Live/Work has that compulsive soap opera gusto of Love and Rockets translated into New York art gallery melodrama. Loaded with fiesty characters in various states of complete assholism, issue #1 mostly seems to be setting the stage for an epic series to start unfolding. Palermo's drawings are some virtuoso comics chops too, hybriding the fluid realisms of Craig Thompson and Los Bros. I imagine it's going to be a little bit of a struggle to keep all these characters in the throes of constant art world bullshit and still keep the scene real enough for some human empathy to leak through, but it also seems that Live/Work is up for the challenge. -EF

32p, b&w, 8"x10.5"