BAD GATEWAY - SIMON HANSELMANN

I’ve been on a bit of a comics run. 5 of the last 10 books I read before this were comics. I would argue it is because the bookbooks I’m reading now are pretty heavy (one about the economic history of the 3rd world, one about the history of the Aztecs and CITIZEN, that poem from a few years back) but that actually doesn’t track since BAD GATEWAY is as emotionally intense as anything. It does read fast tho, I finished it in one sitting on a rainy afternoon. I’ve been reading in the Megg, Mogg and Owl-a-verse for years now and it’s really cool to see it reach a sort of “stage 2”. Before, when I mostly read it on the internet, it seemed kinda like a daily strip or like a sitcom, in the sense that the relationships seemed static. The characters were these funny, sad, druggy misfits who got into predicaments (and the genius of the strip was/is the ease and speed with which Hanselmann toggles from funny/sad) but basically ended up in the same place. However, now it appears that this stew of stoner-life has congealed into a more traditional story, with arcs and a single main character (as opposed to being about the group). In the last book Owl showed the sort of insight into his own character and situation (w/r/t his relationship to Megg) that would make a back-to-normal reset impossible, so in this book his absent. I believe the same thing is about to happen to Mogg. Mogg and Megg’s toxic relationship is the main focus of this boo and we get so much more of Megg I assume the next book is going to feature her more exclusively (perhaps as single and dating). Hanselmann does such a good job rendering  Megg and Mogg’s dynamic. They are so angry and hurt with each other but so numb and drugged and scared to confront one another they’re trapped in a very specific and very familiar type of hell. The Werewolf Jones stuff is also slightly deepened in this volume. Typically, his just comic relief and is my favorite, but this issue we saw him as more complex and more human (literally, I think this is the first time we’ve seen him in his non-wolf form), at least briefly. Excellent. 69 Tears.