I usually pull my covers from the Grand Comics Database. In the odd case that they don't have a cover, I'll scan it and submit it to help make the database comprehensive. Then I'll link to the issue page from the graphic above. What's interesting about this comic is it's the first that I've come across that has absolutely no entry on the GCD. I've taken steps to remedy that, but considering the size of the archive and the size of the fandom, the fact that this comic hasn't yet been entered is pretty crazy to me. That said, once the page is up, I'll add a link to the graphic above.
(After)Life is one of the comics I know best in my collection, but only from a particular perspective. My database alphabetizes automatically for me, and, as it should, places titles that are numbers before the alphabetical listing. What I didn't realize before entering this comic is that punctuation, like those parentheses, come before numbers. So every time I open up my database, there's (After)Life in Gothland #3, staring at me from the top of the list, wondering why it is that in the years that I've owned it, I've never read it.
Consider that question remedied.
Thankfully, there is a text feature on the inside front cover that catches one up, otherwise I'd have been totally lost. That said, the comic is very much indicative of that late nineties, early 2000s goth comic movement that gave us things like Lenore and Gloomcookie. The comic is neither abysmal nor spectacular, but it entertains in good proportion. There's lots of leather-clad goths (the action takes place in a goth club), lot's of gender-bending and non-normative sexuality, which was the purview of such independent comics back at the beginning of the millennium. There's also lots of silly magical stuff going on, with the whole of the goth club being populated by imps who ride around inside goths. Oh, and there's an old pagan god sitting at the bar complaining about the quality of the whiskey, which I think was my favourite thing about this book.
The story ends on a cliffhanger, and I wonder if any more of the series was published. Usually I'd go to the GCD for that information, but I appear to be on the leading edge of that question. It's probably for the best. Having discovered Alien Fire a couple of days ago, I think it's best to limit my collecting of ridiculously obscure titles to one, otherwise the frustration might be too much.
I'll continue digging through the miscellaneous A section of the collection tomorrow. Though perhaps (After)Life should have a section all its own, "Punctuation Misc." perhaps. That said, I think I'm also going to delve back into Adventurers, and see what's up in volume 2 over the course of the next week as well. So many plans, so little Tom. See you tomorrow!
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