I'm not sure what Overqualified is. Is it a broken up autobiography? What's true? Are these real cover letters? Did he really send them all in the mail to the companies they're addressed to? I don't know. But I'm pretty sure of one thing, that I'm in love with Joey Comeau. After loyally checking the asofterworld webcomic for, a few years?, and now after reading the deep, embarrassingly personal letters in Overqualified, I feel like I know Joey. I feel like we share something, that we're long lost friends. As I hold the thin book in my hands, I trail my index finger across the textured pages, up and down, only slightly aware of the fact that I'm jealous of Joey's girlfriend Susan I keep reading about. Jealous of how much he loves her but at the same time wanting to be one of the anonymous women he wants to tell strange jokes to in bed, to surprise him during sex. I'm only slightly aware that I'm sad reading through his loss and nostalgia, because even as the pages seep with pain there is a type of light-hearted, silly narration that shows each dark polaroid as truly comical. I want to make up one of Joey's cards, the one with the glass covered butterfly, and send it to him on International Stalker Day. I want to read Overqualified again and this time when I close it not feel so empty and uncertain about my own life. Maybe that's why I've convinced myself I'm in love with Joey Comeau? Because if I profess my love, stalk him and maybe one day actually meet him, I'll really just slam Overqualified down on the table and ask him, what is this really about? What did you leave out? I want more.
A painfully funny collection of thoughts and memories that force you to question your own motives in life, your own conceptions of morality, success and love, Overqualified is a short, addictive read that leaves you wanting more of Joey Comeau; despite blushing throughout the book because he went ahead and drank too much on your date and told you more than you ever needed to know... or not enough?
