VeeFriends Issue 18 is one of the stranger concepts we have seen in VeeFriends Comics, which is saying something. The story takes place inside a Boston restaurant called Shells Kitchen, where customers order a shellfish tower made up of talking VeeFriends characters who give them brutally honest life advice. They are still being ordered as food to be eaten. Yet somehow, they are also giving relationship advice.
That concept was so strange that when James Patrick was trying to figure out how to write it, he found his inspiration in The Twilight Zone, which gave him a way to make the opening work. Gary Vaynerchuk came up with the idea for Shells Kitchen, and James Patrick wrote the story for VeeFriends Issue 18. He is also an award-winning comic book writer whose credits include Batman, Harley Quinn, Spider-Man, X-Men, Angel and Grimm Fairy Tales.
The Twilight Zone was created by Rod Serling, who also served as its host and narrator. Serling’s introductions became one of the most iconic parts of the show. Speaking directly to the audience in a calm, formal voice, he would introduce an ordinary person or place as though he were presenting a case for our consideration. Then he would isolate the one detail that did not belong and guide us across the line between everyday reality and whatever impossible situation the episode was about to explore. The introductions did not explain away the strange part. They established that the strange part was intentional and left us to discover the human problem hiding inside it.
That was the problem James had to solve with Shells Kitchen. In a VeeFriends Comics clip, he explains that his first draft was “really weird” and that he spent the most time rewriting the first page or two. The finished opening follows that Rod Serling structure. It introduces a little seafood restaurant on Boston’s wharfs, allows it to appear ordinary for a moment and then warns us that nothing inside is what it seems. By the time the seafood starts talking, the comic has already told us that we have entered a place with different rules.
VeeFriends Issue 18 begins outside Shells Kitchen, giving us a full look at the restaurant and the area around it. From what we can see, it is a large, multi-story seafood restaurant built on a pier within a city, rising roughly four stories at its tallest point. The narration calls it "a little seafood restaurant on Boston's wharfs," but there is nothing especially little about the building.
This is the Rod Serling-style opening James described. The narration tells us where we are, lets Shells Kitchen appear ordinary for a moment and then warns us that nothing here is what it seems.
Then we move inside, where the normal restaurant details continue. There is a fish of the day, a Chianti recommendation for Spiffy Salmon and a 25% tip is appreciated. Twenty-five percent? A tip is supposed to reflect how the server performs. And Shells Kitchen is already recommending one before its newest customer has even met her waiter? Unbelievable. Steve Buscemi would not approve.
In the next panel, Sensible Sommelier arrives and hands her a menu, marking his first full comic appearance. She thanks him like she is sitting down for an ordinary meal. We already know she is about to learn the restaurant's secret. She has no idea.
Someone sent the newest customer to Shells Kitchen because she needs romantic advice. That is already a strange reason to visit a seafood restaurant, but the menu makes it stranger.
Instead of food, Shells Kitchen lists Self-Improvement for $55, Peace of Mind for $39 and Romantic Advice for $42.99. How did they decide that self-improvement costs more than peace of mind? And why does romantic advice have the oddly specific price of $42.99? If Shells Kitchen is selling answers to people’s problems, who decided what each problem costs?
The waiter recommends Romantic Advice and calls it the special. But what exactly does $42.99 buy? Advice from whom? And why is every option surrounded by drawings of shellfish?
She tells the waiter the items do not make sense. He tells her Shells Kitchen is not like other restaurants and asks her to take a closer look. At what? The menu? The shellfish drawings? Something in the room she has not noticed yet?
What she has not noticed is that the other customers are talking directly to their food about their problems. Jack is arguing with what appears to be Last Glass Standing after the wine glass tells him he is in classic denial. It almost feels silly to qualify that identification because a talking wine glass in a VeeFriends comic could hardly fit Last Glass Standing any better. But VeeFriends does not include Last Glass Standing among Issue 18’s five first comic appearances. If this is Last Glass Standing, the omission means this panel is not being counted as the character’s first full comic appearance. That makes a likely cameo the strongest supported read.
