Neal, Andrew – Where the Rent Went

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Where the Rent Went

Finally, the issue the world has been waiting for! It’s (another fraction of) the origin story of Val! More importantly, it’s also the origin of the moment that Val, who wasn’t short on self-confidence already, figured out that damned near everybody she met wanted to have sex with her, leading to the creation of the Val that we see today. That’s getting ahead of things a bit, so let me back up. The issue starts off with Val arriving at home/the site of her upcoming show with her band, and she’s quickly confronted with the fact that the envelope holding the rent money has gone missing. Throughout the issue Val has to find the time to interview each of her roommates, sing in her punk show, and fend off the advances from every character who isn’t 100% gay. This is completely different from the usual Meeting Comics format (even if it is listed as Meeting Comics #21), as there’s no punchline at the end of most pages, just an ongoing and completely engaging story. Things even end in a bit of a mystery, but since it’s an origin comic it’s a mystery that may never be solved. Now that I’m thinking about it, this may be the issue that I’d recommend to people who want to check out the Meeting Comics world but are intimidated by those previous 20 issues. Sure, they wouldn’t get the same rapid fire jokes (although this one is plenty funny), but this is top notch Andrew working his craft, and anybody who started with this one would have a completely different impression of Val right from the start. Yeah, somebody should really do this. I’m curious how they’d react to the regular series after this. Why oh why won’t any billionaires fund me when I come up with bizarre comics experiments like this? Ah well. If it isn’t obvious by now, yes, you should very much check it out. The next issue is apparently a musical issue, which will be a real test for this reviewer. I generally don’t care for musical/poetry issues, but some of his musical strips have made me laugh before. Tune in next week (or the week after, or some time in the next month probably) for that review to find out! $5

Posted on May 26, 2022, in Reviews and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink. Leave a Comment.

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