnad how print can best present their creative skills. Weird times.
Little attachment in this 32 page A5 colour cover. (2006)