Comic review: Minimum Wage (So Many Bad Decisions, Part 1)- It’s about a boring bloke and his relationship difficulties

By: Bob Fingerman
Publisher: Image Comics
Released: 6th May 2015

I didn’t understand this comic book. It was everyday, and dull, and about relationships, and the protagonist was just a bloke, and not a very interesting bloke at that.

I didn’t get it. What was the point? Can somebody tell me why I should care about anything that happened in this book? I want to care, but I just, err, don’t.

Is it supposed to be witty and hilarious?

Oh dear, perhaps I’m a closet sociopath? I’m getting a bit worried now.

Can you help me out here? Perhaps I’m being stupid, a bit slow, and a bit too unkind?

Tell me it’s great. Go on. Enlighten me. Tell me that I missed a masterpiece here, because here’s how I saw the book:

Bloke in old man band t-shirts (Pantera, Sepultura) can’t get over his ex, it’s messing up his new relationship. He writes comic books, has a crappy birthday and umm, no hang on, I’m sure something else happened. Hang on, I’ll check….

Oh, yeah, there was a dream sequence in colour (the rest of the book is in black and white) where he talks to some of his comic book creations and his ex pops up to torment him a bit. The book concludes ***SPOILER ALERT*** with the boring bloke getting dumped. Reason given is that he can’t get over his ex. Sounds fair enough to me.

Why should I care at all about this bloke? He’s just a bloke, an ordinary bloke, and his life is dull. He has long interior monologues with himself, his mate talks about defecating, and umm, crud, that’s it, that’s really it.

I don’t get it.

Was it supposed to be an illuminating window into the inner turmoil of a guy who can’t get over his ex? Was that what it was supposed to be, or was it just very subtle comedy, so subtle that I entirely missed it?

Am I supposed to identify with these characters?

Please, tell me, I need to know. Why do people read books like this? To me it was pure bore, from beginning to end. There was nothing to it, nothing but self-obsession and talk about relationship difficulties. If I want that then I’ll read one of those fake problem pages in newspapers, and I really don’t want any of that nonsense in my head.

Am I being a bit harsh here? I probably am.

Please help me out.

If you’ve read this book and absolutely love it then tell me what the hell it was trying to do. I’m obviously missing something here, so go on, do me a favour and tell me why it’s great. Tell me why I’m a fool for missing that greatness and tell me that I am some dense stupid head for not immediately falling in love with the book and giving it a 10/10 rating.

Please, help me.

I’m not clever enough for this book.

I need help.

Please help me.

Please help.


Rating: ?/10 (I’m obviously missing something here, so please fill in the rating for yourself)