I first came across the work of Alex Miller (creator of Just Another Escape (JAE) when he was working on his first webcomic project, Just An Escape (JAE1). Unfortunately JAE1 suffered a terminal case of hiatus before I could get around to reviewing it, which is a shame as the comic had a rather interesting art style and a surreal storyline. In short, the very elements that tend to draw me in like a moth to your backdoor light. I’m not entirely sure why JAE ground to an end outside of your traditional reasons: loss of interest, sudden social life, getting laid regularly… you know, having a life outside of the internet. JAE suggests a different reason: he’d created a solid storyline and background for a comic to replace JAE1; something that would be a masterpiece work.

It’s not exactly easy to nail down just what JAE is about. The story is a medley of past, present, and future events, with differing art styles for each (with black-and-white art for the flashbacks, regular art for the near-present, and water colors for events that happen in the future). The timeline seems to track through two years, including the story of Anikia and her cousin Kimberly told through flashbacks and consequences of that story rippling forward to the future events, as well as introductions to several other characters in those early days who have their own stories to be told. Indeed, JAE is very much an ensemble cast with a variety of stories to be told, most of which have yet to be touched.

Interestingly enough, at least one character from JAE1 has made her way over to JAE: Erica Richmond. The character design and name are identical, while the character herself seems more of a mixture of her old self and that first series other protagonist. I’d likely be wrong if I described her as the protagonist of JAE, though as we learn more about Erica it’s hard to avoid that conclusion. Instead, Erica’s story is interwoven into the rest of the stories, creating a surreal and at times horrific comic that shows tremendous promise. Add in an artstyle that at times is truly gifted (especially with depictions of the college campus) and the result is a comic well taking a look at.