Across the room, Barbra appears to be getting codependency advice from Creative Crab. VeeFriends does not include Creative Crab among Issue 18’s first appearances either, but Creative Crab received his official first comic-book appearance in Issue 6, VEE for Viking. He would not belong on Issue 18’s first-appearance list anyway. The visual match is less certain because a crab also fits the restaurant without having to be the VeeFriends character, so Creative Crab remains a possible cameo.
VeeFriends officially names Observant Oyster, Calm Clam, Loyal Lobster, Sufficient Shrimp and Sensible Sommelier as Issue 18’s five first comic appearances. With Loyal Lobster on that list, the green lobster in the display case looks like a likely match. But the comic does not identify him here. He could be Loyal Lobster, but we do not know that yet. The fish Phil carries does not clearly match any character VeeFriends names for the issue, so I am not assigning it a VeeFriends identity. For now, it is an unidentified fish on a plate while the customer tells Phil she has problems too. Are these creatures the staff, the meal, or somehow both?
The customer compares the talking seafood to a time in college when a girl told her the mushrooms were normal. Come on. We all know what kind of mushrooms she means. This is a psilocybin joke in a comic kids can read, and Issue 18 does not even have the 14+ warning that VeeFriends put on Issue 5. To be fair, the innuendo will probably fly right over younger readers’ heads. They may just hear a weird story about mushrooms, while adults understand exactly why talking seafood is bringing back that particular college memory. I think the joke is funny. But where exactly does VeeFriends draw the line for that warning?
The hands at the bottom of the panel belong to Sensible Sommelier, who is still serving the newest customer. He sets down a plate of shrimp and explains that the scallops provide stress management while the mussels help with personal growth. Then he trails off at “And...” as a shrimp stares up from the plate. I think we are about to meet the special.
Her food is ready, and the four characters on the plates introduce themselves: Sufficient Shrimp, Calm Clam, Observant Oyster and Loyal Lobster. Sufficient Shrimp promises they will listen to whatever Amanda has to say. Calm Clam explains that Observant Oyster only talks when he feels he needs to, and Loyal Lobster finishes the introductions with “sweetie.” Unlike Last Glass Standing and Creative Crab, none of these identifications need a qualifier. They tell us exactly who they are.
Loyal Lobster's introduction makes me go back to the green lobster in the display case on the previous page. Is that the same Loyal Lobster before he is served, or just another green lobster? The designs are close, and Shells Kitchen could have moved him from the case to Amanda's plate. But the comic never shows that move or names the first lobster. That makes the earlier lobster a likely match for Loyal Lobster, not a confirmed one.
Amanda introduces herself by saying she thinks the Fukushima nuclear spill was worse than anyone said. That is one hell of a way to meet your food, but the line is not random. The 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident released radioactive material into the marine environment, and Amanda is staring at four talking pieces of seafood. First she wondered whether she was hallucinating. Now she appears to think Fukushima created them. VeeFriends is still not on her list of explanations.
Sufficient Shrimp clears that up immediately: “Amanda, we’re VeeFriends!” Calm Clam adds that Shells Kitchen is just one way they reach out. Just one way? That makes the restaurant sound less like their home and more like a way for VeeFriends to contact humans. Special Edition A already established the Zone as a route between VeeWorld and the human world, but this page does not show the Zone. So what exactly is Shells Kitchen doing?
Loyal Lobster asks whether Amanda would reject help because it comes with a side of butter sauce. The butter sauce confirms the most uncomfortable part of Shells Kitchen: these VeeFriends know they are being served as food. Amanda has been offered therapy and dinner on the same platter.
Amanda decides talking seafood cannot be worse than the astrology session she once paid $200 for. Shells Kitchen charges $42.99 for Romantic Advice, so this meal is already $157.01 cheaper. That does not answer what qualifies any of these VeeFriends to help with a relationship, but $200 astrology has set a pretty low bar.
