Scared Sheetless: Cobweb and Stripes Review with James Paradie: Chapter 14 - "World of pure imagination"

What's going on, Beetlejuice fans? I know it's been a long time since you've seen me review Cobweb and Stripes, but I'm ready to get back into it ... until a few weeks when I disappear again (I am rather good at that). Rather than wasting time just shooting the breeze, let's dive right in.

The Story/The Review

Lydia lands on the ground with a grunt (Ugh!) A rather rotund ("Speak for yourself, pal" Shut up, inner conscious) dude asks if she needs help. Not sure if the "sweety" part was creepy or not, so it's hard to tell if he's being a creeper. Buuuuut he is covered by flies. Buuut he also works for a honey processing place. I don't know. I try not to judge! But Beetlejuice does come in, kicks the dude, and yells ... and ... yells ...

yells ...

-Sighs- Ada, we've had a real good run. We've had some laughs, we've cried (not together, but at some point in our lives. Babies cry after all), and we've had fun. But this may end it all. This may be the catalyst of our termination in these reviews. So, with that in mind, I get to ...

THE FIRST NEGATIVE THING I HAVE TO SAY ABOUT C 'N' S!!!

Beetlejuice says, "That's my bae, find one yourself." Now, I'm not triggered often, but even I have my limits. I have my reservations towards certain words. I'm sorry, Ada. But you used that certain word.

BAE.

It's over.

No more reviews.

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DON'T Read my other reviews on Cobweb and Stripes:

No Don't you dare This is NOT okay Words are like daggers. They HURT! How dare you? ADA You're tearing me apart! No more reviews ... You should have warned people So insensitive Deplorable! This bitch-fit is brought to you by my book: get it on Amazon! <----> Chapter 14 Part 3/? (No! Absolutely not!)

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Alright, I had a little too much fun there. I'm still giggling! I DO hate the word, bae, but honestly not that much to stop reading the comic. That's a bit childish. But I do hope some people thought I was done, because that would be hilarious! But I'm sure people are not THAT foolish ... Yeah, I know. Wishful thinking. Although, historically speaking, the slang term 'bae' wouldn't have been used in this point of time, considering this comic would be taking place in the early 90's.

... What?

I'm just saying!

Okay. Back to the review:

Beetlejuice tells the guy to take a hike and kicks him out of the way. Lydia asks where they are and they're in the waiting room, where the newly dearly departed go once they die. Lyds is confused and rightfully so, she's not dead, so why is she there? But oh! Be quiet! Not too loud. Smuggling the living is illegal. Lyds is perplexed, though. Why is someone, Beetlejuice, worried about doing anything illegal? He breaks the fourth wall by pointing to some dude dressed as Batman. I mean, I laughed, but I thought Micheal Keaton did okay as Bats. I mean, he's no Kevin Conroy*, but he did okay. I love when anyone breaks the fourth wall, so I did find that bit to be quite funny. I think what would've gotten me rolling on the ground is if Beetlejuice pointed to Jack Frost. I freaking hate that movie! That damn movie SHOULD BE illegal.

(* I'm so waiting for people to get pissed by that. Personally, yes, I do think Kevin Conroy is the best Batman of all time. I grew up with him as my Batman in the Animated Series, Justice League, Justice League: Unlimited, Batman Beyond, the Arkham video games, etc. etc. You can argue that "he's just a voice", and I do understand that, but to a lot of us, he's more than that. Getting a little emotional here, so let's move on.)

Beej doesn't want any trouble and since I read the comic as I'm reviewing, I'm guessing it's probably because of the whole court case. Which, even though he was found innocent, it still makes sense. The people of the Neitherworld sided with Beetlejuice and the judicial system did as well. It would be a slap in the face if Beej screwed up. Honestly, good on Beetlejuice for having a moral compass when it's right.

