World Famous Comics: Life Sucks (Collector's Edition)
Life Sucks (Collector's Edition)
By: Jessica Abel, Gabriel Soria Publisher: First Second Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: First Second Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 192 Publication Date: April 29, 2008 Reading Level: Young Adult Release Date: April 29, 2008
The girl he’s in love with doesn’t know he exists, he hates his job, and ever since his boss turned him into a vampire, he can’t go out in daylight without starting to charbroil.
Undead life in its uncoolest incarnation yet is on display in this cinematic, supernatural drama told with gallons of humor and hemoglobin. In striking, colorful, B-movie sty;e artwork and light-hearted, intelligent writing by Jessica Abel, Gabe Soria, and Warren Pleece, Dave Marshall’s story comes alive – in a vampiric kind of way.
Night Shift (the original working title) This was a very enjoyable read. I've read my share of graphic novels and this one can hold up to some of the best. The writing reminded me of Robert Kirkman's work on Invincible, as the teenagers are really believable characters.
Sure, this is really a vampire book, but it's much more. There's a lot of philosophical reflection done in here, and also some scenes that very funny. In my opinion the character Rosa steals the show. I teach high school and have had many Latina students that struggle with identity like Rosa does. The goth club scenes in here are really well done, even if they are quite sarcastic.
A Marxist take on vampirism? First things first: I'm a friend of Jessica Abel's husband Matt Madden, and more recently a friend of Jessica, too. Take this review with a grain of salt if you must, but I'm not trying to do any log-rolling here.
I'm not an avid comics reader, naturally. I'll occasionally buy one here or there if it looks interesting, but I'm no comics geek. Still, LIFE SUCKS has a lot of interesting thought put into it, and one of the phrases that comes to mind reading it is "blood-sucking capitalists", or "getting rich on the blood of the proletariat" (I guess that's two phrases, actually). LIFE SUCKS takes an economic view -- though one that is not heavy-handed -- on life, and applies it to vampirism, where the vampire "haves" prey on the "have-nots." Which is not to say it's a dense political screed, because it's definitely not. It is, by turns, funny, romantic, violent, noble, ignoble, and a study of characters. It's also about the compromises people make as they grow up, even if they will never grow old and die. I might even say that it offers the perspective that mortality is a benefit, in that one doesn't have to compromise whatever integrity a person has for an infinite amount of time, until there's no integrity left; a mortal can still die with pride intact.
Which is to say that there's more to LIFE SUCKS than meets the eye. It works wonderfully well as entertainment, but it works on a more philosophical level, too -- it's thought-provoking!
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