Sufficient Shrimp loves her attitude, Calm Clam says they are on her side, and Loyal Lobster asks for her troubles. Then Observant Oyster finally speaks: “Astrology? What a bunch of salt water!” Calm Clam just told us Observant Oyster only talks when he feels he needs to. Apparently roasting astrology qualifies.
Is It Canon adds one more layer to the joke. In their Shells Kitchen episode, Tom says D.J. Coffman told them the line originally read “BS” before Gary changed it to “saltwater.” I have not heard D.J.'s original comment myself, so I am keeping that attribution attached. If the story is accurate, Gary turned a generic insult into a line only Observant Oyster could deliver.
Amanda's problems started a year earlier, when she had a normal job and ran a YouTube channel on the side called Cat Sip. She talked about her cats and interviewed other people about theirs.
Cat Sip did not stay a side project. Amanda's likes, subscribers, and revenue skyrocketed, and her life changed in the blink of an eye. The page surrounds her with hearts, follower counts, cash, and cats.
Amanda calls the strangest change the attention she started receiving from men who had never been interested in her before, including the type of guy she says she had always dreamed of. Strange to Amanda, maybe. But money and fame attract people who want the money and fame, not necessarily the person who has them. Cat Sip made her more visible, but it also made it harder to know who was interested in Amanda and who wanted access to her money, audience, and influence.
Paul's first line is, “Hey, you're that YouTube girl.” He does not even call her Amanda. His entire introduction is about who she is online.
Amanda took Paul's attention as something she had earned: “I figured I'd earned it.” But what exactly did she think she had earned? Amanda earned Cat Sip's success. She had not earned Paul's attention as a prize. If anything, that success gave her more reason to question new attention because people could now know her fame before they knew Amanda.
Amanda started dating Paul anyway, and for a while, she says things were great. Fantastic.
The relationship changed when Paul began spending more and more of Amanda's money. We are not talking about dinner or a vacation. Paul buys himself a $328,000 car and tells the salesman, “Put it on her card.”
Paul gives Amanda less of his time too. She asks if he is still at the office and tells him she is making a special dinner. He replies that he will not be home until late. Amanda is not a priority to him. Even when Paul is physically beside her, his attention remains on his phone while she talks. At this point, it could not be more obvious that Paul is using her.
Yet Amanda says, “I know I'm the problem.” That reads less like inexperience and more like low self-esteem. Her sense of worth has become tangled with whether Paul wants her, so she reads his withdrawal as proof that she is not interesting enough. Psychologists call one version of this relationship-contingent self-esteem: when a person's self-worth depends on the relationship, good and bad moments in that relationship cause larger swings in how they feel about themselves.
That explains why Amanda came to Shells Kitchen asking how to keep Paul interested. She already described dating him as something she had “earned” after Cat Sip succeeded. If keeping Paul proves she deserves her new life, losing him threatens more than the relationship. It threatens how she sees herself. Changing herself gives Amanda something she can control, while facing what the relationship has become would force her to question whether Paul was ever a reward at all.
Sufficient Shrimp starts by separating Amanda from the mistake she is making: “You are not the problem.” That does not mean Amanda has nothing to change. She is in “new waters” and missing the red flags. Being unfamiliar with this kind of relationship explains how she missed them. It does not make the red flags any less red.
Loyal Lobster goes deeper. Amanda is not judging Paul by whether he is right for her. She is judging the relationship by whether it looks like the life she thought success was supposed to give her. Those are two completely different standards. One asks how Paul treats Amanda. The other asks what having Paul says about Amanda.
Calm Clam finds the fear underneath that second standard. If the relationship falls apart, Amanda believes her entire new life has failed with it. In Amanda's mind, Paul is not just a boyfriend. He is evidence that her new life counts as success.
Observant Oyster waits while the others explain why Amanda cannot see the answer and then gives it to her anyway: “Paul's a dumbass. Dump him!” Understanding the trap is useful. Getting out of it still requires Amanda to act. Observant Oyster has officially heard enough.
