Review: Menage a 3!
31st March 2009
Menage a 3 by Gisele Lagace and Dave Zero 1
This comic, is a huge leap from the world of Last Res0rt, from the style, the format and everything else. There is little to compare other than perhaps the lack of things to compare.
Now that I’ve opened with a completely confusing line perhaps I should get to a real description.. hm… well… it’s like this…
We have a geek who’s freezes up around girls, his gay room mates move out without notice, leaving him to interview potential new room mates. Just so happens that the two who apply are a punk rocker and well the other one is well endowed- both girls.
As you can imagine the plot and jokes can get a little “blue” at times but never to a great extent. Honestly it is aimed at an adult audience, with sex and sexuality being major themes in the story- never being explicit per se but with plenty of references, and even though it isn’t shown you get the picture.
In all of this the sexual side of the comic doesn’t bog down the story, and it really does manage to show sex in a good light. Unlike a lot of comics and other media that seems to imply sex is some how dirty or wrong, Menage a 3 really shows that it can be funny, and it is a perfectly normal and natural thing.
The major difference in how Menage a 3 treats sex compared to perhaps the likes of the comics available on Slipshine (and I’m not saying this is a bad thing in either direction) is that Giz and Dave aren’t afraid to actually show real concerns and take sex seriously once in a while.
Yes the comic is filled with jokes, one liners and honestly Zii’s description of why girls don’t like facials made me laugh, but they aren’t afraid to look at topics such as virginity, porn, unrealistic expectations and even the topic of women not being satisfied by their partners.
Although the strip seems heavily sex related and sexually aware, there is an element of geek humour. There is very few things funnier than discussions about zombie smurfs… other than fellating a smurf, but that’s Irish comedians for you.
I know some people will be put off, perhaps even by my description and the fact I’ve lingered over the sexual side of the strip a little too much. This is an adult strip and it’s done tastefully, so even if you’re a little prudish take a look and you never know the humour might win you over. In fact the story and character development should win most people over.
In my opinion Menage a 3 really is worth reading, and I hope the creators will continue to produce what is a hilarious, endearing and for some an enlightening look at relationships, life and everything in between.