The life of a couple contains sometimes romantic moments but also slices of laughter or absurd moments. The homologated adventures of Paul & Tom illustrate it by a gay couple. But can this duet be both funny and banal and can we laugh about it?
From Instagram to comics
It all starts with an experience on Instagram. The writer and cartoonist Jacq offers jokes of one to four images. Jacq being colorblind, he preferred to opt for shades of gray. Gradually getting caught up in the game, he publishes regularly and finds himself with a large stock. This online experience is then transformed into a book by the talent of the publisher La Boîte à bulles. These approved adventures of Paul & Tom bring together a set of stories of one page most often independent but with characters and a common theme. The book follows the daily life of a couple of men. Paul and Tom are two stylized characters who resemble each other. The hairs distinguish them with a goatee for one and a strange puff for the other. There is even a joke about it from the beginning when the beardless wants to grow a beard. This choice disturbs the balance of the couple. 
An LGBTQ+ life?
Humor is certainly universal but The homologated adventures of Paul & Tom is a militant comic. The couple faces discrimination. Sometimes this exclusion is very personal as during interviews with their loved ones. The naïve neighbours don't understand anything. Sadder, Paul's parents even reject him years after he came out. Some discriminations are more surprising: a street vendor of roses does not stop at their table. Starting from a joke about the clumsiness of a colleague at the time of the demo for all, Jacq creates a recurring series on different reactions to homology. Tom finds himself at the counter exchanging with a colleague and reacts differently: sarcasm, ignorance… Without rushing but opting for laughter, the artist demonstrates that hatred still exists and that the life of a couple is also complicated between men. Paul and Tom share their moral questions with us. Can you watch La cage aux folles when you're gay? Is asking for a fly swatter an insult? Paul and Tom destroy stereotypes and Jacq doesn't care, but the couple knows how to play with malice elsewhere: to infuriate straight colleagues, Tom describes a crazy weekend when they have banally gone shopping. Jacq goes further by mocking gender. Not in a gay couple, one does not do the tasks of woman and the other the DIY. They thus show the absurdity of the gendered and unequal division of household activities.
A banal couple
However, over the pages, this couple is extremely banal and Jacq very good at revealing the strangeness of everyday life. How to manage cold feet in bed? If this time a solution is found, sharing the duvet brings the duo closer to the breakup. Paul and Tom discuss all topics including choosing a pet and then its name, introducing competition between pop stars. In parallel, we follow the beginning of their meeting at the auto show by making fun of the attractive young women posed on the cars. Paul who has become unemployed and faces the difficulty of looking for a job with placidity but he seems much less calm during the various attempts at professional change. 
The age difference between them is another source of mockery. Tom calls the hospice at the slightest hint of aging like having to take out glasses to read. It must be said that his companion seeks by trying miserably to organize a live by Instagram. Despite everything, the young post-teen and the old debris adore each other. However, not all jokes touch just like this pique on contemporary art. The approved adventures of Paul & Tom make us laugh by the daily life of a couple of lovers by showing us the absurdity of the banal including because they are two men. Throughout the pages and smiles, we laugh at their age difference or their sexual orientation but we also touch on the universal of love or the difficulty of living together. If you are interested in comedy comics, you can find the chronicles on Banquiz and Clebs.