Amanda accepts the advice immediately. She needs to find someone who is right for her, not someone who functions as a measure of her new status. Paul is no longer proof that Amanda made it. He is a man she can judge by how he treats her.
Then Loyal Lobster tells Amanda to enjoy her food. The $42.99 was not only a charge for relationship advice. Sufficient Shrimp reminds her, “Sweetie, we're $42.99. Eat up!” Romantic Advice includes eating the advisers.
Calm Clam recommends the chocolate cake because it is exquisite and “has good stock tips.” Wait. The cake has stock tips? That suggests the shellfish are not the only food at Shells Kitchen capable of giving advice. Does every item on the menu handle a different part of your life? Relationship advice with the shellfish, financial advice with dessert?
Then they ask Amanda to complete an online survey. Of course they do. Even a restaurant where dinner talks back still wants customer feedback.
Amanda reaches for Loyal Lobster, and “Now enjoy your food!” becomes “O-okay.” He was a lot more enthusiastic about dinner before Amanda reached for him.
Amanda tears Loyal Lobster in half, and he screams, “Oh God, the pain!” She bites into Sufficient Shrimp, who yells, “The horror!” twice. The final panel takes us inside Amanda's stomach, where what remains of the platter is still alive. One of them says, “I only wanted to die quickly.”
That changes Loyal Lobster's earlier butter-sauce question. He made being eaten sound like a small condition attached to the help, but this is the actual cost of helping at Shells Kitchen. They give Amanda relationship advice, encourage her to enjoy her food, and remain conscious while she tears, chews, and swallows them.
Even the psilocybin joke could fly over a younger reader's head. This cannot. Issue 18 shows sentient VeeFriends screaming through every stage of the meal, then leaves them sitting inside Amanda's stomach. Yet unlike Issue 5, there is no 14+ warning on this cover.
Despite the lack of a warning, I personally love this. Shells Kitchen flips from happy-go-lucky talking seafood giving relationship advice to the literal horror of those same characters being eaten alive. It is dark, completely unexpected, and exactly the kind of turn that piques my interest. This is where the Twilight Zone inspiration really pays off for me. I loved that show growing up, and it could draw you into a strange premise before revealing how disturbing it actually was. Issue 18 does that here. The cheerful absurdity was only the setup. The meal is the horror.
The comic puts the Shells Kitchen menu back in front of us and jumps forward one year. Observant Oyster told her exactly what to do. One year later, we are about to find out whether Amanda actually did it.
Amanda is back at Shells Kitchen, and Paul's red sports car is parked outside. The license plate reads “PAUL5.” There is Gary's favorite number again, this time attached to Paul. Amanda paid for that car, but it still carries his name. Before she says a word, the parking lot tells us Paul is still in the story.
Sensible Sommelier welcomes Amanda back and asks if she needs a menu. She does not. Amanda orders “the #3.” Number three is Romantic Advice for $42.99. She remembers exactly what to order.
The advice was not the problem on Amanda's first visit. The VeeFriends told her to dump Paul, and his car sitting outside suggests she did not follow it, or at least did not stay away for good. She is not back because Shells Kitchen failed her. She is back because knowing the right answer and acting on it are two different things.
Sensible Sommelier brings out number three and tells her to enjoy, which raises an entirely different question. Amanda already ate this dish. Loyal Lobster was torn in half, Sufficient Shrimp was chewed, and the rest of the platter died inside her stomach. So who is being served this time? Are these new versions of the same VeeFriends, or did the originals somehow survive being eaten?
Number three arrives with Sufficient Shrimp, Calm Clam, Observant Oyster, and Loyal Lobster sitting on the platter again. Wait. What? They are all alive. Amanda tore Loyal Lobster in half, bit into Sufficient Shrimp, and the final panel left what remained of the platter alive inside her stomach. Now the entire group is back on fresh plates, greeting her like this is a perfectly normal return visit. And they remember her. Sufficient Shrimp calls Amanda by name and says they have not seen her in so long. The others ask how things turned out and whether everything is okay. Are these the original VeeFriends resurrected after the meal, or new versions carrying the same memories? Either possibility is insane. Shells Kitchen gives us absolutely no explanation.
