When I read Alison Bechdel’s The Secret to Superhuman Strength (2021), I wondered if that was the pinnacle. There was no way Bechdel’s latest comic novel, Spent, could be as good as Bechdel’s prior book, a memoir that hilariously explores being a middle-aged woman in a body. As a middle-aged woman in a body myself, it made me giggle and nod vigorously and roll my eyes and sing praises all at once. Spent, then, had a lot to live up to. And it does! Unlike Bechdel’s previous graphic memoirs, Spent is a work of fiction about a quirky comic book writer who lives in Vermont and is in a relationship with a woman named Holly. You guessed it: all of these things are also true about the real-life Alison Bechdel! Spent presents a parallel world in which a fictional Bechdel lives at a pygmy goat sanctuary. Her friends are resurrected characters from the Dykes to Watch Out For comics Bechdel wrote in the 1980s, who are now queer, aging empty-nesters. A colorful and beautifully drawn book, Spent lovingly depicts diverse families and relationships, all while offering biting environmental and Marxist critiques of post-pandemic society. I loved every page of it.