Life Sucks by Jessica Abel

Books Completed: 54
Completion Date: February, 2009
Pages: 192
Publication Date: April 29, 2008

Reason for Reading: Graphic Novel Challenge, New Author Challenge

Life sucks for Dave Marshall.The girl he's in love with doesn't know he exists, he hates his job, and ever since his boss turned him into a vampire, he can't go out in daylight without starting to charbroil.Undead life in its uncoolest incarnation yet is on display in this cinematic, supernatural drama told with gallons of humor and hemoglobin.In striking, colorful, B-movie style artwork and light-hearted, intelligent writing by Jessica Abel, Gabe Soria, and Warren Pleece, Dave Marshall's story comes alive - in a vampiric kind of way.

For someone that had never really read a lot of graphic novels before, I am quickly remedying that this year! Iliana mentioned this book on her blog, so I had to look into it. I was happy to see that my library had a copy. The only thing I really knew about the book before I started it was that it had something to do with vampires. The description I used above compares the art to a B-movie, and that is actually really fitting. This book strongly reminded me of Clerks, but the vampire version. Maybe not the movies, it has been a while since I watched the first one, but the television show. It was not very popular, think it got cancelled, but I knew someone that was a fan. The whole time I was reading the book I could picture that show. Mind you, Clerks doesn't have the vampires.

Anyway, the story is essentially about a young man, Dave Marshall, who finds himself doomed to work in a late-night convenience store. He had been planning on going to college, but he needed some income at the same time. Little did he know that the store he was applying to was run by vampires. That changed his life goals in the blink of an eye... or, a bite on the neck. Now, he is stuck working for an old vampire who wants every bit of money he can collect. He is pretty difficult to work for, but Dave does not have very many other options. His roommate knows the truth, even though he is not a vampire himself. Then, there is the friend. The friend who closes the store he works at and comes to visit Dave at his. I think he is meant to be the comic relief because Dave is pretty serious. The friend is also a vampire.

Then, there is the girl. The girl that hardly knows that Dave exists, and when she figures it out, does not exactly think the same as Dave about their friendship. She also has a strange wish that she is not aware that Dave can grant. This ends up getting her mixed up with the wrong crowd and in some serious troubles. Dave is a cute, if kind of predictable, character. I enjoyed the story, though. The guys pretending to be vampires and not being aware that there were actually vampires around was pretty funny. I mean, they had the costumes and the fangs act going on, while the real vampires were working as night clerks at gas stations.

The art was decent. It fit the story, anyway. I think if it was anything else it wouldn't have worked. I really like the cover, too. I find it fun. Once you read the book and understanding who all the characters are it is a fitting one. I recommend the book, but it is not something that I had to own. Borrowing it from the library worked for me!