Amanda tells them things did not turn out great and admits she is embarrassed. The VeeFriends could easily say, “We told you so.” They do the opposite. They remind her that everyone makes mistakes and that mistakes are part of the journey, then ask her to explain what happened. Amanda already feels bad about coming back. Making her feel worse would not help her fix anything.
She begins, “So after I left that night, I went home to end things with Paul...” Amanda's first sentence makes the sequence more complicated: she did not simply ignore the VeeFriends. She left Shells Kitchen intending to dump him. What happened between that decision and the car sitting outside one year later is the part she is about to explain.
Amanda did try to dump Paul. He apologizes, admits he has not been present, and promises to do better. Those are exactly the words Amanda has been waiting to hear. Then the comic cuts straight to the two of them in bed as Amanda says Paul “put on the charm” and can be convincing. It is strongly implied that they have sex after he promises to change.
That sequence is doing more than showing us they reconciled. Physical closeness can make a relationship feel repaired before either person has fixed what caused the breakup. That is exactly what happens here. Paul has not changed any of the behavior that made Amanda want to leave, but the apology and sex are enough to turn her decision into another chance for him.
Again, how does this issue not have a 14+ warning? We already had the psilocybin joke and the VeeFriends screaming while being eaten alive. Now the comic strongly implies sex is part of how a toxic boyfriend convinces Amanda to stay. Younger readers may not understand exactly what the bed panel means, but that does not make the adult implication disappear.
Then Paul offers a solution to their problems: he should start appearing on Cat Sip so they can do something together. That does address one part of Amanda's complaint. It would give them more time together. But it turns that time into part of Amanda's work, does nothing about Paul spending her money, and does not show that he will pay attention to her when there is no audience watching.
Amanda thinks it is a great idea, and Paul joins the show for a few months. Go back to his first line: “Hey, you're that YouTube girl.” The man who recognized Amanda through Cat Sip is now using Cat Sip as his way to repair the relationship. Paul promised to be more present in their relationship. His solution makes him more present on Amanda's channel.
The next page answers which part of the arrangement mattered more to Paul. After Amanda's viewers get to know him, he starts an “Ornery Fans” account and uses the platform she gave him to recruit her subscribers. Cat Sip was supposed to help their relationship. Paul turns it into a funnel for building his own audience.
“Ornery Fans” is an obvious OnlyFans joke. Paul is posing shirtless, and the account includes a “Show More $” button. One page after implying that sex helped Paul convince Amanda to stay, Issue 18 is now parodying a subscription platform known for adult content. The case for that missing 14+ warning keeps getting stronger.
Amanda says Paul began to change, but his entitlement was already there when he spent her money and ignored her. What changes now is how publicly he acts on it. He orders a valet not to scratch his car and asks, “Do you know who I am?” He drinks more, wrecks two cars in three months, and pours a drink on another man while people laugh and record him. Amanda wanted Paul to pay attention to her. Once Paul has his own audience, he starts acting as though everyone else should pay attention to him.
The page throws us directly into Amanda's perspective. She is drawn as if she is literally free-falling into a green abyss while burning money, broken hearts, thumbs-down symbols, and collapsing social-media numbers spin around her. Everywhere Amanda looks, something is dropping, burning, breaking, or disappearing. Paul's behavior has become a scandal, Cat Sip has lost millions of followers, and his debt keeps growing. Paul created the chaos, but Amanda is the one falling through it.
When Amanda tries to talk to Paul about the damage, he screams, “You don't tell me what to f#$*@n do!” She is already watching her career, money, and relationship collapse around her, and Paul makes it clear that confronting him will bring more anger. Instead of helping Amanda stop the spiral, he becomes another reason she feels powerless to stop it.