Also, Miss Argentina, from the movie, makes a cameo appearance. Hopefully this cameo wasn't "just a little accident" and maybe we'll even get a backstory? Yeah, she wasn't that big of a character in the movie, but we did see her enough and she did give some insight to why she works in the afterlife office. Because like Otho said in the movie, one commits suicide and they become servants. Which actually brings a good question, how the hell would Otho know that? Maybe it's just a guess on his part? I let that little plothole go, because of his arrogant laugh afterwards. -sighs- Glenn Shadix, you're certainly missed.

Beetlejuice tries to find an exit in a familiar part from the movie. The area looks identical to the hallway where the Maitlands were trying to look for their door. Beetlejuice tells her to not talk to strangers. Lydia scoffs that he's acting like her mother. But Beej has some good advice, not only can he get in trouble if caught, but she can too. Beetlejuice tells her she has to come up with a cause of death if someone asks and Lydia suggests she died from an overdose on sleeping pills. If anything goes wrong, Beetlejuice will throw up a sign and she is to say his name three times and go back to her world. We have an awww moment as Lyds ask, "You care that much about me?" And Beetlejuice ruins it (which is great) by saying, he doesn't want any problems, because of her.

A skeleton lady rushes past them and Lydia asks why is she in such a rush? Beetlejuice says that once you lose your mortal body, you also lose track of time. Because of not aging, they're out of the loop. Lyds asks, what about Beetlejuice? He seems to be able to keep track of time, despite forgetting about her for a couple of months. Oooo! Guilt trip! Beetlejuice grumbles and changes subjects by showing his entire arm covered with watches. "Don't worry, I won't forget now." But we switch topics to them standing in front of three doors. Beetlejuice exclaims, "This is it!"

Beetlejuice opens one of the doors and there's a large staircase. He slides down it, while Lydia plays it safe and walks down it, despite Beetlejuice's impatience. She makes it to the bottom and Beetlejuice whips out some money and buys two tickets. A woman boarding at the same time says that there are two spots, one for her and a companion (not sure if it was a friend, relative. Nor does it really matter). Beetlejuice blocks her and says, there are no free spots. "But there's plenty of room there!" Beetlejuice slams the gate and leaves the women. "What a jerk!" one of them says. Yeah, a jerky thing to do, but a Beetlejuice thing to do, so it's all good. See, this is why I started with reviewing Cobweb and Stripes. I get Beetlejuice; but when I review the other comic, I'm going to get an unhealthy dosage of Emo-Juice. So, yes, if you were wondering, I will be reviewing the next part of The Ghost with the Most. Should be fun ... hopefully. Stay optimistic!

Lydia says that it's no wonder the Maitland's never wanted to show her the afterlife, because they know she'd love it there. She asks Beetlejuice how big the afterlife is and basically says, no one knows; no ones ever explored the entirety of it. Very interesting. Lydia wants to see everything. Lydia asks a few questions about the land of the dead. Which is great, because now we're getting into more lore. Beetlejuice says that the Neitherworld (afterlife/Neitherworld, I think I can use them interchangeably) is a reflection of what the living thinks of it. Or at least that's how I read it. If so, that's a pretty cool idea. Of course, that's if I read that correctly. If not, that's my fault.

But the next part is where Lydia should buckle up and so should you ...

Not bad for a cliffhanger, huh? I actually don't know what happens, exactly, but from the art it looks like one hell of a ride. I know it's kind of a short review, but I at least wanted to get SOMETHING out, because I told Ada months ago that I was working on this, but like I said, that was months ago. Which I do apologize for to both Ada and to the people who read these reviews. Yes, people do actually read this; believe it or not! I'm not going to promise fast reviews, because then if something comes up, or what have you, then that makes me look like a liar, so all I can say is, I'll try my best to get these out in a timely fashion.

Anyway, am I enjoying this chapter? Definitely. It's awesome we get to learn more about the lore behind Ada's version of the Neitherworld. The next page seems like it goes even deeper. I love lore. I love world building. I find it fun to both do and experience it through another author/artist's eyes. So, definitely, so far this is my favorite chapter. But I know there's a lot more in store then just this and this chapter is not done yet. See you on the next review.

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Read my other reviews on Cobweb and Stripes: