Blue Monday: Inbetween Days

Blue Monday: Inbetween Days

Inbetween Days reprints various holiday-themed stories with the Blue Monday characters by Chynna Clugston. “Dead Man’s Party” is set at Halloween. When the lights go out at a holiday party, the gang entertain themselves by telling horror stories. Since they’re realistic teenagers, they come up with ideas by inserting themselves in their favorite movies and books.

The wide range of influences used adds to the entertainment, though. There aren’t many comics that range from zombie films to Gothic vampire romances to the Rocky Horror Picture Show to Harvey-like giant rodent pookas. This is all complicated by Bleu being haunted by floating Jesus heads, reappearing from a graveyard adventure in the first book.

“Lovecats” is a love story where the kids worry about going to the Valentine’s Day dance. Flashbacks reveal how Clover and Bleu originally met and how much they’ve changed since. It’s my favorite in the book, since it shows the most about the characters’ real feelings, but so much of the fun is contained in the twists and turns that I don’t want to say too much and spoil something.

Blue Monday: Inbetween Days

In “Nobody’s Fool”, an irate Clover deals with St. Patrick’s Day, boys who won’t stop singing, and a convention of tiny green men. In a second story, Victor hauls out his old goth drag for April Fool’s Day. Although he’s trying to cover for an embarrassing nostalgia trip, he winds up mesmerizing most of the women at school. The humor is top-notch, with the pet shamrock, the leprechaun changing room, and the ridiculous sight of a teenager lamenting how quickly his youth is passing.

Also included is a short Blue Monday/Jingle Belle crossover story, “Blue Belles”. The more you know about the gang, the more entertaining this all is. There’s a lot happening and a lot of references to bits of previous issues, especially involving the relationships among the characters. Still, if you’re a new reader, there’s plenty of wacky fun, teenage teasing, and slapstick. With shorter stories, it’s also a good sampler for the series.

Absolute Beginners is the previous book in the series.



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