Been doing a little bit of LB rereading… Sure is a good thing to do. This comic truly does read really well when everything we have so far is all put together.

I’m really appreciating this moment here where Jaden is helping Riley after that moment in chapter 6 after Riley helped Jaden. Like these two could be way more awkward about their situation and they could just kind of be more stand-offish but polite with each other (which is like a fine approach to an unexpected unwanted room mate) But these two both are just Nice Women who actually enjoy helping others and so when they’re together they both are like I HELPED HER 🙂 NICE and it’s really sweet to see it being so reciprocated. Both Riley and Jaden also seem to be helping each other with NO expectations and NO strings attached. With a lot of their other past relationships there seemed to be or currently are strings attached. (Blaire wants Riley to follow certain…. ideals. And Josie wanted Jaden to help and sacrifice way more then she should have had to.)

They both obviously have a lot of emotional issues at this point, and they’re both kind of stunted in a way. And they seem to notice this about each other. Jaden is noticing that Riley has some severe anxiety issues and Riley is noticing that Jaden has issues with vulnerability. And they seem to be approaching each other with some level of tenderness. And like even if they both have their emotional issues they both display high levels of emotional intelligence – these characters both have capacity and I’m sure both WANT TO grow and get better. That was definitely a huge part of Jaden’s choice to move – she wants to get out of a stifling environment. And I wonder if that will be part of Riley’s future too – Riley seeing she is in a stifling relationship and choosing to try to do something new and grow.

And you have that contrast with Blaire, who right now…. like I think Blaire doesn’t think she has any growing she needs to do right now and that’s part of her problem lol. woopsie. Blaire has that core of niceness, it’s cute to see her gazing at Riley in this page like “aww this room mate situation is really going to work out for her” but again, contrasting the other two characters… Blaire isn’t observing Riley’s emotional issues and approaching it with tenderness.

Jaden aint gonna walk up to Riley and be like “HEY I SEE YOU HAVE ANXIETY AND I KNOW HOW TO FIX IT – MY WAY” the way Blaire does lol.

But yeah it’s just overall so lovely to see Jaden and Riley having such a good dynamic when they have only known each other for a little bit of time. They have such a good foundation to build a great relationship. You do a great job as a writer by like… having them have moments of connection, but also not making these moments of connection Too Weird. like they can’t have these BIG EMOTIONAL CONVERSATIONS when they just met. Like it’s much more appropriate for Shez, who has known Jaden longer, to try to make commentary on Jaden’s situation then it is for Riley. But Jaden can be physically injured and Riley can address that. Riley can have a little Anxiety Moment and Jaden can help with that.

It’s really like these two characters started to click the moment they both learned the other was a lesbian. Which makes sense to me. It captures a feeling I feel all the time. I learn another woman is attracted to women and I’m always like “OH! I HOPE SHE’S COOL AND WE CAN BE FRIENDS?” So it just makes sense.

I was aware of LeaseBound before the AGP showed up but I didn’t stick with reading it at the time because I didn’t expect it to be this good. Wow!! It’s so crazy for me to think of that. This comic has flourished so much over the many years. You really do an impressive job and deserve to feel good for all the work you do. Every bit of this comic holds up, even the first chapter which felt rough to me when I first read it. The context of later chapters enhances everything so much, making re-reading it over and over a great experience. 🙂 yay