Hey everybody, this weeks review takes us back into the gag comic with storyline format, which is more my forte, so I’ll try and be gentle this time around, but I make no promises…

Ah, geeks. Nothing like em, is there? If they aren’t talking about whatever new X-men title is out then they’re chatting each other up about Harry Potter or whether Han or Greedo shot first. And please don’t get me started on Anime (grrr…) But hey, I didn’t fall far from the geek tree myself(I own all of the Paradox Press “Big Books”!) Man, all this geek talk is giving me a mental wedgy and a hankerin’ for some Pocky. The review? Yeah, moving on…

Geeks Next Door, by Jessi Bavolack and Matt Pascal, contains the derring-do and everyday stylings of, yep, you guessed it, Jessi and Matt. Currently engaged (do you, geek, take this geek..) and living together, along with roommate Barry, oh what fun they do have! Usually updating every Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, with hiccups sometimes delaying the strips, Geeks is somewhere around a PG-13 rating.

Okay, two things you notice right from the get go. One, anime influence abounds in the facial expressions and overall look of the characters. Two, it’s one of those comics where they talk about making the comic in the comic itself. That can be annoying when done improperly. It always seems a bit self righteous to me. Oh well, we shall see.

I like the art. It’s very neat and cartoony and non threatening with the well drawn characters and great use of grey scale as well as color and photoshop to create cool looking backgrounds. I found it very creative using different fonts for different emotions, as well as different colors for each persons word bubbles. It made for a unique experience. I did find that the fonts were sometimes too small, and it caused a little strain on the ole’ peepers, but that can be fixed relatively easily.

Writing wise, Geeks starts out slow with a few comics with zero punchlines (the muffin strips; the “we’re doing a comic” ones) but picks up quickly from there. The “Jess goes home” story arc reminded me of my family get togethers of yesteryear, so I enjoyed that, as well as the overall tone of the writing. Light, and not overly reliant on sight gags to carry prop itself up on. One thing I didn’t care for was the use of curse words, even when the harshest ones were blotted out. It just feels totally unnecessary, as the comic is good enough to not stoop to that level. And it can’t be for the sake of realism, because if that’s what they’re going for, why the heck would there be “frat zombies”? Cmon, language not needed.

In closing, Geeks next Door, was very entertaining for me, even with the occasional swearing and anime talk. It’s good that self proclaimed geeks can poke fun at the very fabric of their core and give us a good comic in the process. Recommended for anyone looking for tons of pop culture references, people who can name every Harry Potter book, or just a funny, well drawn comic that you can breeze through without losing interest. Geeks unite!
Rating:

Geeks Next Door
by Jessi Bavolack and Matt Pascal
http://www.geeksnextcomic.com/
review by Jack Carter
(2 votes, average: 4.5 out of 5)

 Loading …