In truth, they were always dead. That is Beyer’s other great subject, the one that extends through all of his work: death and its various animations, by which I mean how our existence becomes a living death. In Amy + Jordan, zombie-living is status quo. These two mopes were dead from their first panel, and the mistake others have made when writing about them is to write about them as if they were alive—as if any actions they took in the absurd “disaster!” plots Beyer concocted would have mattered; as if they were ever anything more than what Gravett describes as a “pair of eternal victims…,” victims of life itself, at the mercy of ludicrous circumstances and forces (“enemies,” one strip vaguely calls them) and each other’s malevolence and relentless ennui; as if the idea of taking control of your life is anything other than a tremendous joke. Even if you wanted to, all you’d do is tear out your lover’s eyes.

- Robert Loss

“Real Basic Reality, Like AAAAAAAAAARGHHHH!”: Notes from Mark Beyer: With/Without Text