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Jan 17, 2020 Web Exclusive By Jeremy Nissen

The latest in the rather depressing misadventures of Megg and Mogg, who at least outwardly present as a witch and cat, respectively, sees the protagonists' lives continue to flush down the toilet. For the first several volumes of Simon Hanselmann's Megg and Mogg (and Owl, and Werewolf Jones, and others) stories, the levels of depravity and unkindness were a potent mix of biting and hilarious. Now, the funny has started to drain out of it, and it's largely just depressing. Which is not to say it's not a good book—it is. It's just the focus is perhaps maturing, showing these peoples' (creatures'?) lives in a more sober light.

Hanselmann's art is as beautiful as ever, as we join the story post Owl's seemingly permanent departure from the group. He's finally had enough, and he only appears in this book in flashback. We get more of the worst of them all, Werewolf Jones, as he's living with Megg and Mogg now, and come to realize that, if you didn't get it before, this world's invocation of the supernatural is mostly metaphorical: wild-man Jones at one point gets his act together, and loses the werewolf aspect altogether, becoming "Warehouse Jones," for instance. Of no surprise to longtime readers, it doesn't last.

This should not be your first Hanselmann book; there's more meaning in crumbling at this sad state of the gang's affairs if you've been able to laugh with and at them in earlier volumes. But it seems like the only place the story could naturally build to, and if you've been here all along, you must continue the ride. (www.fantagraphics.com/bad-gateway/)

Author rating: 8/10