I’ve got several venues where I can get quality books for dirt cheap, if not for free. That’s not to say that I’m unwilling to spend the cover-price for books to support the authors, but used books are always just so much better for the consumer. It’s the only way that I could possibly have built up the large library that I have.

Through these venues, I’m always on the lookout for comics and graphic novels—not comic books, mind you. I’m not a child. This book of realty-related comics from The Broke Agent popped up in my Paperback-Swap account a while ago, so I snagged it. And although I’m the furthest thing from being a realtor myself, I enjoyed its characters, scenarios, and humor.

The Broke Agent is an online account of realty-related info and humor that, according to the dedication page, says all the nasty things about realty that every realtor wants to say but can’t—if they want to keep their jobs and reputations. I’d never heard of it before, but hey. I love comics!

Truth is, you don’t need to be a realtor to appreciate the humor in this book. It might help if you’ve ever gone house-hunting, bought a home, or worked with realtors before. But even then, I think most of the jokes in this book are personality- or work-related and can be enjoyed by most anyone. It’s kind of like The Office—you certainly don’t need to be a paper salesman to get the humor, even though they talk about paper a lot. Id’ say something similar about The Detectorists, but I think you appreciate that show a whole lot more if you go metal detecting like me. Just saying.

The 47 strips in this book follow two guys, Ben and Herbert, trying to make it big in the world of realty. They’ve got co-workers and nemeses who keep their days interesting. They’ve got heroes to emulate and clients to hate, which gives us good context for story. And they’ve got personality quirks like moxie and cynicism that give the characters some drive.

Overall, the book includes a fairly well-rounded plotline that moves from Ben’s need to do something with his life all the way through his bad experiences in realty to the point he decides to stop hating the business and start making fun of it instead. Very likely, this is a fictionalized version of the authors’ own storied past in creating The Broke Agent, and I really like that about the book. These guys lived in that world, hated it, but ultimately found their joy and purpose in satirizing it. It’s pretty much every miserable office-worker’s dream!

The few criticisms I have deal mostly with the editing. Some of the “chapters” feel 1-2 panels too long, as if the jokes had to be explained. Sometimes less is more. Subtext can be just as informative as actual text, if handled properly.

Cosmetically, I liked the simple drawings, but I thought that the page-wide panels were poorly done. Essentially, they just stretched the panel to fit the page, rather than intentionally re-drawing a larger panel. The result is mismatched line-thickness, which leaves us with a very obvious zoom-in feel. It almost like they did the artwork in Microsoft Paint, because there’s even some pixelization happening on the edges. In subsequent books, I hope they correct this, as I found it a touch distracting.

The text does contain some coarse language, though not a ton. Ben and Herbert’s lifestyles are those of single men living in the real world—drinking and sleeping around, not to mention Herbert’s apparent man-crushes. Besides all that, I enjoyed their quirky humor.

It’s not a book for everyone, but if you’ve got a realtor in your life who enjoys a good laugh, let them know about The Broke Agent on social media platforms and, if you’re willing, gift them this book to enjoy for the long term. Help them find some joy in their misery.

©2024 E.T.