Loving the comic so far, but I feel like this page could use some critique.

First thing - until the last panel (when he says "I need to get back to work") the audience had no idea he was at work. In the last page he was crying on a bed at his friend's place, I just thought he was still there since it was only the next day. The audience needs more context when you change the scene so they can keep up.

Second thing - when revealing something as big and horrible as "your uncle died" you need to pace yourself. This is the first we're hearing about the uncle (as far as I remember) so the emotional impact is quite minimal. By 'pace yourself,' I mean that this page could have easily be spread to 3 or 4 pages of dialogue and expressions to really show the audience the emotional effect this has on both characters.

For example, the mom could have called but was just crying and finding it difficult to talk. He could have asked what was wrong and after taking a moment to breathe, the mom could then have responded with a "it's... it's your uncle. He..." [sob] "...lost his fight to cancer today."

Though a bit clichéd, you can see how this would have more of a sombre affect than "Hi sweetie, your uncle died, my sister's upset about it, funeral's tomorrow."

Also, his response of "cancer sucks... I need to get back to work" suddenly made him very unrelatable. Last night he was crying his heart out over his girlfriend but then he gets a call saying a relative died and his only response is "oh boy that sucks." The next page doesn't help all that much (he gets a very "why does everything bad happen to me?" mentality) but this critique is long enough, so I'm only going to critique this page.

In conclusion, this page was just poorly executed. More context was required for the scene. There should have been more mention of the uncle before now as the sudden death of a character we've never heard of has no emotional impact. The main character should have had more of an eloquent response than "cancer sucks."

Please don't take this the wrong way, I still love your comic and will continue to read it as every other page is wonderful and filled with charm. Keep up the good work xx