Lafler, Steve – Death in Oaxaca

Website

Death in Oaxaca

Since it’s right there in the title, I’d better get something out of the way up front: nobody dies in this issue. Spoiler alert! Ah, it’s always funny to put that alert in after I spoil something. Yep, that’s my resolution this year: instead of not spoiling anything, I’m going to spoil everything! Or not, I haven’t decided yet. Either way that’s not a giant spoiler for this issue, as that “#1” next to the title sure implies that there’s more of this story to come. This series is all about a family who moves to Oaxaca to immerse themselves in the local culture and landmarks. It doesn’t hurt that it also seems to be cheap as hell to live there, and the man in the family is an artist who does freelance work to make some cash. Anyway, the bulk of this issue sets up the family as distinct people: the dad (Rex) is afraid of his own mortality and has an interesting visitor pop up regularly in his dreams, and the mom (Gertie) has a secret life on the side to keep things interesting on her end. The logistics of her secret life intrigue me, and I assume that some sort of “origin story” is going to be coming along shortly. Of course, there’s always the possibility that this will another in the endless series of first issues that never have second issues, but I’m choosing to live in hope. Oh, and there’s also something seriously wrong with their new landlord, but I’m not going to spoil that. Huh, so much for that New Year’s resolution. It’s an intriguing comic and it’s good to see Steve Lafler making comics after his Bughouse days. Granted, it’s likely that he’s been making comics this whole time and I just haven’t seen them, but either way it’s new to me. $4.99