I feel like there’s a certain type of old school comic reader who would still, somehow, in this disastrous world of ours, make a fuss over the fact that the image on the cover never occurs in the comic, so I’ll acknowledge that that’s the case. But what’s in the comic is even better than them somehow making their way to space, so don’t worry about it! There are four stories in this Eisner award winning series (hey, congrats!), along with the usual and constantly growing array of ads, and this time even a letters page. First up is the dramatic tale of Alana saying that she’s quitting the sisters to become a tattoo artist. How will her friends react? Will anybody take her seriously? Will she be any good at inking tattoos? OK, no more hypothetical questions in my review, but you know I’m not going to answer any of them. Next up is a story of the boys going nuts for Pokeman cards and buying them all up before some local kids can get theirs, which leads to them getting offered old baseball cards out of pity, which leads to the birth of a new and terrifying villain. Or maybe just a walking public service announcement? Dammit, I said I was done with the hypotheticals. Boozy Bee’s wife almost gets caught in the act, but can she manage to hide her lover before… ugh, once you start with the questions you just can’t stop. Finally there’s the story of a man, his wallet, the need for cash to buy shawarma and an irresistible ad for massage service. The need to ask another hypothetical question is killing me, but I’ll move past it. It’s another solid issue, and they’ve built up such a massive cast of characters that the Santos Sisters don’t even need to be in every story to still have a fun comic. Buy that collection from Fantagraphics why don’t you, then get caught up with the individual issues? They work fast, so you’re running out of time to catch up before it becomes a hopeless task. $5