Then the comic drains all color. The frantic green abyss gives way to Amanda curled up on a black-and-white bathroom floor with her cat beside her. The black and white represents her depression. The public losses can be counted in followers and debt. The damage to Amanda cannot. She feels trapped, everything she worked for is slipping away, and she is too afraid to ask Paul to leave.
The first time Amanda came to Shells Kitchen, she was worried Paul would lose interest in her. One year later, she is afraid of what will happen if she tells him to go. She came asking how to keep Paul. Now she is asking what to do because she no longer feels free to leave him.
The four VeeFriends look up from Amanda's platter and take turns telling her what she needs to do next. Loyal Lobster says he is sorry for what she has been through, but she is past the point where how she ends the relationship matters. She needs to dump Paul. His loyalty is to Amanda, not to preserving a relationship that is hurting her.
Sufficient Shrimp immediately clarifies the one part that does still matter: Amanda's safety. If she is afraid, she should not do it in person. Calm Clam tells her Paul no longer deserves her respect because he does not respect her. A face-to-face breakup might normally be the more respectful way to end a relationship, but Amanda does not owe Paul an in-person breakup when being in the same room with him could put her in danger.
Observant Oyster saves the wildest answer for last: “I know a guy who can make people disappear.” That is not relationship advice. It sounds like a threat. “Make people disappear” is a euphemism for killing them, so the joke is that Observant Oyster may know a hitman. Who exactly does this oyster know? Is his guy connected to Turnt Tick and the burglar cats from Issue 14? Could it be Bad Intentions? Or is Observant Oyster connected to some other bad guy we have not met yet? The comic gives us no name. Until it does, all I know is that Observant Oyster may be the most dangerous VeeFriend on Amanda's platter.
Amanda looks down at the four VeeFriends and tells them she is breaking up with Paul when she leaves Shells Kitchen. She will do it safely, and this time she will not back down. Amanda left her first visit planning to end the relationship too. Paul's apology and the sex that followed turned that decision into another chance for him. “I won't back down this time” is Amanda recognizing exactly where her first attempt failed.
The VeeFriends tell Amanda they are proud of her and have her back. Loyal Lobster promises it will be okay. The first visit gave Amanda the answer. This time, they make sure she knows she does not have to follow it alone.
Then Amanda asks whether she really has to eat them again because it “seemed painful” last time. Seemed? Loyal Lobster screamed after she tore him in half, Sufficient Shrimp yelled “The horror!” while she chewed him, and all four were still alive inside her stomach. Shells Kitchen left very little room for doubt.
Calm Clam tells Amanda not to worry because being eaten does not hurt at all. Amanda answers, “If you say so,” and goes ahead with it. The seafood knows that is a lie. They are protecting Amanda from the gruesome reality of what she is about to do to them. Then she bites into Sufficient Shrimp, and he screams, “LIFE IS PAIN!” The truth comes out the second her teeth come down.
Amanda walks out of Shells Kitchen and calls Paul immediately. She gives him one day to get his stuff out, admits she hates ending the relationship over the phone, and tells him that if he is still there tomorrow, she will call the police. This is exactly what Sufficient Shrimp meant by not doing it in person if she was afraid. Amanda is not backing down, but she is not putting herself in the same room with Paul to prove it.
Her face changes as soon as the call ends. After a year of feeling trapped inside her own life, Amanda has finally set the boundary Paul made her afraid to set. Her smile is the relief of realizing that Paul no longer gets to decide whether the relationship continues.
Then a man in the parking lot notices Paul's red sports car. He calls it nice, says he has always wanted to drive one, and asks how fast it goes. Paul bought that $328,000 car with Amanda's money and even put PAUL5 on the license plate. Now Amanda is standing at the open driver's door after telling Paul to get out of her life. Taking back the car he put on her card feels appropriate, but that car may already be acting as bait for the next man.
