Jankovic, Dunja – Habitat #2

Website

Habitat #2

There are a fairly large number of comics out there that deal with the various hardships of work and the problems associated with jobs, but this is one of those rare comics that reminds you of an awful fact: we don’t all get to relax at home. In this comic, that’s mostly because all of the little things of life add up to a picture of madness that should get just about anybody down. Hey, what can I say, screw reviewing an upbeat comic on a Monday. Oh, and this is a sequel to Dunja’s “Department of Art,” in case you were looking for the first issue of this series. The first one dealt (obliquely) with life at work, this one just deals with life and all of the seedy bits involved with it. As it’s damned near impossible to summarize this quickly, I’ll just mention some bits in it and you can put it all together in your head. There’s the horror of the landlady (and her quivering chihuahua) demanding the rent as soon as our hero walks in the door, a conversation about how the rent is collected (apparently tenants are required to collect rent from other tenants based on location), getting a song stuck in your head, being unable to fully submerge in a bathtub, and then things break down completely, as our hero is transformed while in the bathtub into… ah, I’ve said too much. Another notable bit of the story is the focus on the creepy crawlies in the apartment complex, as we see the secret lives of mice (turns out that there’s a lot of fucking involved) and follow an ant for a bit while he’s going about his day. The second half of the book is altogether different, and I’m sure you’ll be delighted to discover that difference for yourself. I’m not going to mention the ending at all, but the fact that this will still be continued into another issue blew my mind. I’m not sure how much further it’s possible for this sad sack to devolve (or evolve?), but we’re apparently going to get a chance to find out. Don’t worry if you missed the first issue, this one stands up just fine on its own. And it’s bigger than the first one, so you get a more substantial sense of unease this time around. $9