Life Sucks

Jessica Abel, Gabe Soria & Warren Pleece

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Life Sucks is an original graphic novel from First Second Books written by La Perdida's Jessica Abel, with art by Gabe Soria and Warren Pleece. The book follows Dave, who works a crappy job as The Last Stop convenience store, and happens to have recently been made a vampire by the owner to work the night shift and be his general lackey. A lifetime at a dead end job - doesn't seem too promising for him. Until he meets the girl of his dreams, Rosa. Dave doesn't think he has much of a chance with the beauty, but he soon becomes acquainted with her and strikes up a rivalry with fellow vampire Wes for her affections.

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I really enjoyed this book. Abel plays with your expectations of the vampire mythos in a witty book with some really fantastic dialogue. It reminded me quite a bit of Clerks just because of the setting of the convenience store mixed with the humor and how Dave and his vampire friend kind of hang out while working their crappy jobs. But this isn't Clerks with vampires. It has a really riveting story with some pretty compelling, likable characters. The book focuses on the blooming romance between Dave and Rosa, but there's plenty of stuff going on on the sidelines to make for a pretty rich book. Dave is kind of like Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer in a way, as he's "vegetarian." He doesn't kill for his food, even though it makes him weaker and gives him a severe disadvantage over his rival for Rosa. But that's the kind of guy he is: Kind of a weak loser, but cool and sweet too. I was thinking after I had finished reading the book that I would like to spend more time with the characters in the future and I'm hoping that maybe some day there will be a sequel. Things don't end all nice and tidy and I'd like to see where the characters go from where they end up. Overall, Life Sucks is full of fresh ideas with plenty of elements to make it a damn good read overall. Fun and lively. Life may suck, but this graphic novel doesn't.