I’ll say right off the bat that I really enjoyed this. There. I took all the drama out of the review; you don’t have to wade through five or more paragraphs of my usual verbosity to get to the point.

The premise of the series is that Jessi and Matt are geeks who live together and are engaged. Complicating their daily existence is housemate Barry (who apparently is rich, still in college, and embodies the worst aspects of many fandoms), and Jessi’s buxom sister Maggie (Barry’s, and many fanboys’, object of lust).

The thing about writing reviews is sometimes a series just clicks. Geeks Next Door did so for me. Perhaps it’s because I am a geek, and can thus relate to the characters and a lot of the jokes. Not all of them, mind you. I’m not particularly aware of most of the anime fandoms. But the comic jokes (like the sequence where Matt, who has forgotten to pre-order a book for Jessi, gets advice on how to handle the situation from Dr. Doom or when Matt and Jessi comment on the retroactive removal of Spiderman’s marriage resonate, as do the role-playing jokes (I was this guy in high school.) Then there are the Broadway musical jokes. I certainly can’t hate any strip that uses my favorite musical as a sure sign of a character’s delirium. (Not, not “Rent,” but 1776.)

I like the way the strip takes real situations (coming home from a convention to find your apartment has been broken into, for instance) and spins wildly into seemingly-fantastic situations (the break-in was caused by a Frat Zombie, and an Attack of the Frat Zombies follows). I like the characters – even Barry, in his outlandishness, has a good quality or two hidden somewhere. I like that they occasionally recognize that they are in a comic strip (Matt asks Jessi why she doesn’t draw herself with her engagement ring … and she draws it onto herself).

Geeks Next Door actually combines aspects of some of the print comics I’ve enjoyed over the years. The relatable characters of “Zits,” the veering off into fantasy of “Calvin and Hobbes,” the out-sized character reactions of “Bloom County” (like this one.) and the breaking of the fourth wall of “Doonesbury” with the reader’s mailbag concept (employed here.)

I’m giving Geeks 4.75 stars out of 5, and adding them to my “read every day” bookmarks. I honestly can’t find anything negative to say about this series.

Rating:

Geeks Next Door
by Jessi Bavolack and Matt Pascal
http://www.geeksnextcomic.com/
review by Anthony Cardno
(4 votes, average: 2 out of 5)

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