Life is hard, and sometimes, it takes ample distractions, an overactive imagination, and a healthy amount of spite to get through it all.

Success Is 90% Spite is a collection of high-energy, slice-of-life comics born from the panic of a quarter-life crisis that chronicle artist Jane Zei’s endearingly awkward and whimsical efforts to navigate adulthood. With favourite selections from her popular webcomic, The Pigeon Gazette, and a wealth of brand-new content, this collection covers a range of topics in both short, four-panel and longer-form comics, told in a familiar style but with an extra dose of narrative imagination.

From college finals, hiding in the bathroom at parties, and constant video games to an office job, remembering colleague’s names, and even more video games, here is that familiar moment when high-flying optimism meets cold, hard adulthood. Jane’s stories of awkward subway flirting, mounting credit-card debt, navigating friendships as an adult, and taking countless snack breaks (and other people’s snacks) are told with upbeat and imaginative twists that show just how ridiculous growing up can be, in a collection that is at once relatable, hilarious, and impossible not to share.