Bubble (First Second Books) – Comic Series Review

Funny, creative and entertaining, Bubble bounces around between a few main characters in this futuristic society. Opening on a girl on a morning jog, she adjusts her playlist on her cell and hits the city streets running. Eventually a turn takes her through the park, where she is noticed by another jogger. He follows her, flirting briefly by spouting off some cheese, to which she notes her ear buds are conveniently blocking.

Agitated he continues to follow this poor jogger girl as she goes on her way, however his approach is stalked by another creature. Out jumps a standard Brush Imp. Good thing our girl is prepared. She is Morgan, and she is always prepared. Morgan quickly flips out a knife from her fanny pack and dispatches of the imp, then knocks out the idiot jogger who again tries to ask her out. All in a day’s work.

The story of Bubble takes place in Fairhaven, which is a city protected by an actual literal bubble, blocking out the strange wilderness and wildlife of the surrounding countryside dubbed “the brush.” Brush-baby Morgan remembers her time as a child outside the bubble with her father, the one who trained her to be such an imp-slaying bad ass.

Morgan takes the imp home to her apartment where she shares with Annie and they promptly hang it upside down to drain its blood into a bucket, naturally. Of course, this blood can be turned into a drug product and sold for extra funds to Annie’s clients, so the pair are doing okay making their ends.

Unfortunately for Postmates delivery guy Mitch (and Tinder dater of Annie for two dates), the girls are still dealing with the imp when he arrives with their order. Imp guts begin to seep out from under the bathroom door and before the girls can say “Whythefuckwouldyoulethimin?” and Alpha Imp leaps into the apartment from the open window, having followed the scent of his dispatched cousin.

The tangle is brief, and leaves the group of Mitch, Morgan and Annie forever altered, in friendship and in life opportunity. Morgan’s day job is at a conglomerate which happens to launch a new gig-type app called HUNTR, focused on dealing with the bubble’s increased xenobiological encounters. HUNTR aims to bring an elite force of imp hunters to protect the local community.

This is an opportunity for Morgan. She can use the app to provide freedom to control her schedule with flexible hunting hours, as well as help out the neighborhood as her own boss. How will the gig economy work in this strange and familiar future? What is the fallout with Mitch and his encounter with an Alpha Imp? Will Annie keep her customers happy?