I admit : it took me a little bit of time to really appreciate the second issue of Brandon Lehmann’s self-published “solo anthology” series, Womp Womp. In my defense, though, despite never fully getting over the reservations I had (and still have) about it, I was at least able to put them aside long enough to get some good laughs out of it.

Cut from much the same mold as Michael Kupperman’s work of, say, a decade ago, Lehmann here serves up what’s largely a collection of single-page strips that feature hyper-realistic, yet almost pathologically mundane, static illustrations that are uniformly employed in service of pure set-up until the final panel’s glib, ironic “twist” ending. It takes some time to get on Lehmann’s wavelength here — he’s unwavering in his approach and you’ve gotta decide for yourself whether you’re willing to meet him on his “home turf” or just…