Life is filled with unpredictabilities. One moment, you can be the king of your surroundings; the next moment, you’re lying hung over covered in your own vomit and filled with great regrets. But sometimes life will give you something you not only needed, but also changes the fabric of your very essence. Open Bar, the 2015 graphic novel from Eduardo Medeiros (Funny Creek, Mondo Urbano), brings us a tale of such a change, one filled with great laughs and — as life always guarantees — unexpected tragedies.

Published for the first time in English, Open Bar follows the close friendship of Beardo and Lenny. After his deadbeat father passes away, Beardo inherits The Cave Pub, a bar that’s seen its better days. With the condition that Lenny be his partner and that he runs it for three years, Beardo sets out to put more care into The Cave Pub than his father placed care into his actual family. What follows is a tale filled with regret, forgiveness, and a secret booze formula.

Although Beardo is the heart of Open Bar, much of the story focuses on Lenny. Despite his good intentions, Lenny finds many ways to screw himself over. Whether it’s his on/off-again relationship with Amanda or holding a simple job, Lenny manages to find ways to ruin his own life. But it’s not his fault most of the time, as Amanda cheated on him on multiple occasions and low-tier jobs, well, suck these days. Fortunately, he has a friend in Beardo, who literally moves Lenny in with him without his full consent.

The move makes for a giant push of Lenny and Beardo’s reset button, one that rekindles their already-solid friendship and lights a bigger fire into their lives. At first, things are slow at The Cave Pub, as gentrification and industrialization ruined the once-quaint town. But a visit from Lenny’s childhood crush (and possible cherry-plucker) Mrs. Sanchez sets things into motion, in a way that’s too ridiculously funny to spoil here. Soon The Cave Pub is packed from wall-to-wall, as Lenny and Beardo find financial success in their endeavor.

It’s here when Open Bar starts to build a pathway towards redemption for Lenny. Amanda returns, looking more like a better person than the crappy ex that took advantage of Lenny. There’s even some repaving done on the friendship between Beardo and Lenny, who have a minor fallout over a grave mistake Beardo made years back. But for all of the garbage life threw at these two friends, it would appear that life is starting to make up for the awful things they went through.

All of it is captured with a down-to-earth style of storytelling. Even if it may dive into some Judd Apatow-like fantastical comedy shenanigans, Eduardo Medeiros finds a way to write these characters as if they’re real people. We all know a Lenny, a Beardo, and even an Amanda in our lives, and Medeiros finds ways to make these characters not just remnants of our own friends circle, but also elements of our own personality. We’ve all taken chances like Beardo; we’ve all been hurt and betrayed like Lenny; and yes, no matter what you may think, we’ve all been a piece of shit to those we care about like Amanda.

Open Bar also reminds readers not to take life for granted, as the good times can and will run out on us. Medeiros does this in a way that teaches us that tragedy befalls us when we least expect it. Throughout the narrative, we’re reminded that this tale is about five folks and “how the death of one of them changed everything”. There is quite a bit of death on display here — both comedic and tragic — but it’s not until the book’s final pages when you realize just who it’s talking about.

Although the ending will take many by surprise, Open Bar finds a way to make it feel like a fitting conclusion. With plenty of laughs, tears, and sweet alcohol, Medeiros weaves a beautiful tale about friendship and the bumps that form on the road of life. Even when it comes time for its last call, the taste Open Bar leaves will no doubt linger with you weeks after reading its final page.

2.5/5 A graphic novel for adult readers all about two best friends growing up together and navigating new challenges as they reach adulthood. There were some interesting and unexpected curveballs dotted through the story but I generally found the characters were pretty flat and the plot was too slow paced for my liking. I really liked the ending but it was the muted colour scheme and illustrative style which really appealed to me and made this an enjoyable read overall,
Thanks to Netgalley.co.uk and Oni Press for the free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This graphic novel emotionally wrecked me! It’s hilarious and moving and heartwarming. It’s about two childhood best friends as they struggle to open a bar that belonged to one of their dads. The art is fun and cool. This was beautiful to read!

