Mosi, Joana – The Apartment

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The Apartment

Who out there has been in one of those “death by a thousand cuts” relationships? You know the ones, where comments from a partner get more and more low-key hostile and/or passive aggressive until one day you realize that the whole relationship has been hollowed out? If you can’t relate, congratulations on either never dating for long or getting extremely lucky right out of the gate. This comic is, on its face, the story of an apartment going up for sale that’s directly below a couple. Same dimensions, just a floor lower. This, because of where they’re at in the relationship, leads to a series of arguments about how it’s a “better” apartment than theirs, and how they’d be able to have their gym if they bought that one instead. All of this is juxtaposed with quiet images around their apartment, and the story is told almost entirely through blurry, distant images of the couple. That’s the case until almost the end, where there’s a single page shown in realistic, close-up detail, and it’s devastating. If you’re in a rocky relationship at the moment, maybe this one isn’t for you right now? Or maybe it’ll be the thing that lets you take a clear look at your situation and get the hell out of it. Either way, it’s a grim, compelling story that’s expertly told by Joana. $7.99