Travelling Man's Blog

Created & written by John Allison

Illustrated by Lissa Treiman

Coours by Whitney Cogar

Letters by Jim Campbell

Cover by Lissa Treiman

£2.85

Published by Boom!

This issue, everyone takes drugs!

Well, sort of.

There are two things everyone who goes to University in the UK accepts; drinking is going to happen, whether to you, near you or all over you and you’re going to get ill.

Very ill.

Because inside the first four weeks, just as you arrive, so will every regional variation of the flu and they will get much, much luckier than you.

Oh and it’s all Esther’s fault, obviously. All she does is boast about how she never gets ill and then?

Flumageddon

The second issue of this magnificent series is just as good as the first, and does a couple of very smart things. The second we’ll get to, but the first is the way Allison uses the different ways the three leads deal with getting sick to illuminate their characters. Daisy gets some ‘cold meds’, Esther tries to sleep the cold to death and ends up going full goth and Susan? Susan can’t smoke. Which means Susan can’t relax.

Or sleep.

Or eat.

She can however yell at people with both style and creativity.

Through the three different takes on illness, we learn a lot. Daisy is immensely good hearted and open and as a result runs headlong at the pep pills she’s given and hugs them. Violently. She has some of the best jokes this issue, especially in the pigeon scene but also comes out looking best of the three. Daisy’s innocent but she’s not stupid and the script never forgets that.

Esther in contrast, has kind of a bad time. We find out just how rock and roll she is (Very) and also that she’s kind of a hypochondriac. The end result is very, very funny and it also gives the uber-competent boxing Goth an endearing vulnerable edge. Esther doesn’t like being sick, she’s bad at it because it doesn’t happen often. For once, she’s a victim of her own success and that makes an already likable character outright sweet. Not that you should ever tell her that…

And then there’s Susan, whose nicotine rage gives her an excuse to yell at Daisy, McGraw and we suspect passing clouds. She drives the plot this issue in a way that’s so subtle you almost miss it. And so does she. Again, the cold brings out some new sides to her character and, again, it’s hugely likeable.

Oh and this issue features the best pigeon jokes ever written. Seriously.

Then there’s the really clever bit. Cogar’s colours are an integral part of the plot in a way that’s impossible to not comment on and easy to spoil. Keep an eye out for the gag because it’s one of the best, and cleverest I’ve seen and, like everything else here, is note-perfect. Seriously, this book may be the most entertaining thing anyone is putting out right now. Allison’s script is glorious, Cogar’s warm, friendly colours fit Treiman’s expressive and witty artwork perfectly and Campbell’s letters help every joke land dead on. It’s funny, sweet, familiar and vastly inventive. My book of the year so far, and everything else will have to go some to beat it. Brilliant stuff.