I was first expecting something a bit goofy about two friends ending up running a bar.
It ending up being a way deeper story about friendship and unfortunate life events.
The end of the story... It's not fair, so not fair. But it's also what reality can be. Terribly unfair. But also somehow it can still turn okay.
It was a nice story, not gonna lie, I actually cried in the end :')

Thank you to the publishers Oni Press and NetGalley for providing me with a digital arc of this graphic novel in return for my opinion.

This was not what I expected from how it was marketed… I went into this expecting a cosy lighthearted comedy about two friends trying to run a bar together. Whereas it’s actually quite dark and emotional.

I was not ready for the heartbreaking twist at the end. It was really unexpected and felt very rushed. I also wasn’t comfortable with the depictions of women in this graphic novel and felt the few female characters were overly sexualised and lacked much depth to their characters.

Overall this was a quick read and I finished it in one sitting, but, it just wasn’t my cup of tea.

Open Bar is not even a little lighthearted. I think it's meant to be a charming dark comedy but I don't think it quite gets there.
The characters are pretty one note, though I suspect they were all meant to come across as grey characters. Beardo is done pretty well but Lenny comes off as a door mat and nothing else. Samantha... well she's just awful, though I think she was intended to be nuanced.

The ending is rushed, even for a graphic novel.

The art is good, best part of it.

Miigweetch NetGalley and Oni Press for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

This book was alright. It wasn’t fantastic, it wasn’t terrible, it was just a middle of the road reading experience for me. The story centers on two friends, Lenny and Beardo, and what happens to them after Beardo’s dad passes away, leaving him a bar and an apartment with the stipulation that Beardo must re-open the bar (which has been closed for a decade) and live in the apartment for three years. Lenny is a perpetual loser with no real prospects so he’s just sort of along for the ride, albeit begrudgingly.

Of the two main characters, I prefer Beardo to Lenny, however, I found both of them too flat to really connect with. As other reviewers have noted, the way women are portrayed in the book isn’t…great. I did really like the illustrations in this graphic novel. The style is cartoonish and broad, with wide clean line work. However, the monochromatic color scheme didn’t work for me.

I recommend this book to readers who enjoy comics about friendship and have the patience for the shenanigans of thirty-something year old men.

Open Bar, as it introduces itself, is a regular story about five regular people "and how the death of one of them changed everything." Beardo has inherited his father's bar and has to keep it open for three years. He brings along his childhood friend Lenny to try to run the bar. They eventually find success, only to run into tragedy and past relationships.

This was a well-done graphic novel that I really enjoyed reading. Eduardo Medieros writes and illustrates this story, and his art was my favorite part of the book. It is so expressive and simply fun to look at, with enough drastic shifts in style to emphasize important story beats. The book is about how friendships and relationships change over time and how important they can be to us. If you want an easy to read graphic novel with some complex characters and relationship drama, then pick up this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Oni Press for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I didn't like it as much as I thought I was going to do. Maybe because of the characters of the style, but I do like the little stories and characters that we know.

[Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review)

Open Bar is about two best friends, Lenny and Beardo.
The artwork and coloring style is extremely unique and really easy to look at.

The artwork on the cover really pulled me in when it came to this graphic novel, and the description sold me, so asked for a copy via the magic of Netgalley and got a copy, and I am so glad I did after reading a funny, tragic and emotional tale of two best friends, romance, and growing up that pulls you in from the very first frame of it.

These characters feel so human on every page, they are flawed and traumatised and trying to figure it out, and maybe some of them are still figuring it out and makes it story that makes you connect with them so easily throughout this story. The twist in the story that comes at the end when you realise who the narrator is is a suckerpunch to your emotions and leaves you needing a moment pull yourself together, well for it certainly did.

