“Why Are You Like This?”

Every now and then, a webcomic does so well that the creator can publish their strips in a curated collection. When that happens, comic reviewers have the privilege and challenge of reviewing them and seeing how well the comic works as a collection, as individual strips, and as any form of overarching narrative.

This time, Meg Adams brings her “ArtbyMoga” comic strips into a single collection, taking a humorous look at life and all its little frustrations and moments of joy alike. With all that said, let’s take a look.

Written by, illustrated, and colored by Meg Adams

A collection of comics with a millennial take on marriage, adulthood, pet ownership, self-love, and self-care.

Finally, comics that answer life’s most pressing questions: Is my partner actually upset or just hangry? Whose turn is it to remember the reusable shopping bags? Is it appropriate to put up Halloween décor two months in advance? (Spoiler alert: Yes. Yes, it is.)

“Opposites attract” has never rung truer when it comes to vivacious extrovert Meg and her level-headed introvert husband, Carson. Carson makes his coffee with only the finest locally roasted beans; Meg microwaves two-day-old joe. Carson is reserved and rarely opens up to friends; Meg ensures everyone in her life—including her mailman—knows about her hemorrhoid. From the joys of marrying your best friend to the bizarre musings of a twelve-pound pup to the humor and heartbreak of anxiety, Meg’s all-too-relatable comics leave no stone unturned. Dorky and downright hilarious, Why Are You Like This? explores what it means to make fun of oneself and find laughter in the little things.

“ArtbyMoga” is a series of short (typically 2-3 panels) comics, focusing on slice-of-life moments of Meg and Carson, the real life creator and her husband in comic form. But what makes the comics so appealing is how relatable they are – nothing in here is idealized, it all feels incredibly real, even with the comically exaggerated artwork.

You don’t need to know much about Meg and Carson to enjoy the comics, because they’re just average people; even after reading all of “Why Are You Like This?” one still only knows a few key things about them and their personalities, but it’s enough, because it’s all very human.

In fact, the relatability is one of the best things about “Why Are You Like This?” (and ArtbyMoga in general.) While each page focuses on little moments in the lives of the characters, they’re moments many of us can connect with. Moments like the joy of graduation being dampened by student debt, getting excited for holidays, and the way dogs react to things like the word “walk” are all incredibly familiar moments or sensations, all captured humorously through Meg’s art style.

Of course, this also means that the comic doesn’t have much of a narrative; it’s all just moments in Meg’s life, as shown through a comical and artistic lens. That, however, is one of the joys of slice-of-life; it lets us connect with characters without needing any sort of overarching struggle or antagonists to face (aside from life’s own daily inconveniences). And even if there isn’t a connecting story, the strips still go in chronological order and reflect each season. So we still go through the year with these characters as they experience the joys/struggles of camping, embrace autumn and the seasonal allergies that come with it, and celebrate the holidays (but always Thanksgiving before Christmas, as Carson is quite clear about).

Another good thing about “Why Are You Like This?” being a compilation of short strips means it’s easy to pick up and put down. Well, I say “it’s easy to put down,” but it’s an engaging read and each page goes by so quickly that it’s easy to get sucked in and keep going to the next page until you’ve reached the end. But readers can open it to any page, get a chuckle, and come back to it later without needing to worry about forgetting or missing anything.

One of the most distinctive parts of the comic is Meg Adams’ artwork. It’s a comical, cartoonish style that thrives on exaggerated features and expressions for humorous effect, and it adds so much to each moment. A person calling himself a “watermelon whisperer” may get a half-hearted chuckle on its own, but once it’s accompanied by an expression with huge eyes, a massive beard taking up half his face, and an upturned nose, it suddenly becomes hilarious.

We see this throughout the issue, from human and animal characters alike. The dogs (who are adorable, even in comic form) often get huge eyes and massive tongues that effectively illustrate how excited and energetic they are (and on at least one occasion followed by a look of pure betrayal when a dog gets taken to the vet instead of the dog park). Facial features will shrink or grow as needed for comedic effect, occasionally accompanied by some effectively dramatic shading.

Occasionally, Meg Adams also demonstrates a solid grasp of design, shading, and details, particularly when illustrating other people (and comparing herself to them). That’s often used to create parallels with other characters for even more comic effect, but it’s clear from these that her style is both intentional and well-honed, built on strong fundamentals.

Yet for how exaggerated and comedic the art is, it also feels very human, and doesn’t shy away from our imperfections. Faces can get double chins, we see characters with folds of fat and stretch marks, and faces can get swollen from allergies with frequency. But these moments, which showcase people in their unfiltered bodies, doesn’t look down on any of this; we see Meg’s confidence in her body on more than one occasion, and it feels kind of empowering to see the human body with all its imperfections presented without shame or judgment (though never too much of the body, the comic keeps it family-friendly).

“Why Are You Like This?” is a comic that allows us to see ourselves in the characters, and laugh both with them and at ourselves. It embraces the little moments in life, our eccentricities and quirks, and those shared moments of human experience that we can all relate to. It does all this with great humor and without shame, using a comical art style that amplifies every moment with outrageous expressions that somehow feel all the more real.

Webcomics are as much an important part of comics as printed issues, and can effectively tell stories and land jokes both online and in print. ArtbyMoga and “Why Are You Like This?” illustrate this nicely, bringing the webcomic into graphic novel form to create an endearing, enjoyable experience.