Life Sucks

Life Sucks, by Jessica Abel, Gabriel Soria and illustrated by Warren Pleece, tells the story of Dave Miller, undead night-manager at a vampire-owned convenience store called Last Stop. Made when the vampire owner (and Dave’s new Vampire Master), Radu, needed to fill the night-manager position, Dave’s vampire life is a boring routine, consisting of sleep, blood from a bottle and the monotonous manning of the last Stop’s front counter. The only highlights of his evenings are when Rosa, a goth vampire-wannabe, drops in for snacks with her fellow goths. It’s not until a mean-spirited fellow vamp, Wes, decides to compete with Dave for Rosa’s affections, that Dave’s unlife gets complicated. The view of vampire life in Life Sucks show more is very different than in, say, Twilight, but Dave’s boredom, his frustration with a literally dead-end job, an obsession with a Spanish soap opera and his fierce crush on Rosa – not to mention his refusal to feed from the living – is charming and funny. It’s a quick read and you, like I, will finish thirsting for more… show less

A vampire graphic novel that is actually good reading? Who'd'thunk it?

Poor Dave... working in a dead-end job as a night clerk in a convenience story, pining for a girl who thinks he's a great "friend" and being bullied by a handsome surfer dude... and did we mention he's a vampire?

Life Sucks is a funny, snarky look at young adults subsisting in the under belly of LA. It manages to honor, yet harpoon the vampire traditions (there's nothing noble or romantic in living forever when you have to pay the rent.) The plot has some satisyfing twists and the relationships between the characters, including the dialogue, is spot-on.

Cartoon violence and blood; some bad language; sexual activity is inferred but off-screen.

What starts out as a cute concept, something like 'What if the guys from Clerks were vampires?' soon grows into an involving story of unrequited love.

The vampires in this story are not the super suave androgynous creatures of the night that populate most vampire fiction. These are normal people; geeks, surfers, middle aged men who sit around and drink blood beer. They just also happen to live on human blood and can't go out in the sun.

Life Sucks could have been a neat concept that fell flat halfway through, but instead it manages to keep the reader involved and (in my case, at least) emotionally invested in the characters. We feel for Dave, stuck in a crappy job, too much of a nice guy (and maybe a wuss) to tell Rosa how he really feels show more about her, too afraid to tell her the truth.

Life Sucks rises above the B-movie graphic novel it could have been. It is entertaining, it contains plenty of dark humour, plenty of good bad humour, but it doesn't just go for laughs. It's about the secrets we all have, and the way they affect our lives.

I'd feel bad if I wrote this review and didn't mention Warren Pleece's artwork, which perfectly complemented the story, taking us in without taking us out of it. There's nothing particularly jaw-dropping, but if I'd been the writer, I would have been very pleased with Pleece's work. show less

Abel does a good job demolishing the romantic myth of what it means to be a vampire, and her metaphor for the life (unlife?) of a minimum-wage slave is both apt and witty. I will say that I felt the story could have been shorter, and I didn't much care for the conflict between Dave and Wesley. For me, at least, the story was strongest as a version of Clerks with vampires.

Also, I'm not sure I buy Dave's actions at the end of the book, as they represent a pretty major character change that isn't really fully explored ... and since it gets away from what I most liked about the book, I'm not sure that I want it to be.

I was tempted to give this book just three stars because I found the character of Rosa irritating. She was basically the stereotype of the girl, who seems smart, but in the end is just another girl who fails to see something good in front of her to fall for the bad pretty boy. It's something I always find irritating; the kind of thing you want to just shake someone and tell them, "what the eff are you thinking?" However, the vampires-- Dave, Radu his master, and even Merle the biker-- make this into a pretty neat book. That is because the book presents an interesting take on vampires as average folk with practical concerns. The relationship between Radu and Dave is like nothing you will see in an Anne Rice novel (which the characters show more actually riff off on in this book). This and the small humor in the book keep it from becoming just another teen angst book.

The book overall is pretty entertaining. I think a good number of young adult readers will enjoy it. Readers who have read Abel's other works will probably like this. Readers who may be jaded with vampires thanks to the abomination inflicted upon the world my a certain Ms. Meyer may find this a refreshing and amusing vampire tale. It does draw a bit on classical vampire lore, but takes it in a new direction, which is why I ended up liking it. Plus, I really liked the ending, which I am not giving away. show less

Baby-faced Dave Miller works a dead-end job as the night manager for L.A.'s finest vampire-owned convenience store. Good thing David is a vampire as well, albeit a vegetarian one. A unique cross between Clerks and Buffy, the beautifully crafted Life Sucks offers an amusing glimpse into the seemingly incongruous worlds of slackers and goths.

Fun and quirky new graphic. Think of a vampire CLERKS. Dave is a young, depressed emo vampire boy-- a vegetarian vampire who refuses to kill- he lives on past date blood bank blood. Unlike the Anne Rice world of wealthy, educated, sophisticated vampires, the real vamp world is a lot like our own--Dave works the night shift at a quicky mart-- the owner is his vampire master who has en-wage-slaved him for eternity-- an eternity of sweeping the parking lot and pouring plastic cheese on nachos. Dave falls for a goth human girl named Rosa but so has his rival-- a jerky surfer boy vampire who is very strong. Who will Rosa choose.
Clever and witty-- the book is very clerks--i loved it and the subtle humor and dead end job focus will appeal to show more older more irreverent teens. An award winning graphic. show less