"You ready for lunch?"
"You're different now. You're one of us."
— Kitty
Eat the Rich is a five-issue horror comic book minisseries published by Boom! Studios from August to December 2021. It was written by Sarah Gailey and drawn by Pius Bak.
Aspiring lawyer Josephine "Joey" Dorsey has agreed to spend the summer with her boyfriend Astor Hadley in his wealthy seaside hometown of Crestfall Bluffs. But when she discovers the town's dark secret — that they kill and eat the help at the end of their contracts — Joey realizes that this is what a life with Astor would entail, and has to decide if it's truly what she wants.
For the trope, see Eat the Rich.
Tropes:
- Big Fancy House: Joey is in awe at her boyfriend's childhood home:Joey: I've never been in a house this big. It's not just big. It's like another planet. They have two dining rooms that are only just for parties. They have a whole room just for gifts.
- Bisexual Love Triangle: Joey is torn between a posh but restrained life with her boyfriend Astor and a freer life with Astor's little brother's nanny Petal. She and Petal eventually decide to tear down Astor's society and live there on their own terms.
- Conditioned to Accept Horror: Everybody in Crestfall Bluffs has accepted that the staff members are brutally murdered and eaten as a quaint "community tradition". Joey is horrified that she appears to be the only person who sees something wrong with it.
- Eat the Rich: The comic is titled Eat the Rich because Joey is horrified by what the rich families in Crestfall Bluffs get up to. It's also literal, as Joey and Petal end the comic by revolting against and eating the rich residents.
- Healthcare Motivation: A common reason people sign up to work for the Crestfall Bluffs families despite knowing they'll be killed and eaten at the end of their contracts is because healthcare is ridiculously expensive, and the families pay for everything. Petal, who nannies for the Hadleys, tells Joey that her conditions would have killed her anyway because she couldn't afford the treatment.
- High-Class Cannibal: The 1%-ers who live in Crestfall Bluffs are totally blase about how they killl and eat their staff. In fact, Kitty explains to Joey that once she starts eating it, she can never go back, and she'll need to accept it if she wants to live in their world.
- It Gets Easier: Astor's stepmother Kitty was once like Joey, a working-class girl who married into a Crestfall Bluffs family. She tries to advise Joey on the ritual murder and cannibalism, telling her it gets easier to accept.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Everyone in Crestfall Bluffs is a cannibal, including the help who are forced into it by their High-Class Cannibal bosses. Something about human meat makes every other food unsatisfactory, making it so people couldn't leave even if they wanted to. In the end Joey fully accepts the cannibalism, but by eating the rich families instead.
- Meet the In-Laws: Joey is meeting her boyfriend Astor's friends and family for the first time in his hometown.
- Nice to the Waiter: Crestfall Bluff residents seem to really like their staff. They put large paintings of them in their homes and throw them lavish retirement parties...where they're killed and eaten at said parties. Petal explains that this is customary in the town; people sign up to work til their deaths because the wealthy residents otherwise assure them and their families are taken care of.
- Off the Wagon: Astor is now sober, but worries about falling off the wagon upon meeting his old friends. According to him, he hadn't been to a town social function sober since before he was a teenager.
- Sexy Stewardess: Implied Trope. When discussing how Kitty married into the Hadleys, there's a flashback showing that she met Pip as a flight attendant throwing a sultry look at him. In the next panel, they're married.
- Town with a Dark Secret: Crestfall Bluffs is a pretty seaside town full of wealthy people who also ritualistically murder and eat their staff. Everyone knows it except for Joey, who wasn't told beforehand.
- Trophy Wife: Astor proposes to Joey, saying that the family connections can help the future Mrs. Josephine Hadley be a successful lawyer, or she could also quit law and become a housewife. But she can't escape Crestfall Bluffs, especially because her body's been changed by the cannibalism.
