Optical Sloth

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Meeting Comics #15

And here I was thinking that Andrew would probably change his format to accommodate his teased storyline that covered a single day. Nope! Same four panel structure, but it all ended up coming together quite nicely. If anybody is coming into this review completely blind and is feeling a bit lost, well yeah, this is a review for the 15th issue of the series. I’m assuming you’re imaginary, but if you’re not, hop on that Meeting Comics train already! So what are the stakes this time around? Val has completely let herself go after finding out that her entire team has been laid off. Kevin has grown a pretty rough quarantine beard and enough time has finally passed for him to rejoin everybody else. The Ribbon Cutters find out about a bootleg mask operation that’s selling their likenesses as PPE for the covid. We find out that Mitch also has an old connection to Val. Tori finally goes off on her own. And since this issue was made during the summer of 2020, you know what that means! That’s right, protests. Not just protests, but the little things about them too, like how the cops used children for propaganda purposes (which I’ll be calling copaganda from now on, which I did not make up, since it sums up the idea in the name) and a Karen making everything about her. Throw all of those elements into a stew, and voila, you get a comic about a single day (that’s really about everything that happened while Andrew was making the comic about one day, but it still works). I guess if you’re an anti-masker and one of the dopes who think that BLM protestors burned down entire cities there won’t be a lot for you here, but if that’s the case I’m alarmed that you ever made it here to begin with. For the rest of us normal folks there’s a lot to love about this issue, just in case you thought he was going to fall on his face while attempting something new. Nope. Buy his comics, why don’t you? $5

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Meeting Comics #14

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

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Meeting Comics #13

In this issue, the undisputed star of the 20’s finally makes its appearance: give it up for the coronavirus! It’s only a few strips in this issue, but if I had to relive the early, awkward and confused days of the virus, this is the perfect comic to do it. Still, this issue is mostly just regular strips about the gang, so maybe I should tell y’all what this one is all about, huh? Subjects include an awkward misunderstanding about adulting, a delighted and clueless white man who’s thrilled about how “everybody” gets the day off for MLK day, a Trump impeachment song (first impeachment, and it’s hilarious that I have to specify), finally getting a dress that has it all, a rapping clown whose sole duty is to break the news to fired employees, a miscommunication about the attendance policy for the company orgy, and a brief (and, for Kevin, sexually awkward) trip back into the origin story of Val. As usual, that’s only the first half of the strips, meaning that I’m not going to get into any specifics about the corona strips. Ah, we were all so young and confused about the whole thing back then. And the Ribbon Cutters! Good lord, it feels criminal not to mention what they did in this issue, but I must stay strong! There’s also the return of Mitch Cranberry, and clearly I can not be trusted to stay quiet about what’s in the rest of this issue so the reader can discover it for themselves, so I’m shutting this review down. It’s still hilarious, but that was mostly true at the beginning. What it has at this point is hilarious strips along with some serious depth for the characters, so maybe you should do what I’m doing and try to catch up with the series. $5

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Meeting Comics #12

It’s an issue with a theme! If you’re just jumping into my weekly Meeting Comics reviews at #12 and are wondering what I’m talking about, you know what? I’m not going to hold your hand. Go back and read the other ones to make sense of it. If there’s one thing the consistent childishness of the antimask folks proves, it’s that coddling doesn’t do a damned thing. That’s right, antivaxers turned me militant against recaps! It’s all makes sense somehow. So what’s the theme? There’s a movie premiere coming out, and it has music from Kevin’s band, an invitation to appear for the Ribbon Cutters (yep, now there are officially two of them), and is directed by Val’s old boyfriend. So right away there’s obvious tension all around. Not that Val’s ever tense, but her appearance is bound to make things awkward for her ex and Rob. Hey look, that’s what the sample image is all about! Also the Ribbon Cutters confront both bootleggers (who are selling merch without permission) and two imposters who also went to the premier as the Ribbon Cutters. That whole storyline unfolds beautifully, so I’m not going to spoil any other twists and turns. Still, there were a few other strips in here that were unrelated to the premier, and I reckon it won’t hurt anybody to briefly talk about them. There’s Don learning that his mother is somehow becoming even more of an asshole, Val coming to Kevin’s Thanksgiving dinner, Val promoting somebody else to the management team, and one of the gang getting to ask a single question of the Dark Lord about anything they want. Wow, I guess more of this comic was about that premier than I thought. He also mentions in his afterward that the comics are going to start being about the pandemic as of the next issue because hey, that’s what was going on in real life at the time. Good thing that’s over with, says I from the comfort of 2/3/22, when deaths are only… a couple thousand a day? Yikes. Anyway, give it a shot! This might also be a good one of to show to newbies to get them interested, as it’s more or less self contained. $5

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Meeting Comics #11

I should have thought of this ages ago, but what the heck, it’s never too late, right? Here’s my Meeting Comics challenge for y’all, and it actually extends back to all the other reviews. Can you read the sample comic without laughing? I guess I’m giving away the game about how easy it is to determine whether or not you want to give a comic a shot, but seriously. I just started to go into all the ways that it’s funny before remembering that doing such a thing is a guaranteed method to kill humor, so never mind. If you can look at that and not even crack a smile, I’m afraid your inner joy has been murdered, my friend. So, what’s new this time around? Gil gets to meet the in-laws, and what a group they are. Ribbon Cutter is already sharing the crimefighting duties with his wife, but who’s the mysterious new figure who’s also wearing scissors? Don eventually gets out of the hospital, and he has something to show everybody. The shadows are loose! There’s also a clown involved, which is new. As always, that leaves roughly half of the book completely unmentioned, so don’t worry, there’s still plenty of brand new funny here for you to uncover. Bring a copy to your next office meeting! If they get an attitude about it, just say that it’s about how to make meetings better, which is clearly indicated by the title. Who knows, maybe they’ll even fall for it! $5