The coronavirus cometh! Ugh, I already feel bad about writing that. But here I am, moving right along, leaving that terrible opening line up there for everybody to see. All I can do now is bury it under more words so that anybody who made it past that stomach punch of an opening line will eventually forget about it. So yeah, this one is all covid, all the time. Andrew mentioned in the afterward that he was annoyed about his storylines that had to get changed or abandoned because of the pandemic, but since the comic is supposed to reflect current events, he kind of had to. He did think it would be over sooner than it was, and keep in mind that this was in August 2020 and here in February 2022 the current covid wave is finally starting to ebb. Will that be the final variant? Eh, probably not, but who knows? In this issue, everybody is dealing with things in their own ways. Kevin’s house full of people is already basically isolating together, even the new addition of his ska band staying in the garage… until Kevin’s mother comes by unannounced, coughing, with some meatloaf for everybody. The Ribbon Cutters are compelled to go out because of the imitators, and they end up getting an offer they’d really prefer not to refuse. Rob is running errands for everybody and getting free rubdowns out of it. Val is holed up with Tori, who would very much like something to happen between the two of them, at least until something does actually happen. The Whole Foods detective ends up on the front lines, with everything that that entails. Gil has a meeting with a very sick Dark Lord. Don (along with his boyfriend Terry) pull his horrible mother out of the nursing home, and I’m just guessing that’ll be a larger story going forward. And the whole thing even ends on a cliffhanger, which clearly justifies the idea of my reviewing these weekly. Eh, like it’s a tough job or something. These are universally a treat, and watching him flip all these storylines on their heads without missing a beat is something to see. The next issue looks like it’s all about a single day, so a slight shift from the usual format. Um, just in case you needed any time to prepare, I guess. Anyway, now everybody reading this knows: if we get another variant and you’re trapped indoors again, the covid comics in this series start with #14. $5
