Laid to the Bone
Well, for once the internet has mostly failed me. I’ve been trying to figure out if this comic is part of a series (Mike and Kevin work on a strip called “Truth Dart”), and these look like some of the same characters based on the few strips I’ve found online, but I still can’t tell for sure. So how about I treat it like any old comic off the street and not a research project? That’s worked for me so far, more or less. This is the story of two people who I assumed were dating for the bulk of the comic but I later learned I was completely wrong on that one. Um, spoiler alert, unless that’s already established in the strips, in which case never mind. Things start off with the two of them at a party and the lady asks the dude to spit in her mouth to cheer her up. They do, everybody sees it, and a new party game is born! From there we see them hanging out, mostly in her apartment, mostly drunk, and spending endless amounts of time together, which also includes burning each other with cigarettes. The dude half has a crush, because this is how these things work in the real world, but is resigned to being friend after a decade of that being the case. “Resigned” is maybe too strong a word; the guy seems content with the situation as it is. From there we get a sudden shift to the perspective of the lady as she tries on old swimsuits and wonder why her body seems to be wasting away. There’s some sadness in both halves, but what I mostly came away with was the story of two people who were bored alone but happy together, even if neither one of them seemed to fully understand that. The full page panels and the sparse text also make it feel a bit like a visual poem. I’m not seeing any samples online but it is available to buy, so maybe check out a few of their strips and then take a chance on this comic. $5
