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‘Our Super Adventure: Press Start to Begin – Volume 1’ – Hardcover Review

If, like me, you lurk on the various social media outlets of the world, you’ve probably encountered Sarah Graley’s Our Super Adventure at least once. It fits squarely in the emerging genre of shareable webcomics. I’d probably read half the comics in this collection before it even came ou,t but that didn’t stop me from picking up Our Super Adventure: Press Start to Begin.

Our Super Adventure: Press Start to Begin is a collection of webcomics that follow Sarah Graley’s daily life. The comics don’t have a central narrative or theme but instead focus on the day-to-day conversations and interactions of two people in a long-term relationship. It’s a slice-of-life series based around her, her boyfriend, and their four cats.

Reviewing a collection like this ends up being pretty subjective – more subjective than reviews already are. As there aren’t the traditional elements of a story, you can only judge the piece based on how it makes you feel, which is going to be different for everyone. Personally, I found Sarah and Stef very charming. They remind me of the silly moments I share with my own partner. In that way, the book feels personal. I felt as though I was sharing the experience of those unimportant, yet intimate, moments in a relationship. This can be a double-edged sword; when a page didn’t resonate, it quickly became forgettable, but the ratio of funny to forgettable pages always stayed reasonable.

Sarah Graley’s particular art style is what originally drew me into these comics. Her cartoony style focuses on big, exaggerated expressions, invoking comparisons to shows like Rick and Morty or Gravity Falls but with a splash of older sensibilities. I’d almost call this the evolution of the newspaper comic strip. The comics do an especially good job of staying visually interesting, despite usually just focusing on two characters talking to each other.

If you’re already a fan of Our Super Adventure, this collection offers a unique chance to see how the series has improved visually over time. A nice addition near the end of the book recreates some of the oldest OSA comics in their original style and in the modern style. It’s always fun to see how far an artist can come in just a few years.

The introduction to this book describes the stories enclosed as “diary comics.” A concept that perfectly illustrates the charm of Our Super Adventure. They’re not meant to be epic narratives or subversion of the comic medium; they’re vignettes of people’s lives. Your enjoyment of Our Super Adventure: Press Start to Begin will be entirely reliant on if you relate to the lives of these two and find solace in their love, happiness, and silliness.

Creative Team: Sarah Graley (Writer/Artist)
Publisher: Oni Press
Click here to purchase.

L. N. Conliff, Fanbase Press Contributor

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