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Well, they've got to do something during the boring bits...
 (From Anywhere But Here. Click on image to see full-sized image.)
I started reading this comic because the Spacer involved was asking for a bad review for his site. I'd call it whining but it was more joking than whine. *wry grin* And now that I've been bad in this review, on to the fun stuff!
The first thing I thought of when I read the comic was "Hey, that guy looks like he's out of Doonesbury!" closely followed by "I see we have another Bloom County fanatic on our hands." And the delightful thing is, it feels remarkably like something we would have seen in Bloom County. Only... better than much of that comic.
Yes, that's right. I dare blaspheme. Berkeley Breathed is not the epitome of fantastic comics and I feel that Outland and Opus are a pale reflection on the greatness that was Bloom County. Further, while there were some truly great moments in Bloom County, there were also some not-so-great storylines in it, especially near the end.
The thing is, Breathed was good once. And Jason Siebels (who creates ABH) seems to have captured the genie in the bottle and released it into his comic. This thing is funny! It takes the elements that makes a comic funny and uses them... and does so in a comic that is deceptively a gag strip, but actually has an ongoing storyline that's interesting.
We follow the main character, who has remained nameless and who, according to the FAQ, will have his name revealed in the third-to-last strip. It'll be interesting to see if Jason can pull that off. I mean, how often will we have someone call out a name in the distance and then find out they were mistaking our hero for someone else?
The comic starts on a hilarious note (didn't we see this on Bone? Right at the end of one of the comics, soon after Fone Bone found the Valley...) with our hero being slammed with three feet of instant snow. It continues from there, with a coffee barista who insists on going through her spiel even though he's a repeat customer. And then a half dozen girls turning him down in a dozen unique ways.
What's not to love? We have the main character as a confirmed geek and loser, we have an intelligent animal sidekick (well, sort of, he's an iguana with the sarcastic personality of most cats), a cast of friends, Death, a couple of Demons who've quit Hell... it's quite the ride.
I'm just glad I got onto this ride near the beginning. Because it's going to be an interesting five years, I think....
Robert A. Howard
------------------------- Gee, I thought it was panty-shots that caused nosebleeds...
 (From Friendly Hostility. Click on image to see full-sized image.)
Friendly Hostility has been continuing its trip through the surreal these past few weeks, returning (naturally enough) to Collin and Fox (and Bootsie having just returned!) and their move into the apartment Uncle Rafi owns. The move was amusing enough (what with Fox realizing that he wasn't going to be seeing so many scantily-clad college girls wandering through the dorms), but unfortunately we didn't get to see much of Fox's parents (who to me are the best part of this comic).
Still, I've been enjoying these past few weeks. After all, you would think that something would be... awry with Uncle Rafi's apartment. Naturally enough, we soon found out that there was... another resident of the apartment. Or rather, the apartment's refrigerator. A demon had taken up residence, no doubt having learned a thing or two from CRfH's Devil (who first appeared through Waldo and Steve's refrigerator, and having since become a favorite portal to Hell in several fanfics since).
Collin was not amused, to say the least. I suppose a little of his parents has rubbed off on him that he won't suffer a demon living in his fridge, or later in the bathroom when Fox convinces it to move. (Bootsie, of course, sees the cute pointy ears and not the many pointy teeth, and thinks of it as more of a pet than menace.)
I find it interesting that Fox is able to order it around, while Collin remains terrified of our supernatural visitor. I mean, it flashed its teeth at Collin, while Fox just remains unperturbed by it. Which is probably part of the amusement factor.
The latest touch (everyone's nose starting to bleed spontaneously when it speaks its name) was most amusing, and seems to have turned even Fox against our netherworld visitor, but I'm sure we've not seen the last of Cray, or whatever his name is. No doubt it'll move in with Bootsie or down to Uncle Rafi or something, but he's just too amusing to just poof! and vanish forever.
(Why do I suspect if it had been a cute girl demon Collin wouldn't have minded as much? Or at the very least Fox wouldn't have wanted to kick it out...)
Robert A. Howard
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