FOREWORD -- A decidedly non-superhero “teambook,” Cellies is the fun and briskly paced story of six employeesof a mobile phone retail store. Led by their gung-ho but slightly dim manager,Christian, the Jog Mobile crew attempt to manage their personal lives alongsidetheir work commitments, which include dealing with difficult customers andmanaging the midnight launch of a new phone. Cellies collects the firstfive issues of Lion Forge's comic book series, whose central charactersrepresent a variety of ethnicities, backgrounds, and personalities, providingfertile ground for story development. In a minor but inspired ongoing feature,the book offers short vignettes inspired by true-life retail experiences. Intotal, Cellies feels like a successful ensemble TV sitcom, and the bookends with a cliffhanger of sorts, as Reyhaab, a teenager from a strict religiousfamily, faces punishment from her parents for lying to them, and Christiansuffers from the effects of an overlong tanning session. Flood's clean,confident art style and practiced narrative abilities balance propelling theplot and delivering humor, while also choosing appropriate moments to hint atwhat's underneath the sometimes shallow exteriors of his characters; one getsthe impression that there are plenty of stories left for Flood to tell inCellies: Volume Two and beyond.
