4 out of 5

You can’t really escape the whole “goth comix” vibe with Slave Labor, nor the forever influence over their stable from guys and gals like Roman Dirge, Johnen Vasquez, and Serena Valentino, but, that accepted, this is a great FCBD entry jammed with a ton of content that should give you at least one new book to check out.

With 13 titles smashed into 40 pages, it’s pretty fast and furious – 3 pages or so per strip – but that ends up working best.  There’s definitely some stylistic / humor crossover that would get grating if the strips were presented at length, but the short-attention variation means that if something seems repetitive or isn’t to your taste, a new comic is but a page or so away.  A couple of the strips also either drop you, disorientingly, right in it, or don’t seem to accomplish anything (a punchline or a point) in their mini span, but see the previous note of acceptance: salvation is probably on the next page.

A good reminder that, though it fits a stereotype, SLG boasts / boasted a healthy roster of fun and talented creators, and a good swath of them are well-served by this FCBD.