Plot wise, it's interesting, with interesting hookups, vignettes of childhood and the story of Beardo as he sees his friend's life change in different ways over around two years. I think that there is so much sadness and hurt and so when the highs come, oh they are real high and make for memorable moments in the story. The artwork conveys these character's tale beautifully with a bright and vivid colour palette that makes for such striking reading if that's the right word.

A really captivating story, which feels almost like it's almost not completely untold.

(I received an ARC from Netgalley for honest review).

There were some iffy moments in which in the beginning there were character development that tied in well with the plot line but towards the middle and to the end, everything started to fall apart. I enjoyed the art style and the best friend duo was heavy on the long term ups and down of friendships!

A collection of tiny terrors from Bram Stoker Award ® winner Christina Sng. The Gravity of Existence is a weight lifted, a monster freed, a princess with sneakers, a spell for a better world. From one of the leading voices in dark verse, this collection delights in the misunderstood, putting a new spin on werewolves, basilisks, sirens, ghosts, aliens, pandemics, fairy tales and myths. Sng gives new voice to classic heroines and the result is terrifying, magical, and fantastic.

I went through a ton of feelings when reading this comics - I liked it at first, then found it a little annoying, and then, BAM - my heart broke and it all made sense. What a journey, and a story of life, friendship, families, love...all told with subtle visual cues and implications. I am only knocking a star off because the art style wasn't for me (I particularly didn't like how women were drawn in the book). But otherwise - fantastic.

I'm honestly conflicted about how to feel about this. I was excited about a story of friendship and life but instead got a story with misogynistic-looking women that didn't handle.. anything well. We never got a conclusion about Beardo and his internal conflicts with his dad, we brushed past him sleeping with his best friend's girlfriend and both sides of the ending came out of nowhere while ruining the character development of both Beardo and Amanda. The artwork was pretty but I overall felt the story lacking in the ways that were promised.

I was really hoping for more with this book. I wasn’t sure about it at first, but in the middle I was warming up to the characters. The ending however, came out of nowhere and wrecked the character development of one of the characters completely. It felt like there was a story there with queerness and polyamory, and unexplored depths that were never explored.

Also, the depiction of the one female character in the book was…less than pleasant, as people pointed out.

Thanks to Netgalley and Oni Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was an unexpected ride. I loved this so much. At the beginning, I wasn't entirely sold, and I was wary about how all of the plotlines were going to converge, but they tied up so beautifully. I was really not expecting this to be a lovely tale of friendship, forgiveness, growing up, and what family truly is. I will be thinking about this book for a long time.

A very entertaining adult graphic novel. It follows the lives of long-time best friends Lenny and Beardo who take over a bar that Beardo inherited by his late father. You get to see the shenanigans that take place while they try to successfully run this bar while also dealing with their relationships. There are moments in the story that are exaggerated and funny, but the story itself is still good.

Thank you Oni Press and NetGalley for this arc in exchange for my honest review!

Open Bar is a mess of a story and I honestly can't say I enjoyed. Open Bar is about two best friends, Lenny and Beardo (who yes has a beard). Beardo's father passes and leaves him his bar, which is weird because he wasn't very present in his life, but okay here we go, "new door open, new adventure, new me!"

Beardo packs up all their belongings and moves them into this bar, without a word to Lenny. They're both unemployed, no prospects, about to be evicted. Whew good timing.
Then somehow dump money into this bar to fix it up, make their own beer to brew, which they sell large quantities of every night, and weirdly find success... after a deal accident. That is until things take a really drastic turn and an already weird story gets weirder.

The characters really lack depth, reason, and understanding. We experience their present, bits of their past, but they never seem very emotional about anything and if they are there's not much context to it. Lenny is hung up on his ex, but we don't really see good times they had. Just on-and-off again constants.

The ending threw me for an absolute loop and I can't get past it. That and the very overly sexualization of the limited scope of female characters. Who were sexual conquests the entire story, plain and simple.

**Thank you to Oni Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.**

This was an enjoyable, slice of life novel full of hardship and pain that truly encompassed living. the art work was sublime and the tones were really reminiscent of the story portrayed.