The hearts around Amanda's face show that she is stepping right back into the same toxic cycle. Paul first approached her as “that YouTube girl,” making her fame the first thing he noticed. This stranger opens by admiring the $328,000 car. Amanda has been single for about thirty seconds, and she is already responding to his interest in her car as though it were interest in her. She escaped Paul, but she has not escaped the pattern that let him into her life.
The black-and-white Shells Kitchen menu returns with a second “One Year Later.” That puts us two years beyond Amanda's first visit and one year beyond the day she finally left Paul.
A purple sports car screeches into Pier 5, and Amanda slams on the brakes when she sees what is left of Shells Kitchen. The restaurant is gone. The pier is wrapped in caution tape, signs warn people to keep out, and the Shells Kitchen sign is lying in the wreckage. A black cat is sitting in the middle of the debris. Is it an Easter Egg tied to Amanda and Cat Sip, or a plot point connected to whatever happened here? We do not know yet, but the comic puts it right where we cannot miss it.
Wait, what happened to the red car? Paul charged that $328,000 purchase to Amanda's card, so the car was hers, and the last time we saw it she was standing at the open driver's door after telling Paul to get out of her life. Did she sell it? Trade it in? Getting rid of a red sports car with PAUL5 on the license plate was the right decision. She did not need to carry that reminder of Paul into whatever came next. The purple car also looks more like a choice Amanda made for herself.
That color matters in VeeFriends. Purple represents the balance between red and blue, and the comics have used a red-to-purple shift before when a character changes direction. Mikey's hoodie does it in Issue 01. Billy's shirt does it in VeeFriends For Teachers Issue 01.
That history makes Amanda's purple car feel intentional. Perhaps leaving Paul was a step toward balance, and changing the car was part of reclaiming her life. But as Amanda gets out, she says everything is worse than ever. The car may be a sign that Amanda is moving in the right direction, but she still has more room to grow. It is also possible my read is wrong and the purple color-change motif does not apply to Amanda's car at all.
Whatever the color means, Amanda has returned to Shells Kitchen looking for another answer. The VeeFriends gave her the right advice both times she came before. Now the restaurant is gone, and Amanda will have to recognize the pattern without another platter waiting to point it out.
A red-haired woman carrying a coffee finds Amanda sitting on the closed pier with her head in her hands. The woman cannot believe Shells Kitchen is gone and says she does not know where to get advice now. Then she notices Amanda and says, “And not to intrude, but you look worse than me. Ya going to be okay?” Both women came to the pier looking for help, but Amanda looks distressed enough to pull the stranger's attention away from her own problems.
Amanda finally names the pattern herself: “I make bad decisions. I ignore advice. I can't escape myself. It's a cycle.” That is progress. Earlier, Amanda treated Paul's lack of interest as proof that something was wrong with her and asked how she could keep him interested. She was making herself responsible for something Paul was doing. This admission is different. Amanda cannot control whether Paul values her, but she can question why she chose him, why she ignored the warnings, and why she returned after she knew how he treated her. She is not taking responsibility for Paul. She is taking accountability for her own decisions, which is the only part of the cycle she can actually change.
The woman tells Amanda she has just described 99% of the world, including her. That does not erase the consequences of Amanda's choices, but it does challenge the idea that those choices make her uniquely broken. Amanda needs to change the pattern. She does not need to hate herself while she does it.
Then the woman says she was once told that relationship problems are “a marathon, not a sprint.” Amanda says that makes sense. When the woman reveals the advice came from a shrimp cocktail, Amanda laughs. Now we know why this woman came to Shells Kitchen looking for advice. She has been helped by talking seafood before too.
Shells Kitchen is gone, but that shared experience gives Amanda and the woman an immediate connection. Amanda came looking for another plate of answers. Instead, she found someone who understands why she came.
The two women get to their feet and shake hands. The red-haired woman finally introduces herself as Sarah and begins, “And I really like your...” Amanda immediately fills in the blank: “Car? I know. Everyone likes the car.” But Sarah was going to say she likes Amanda's pin.
That misunderstanding shows how accustomed Amanda has become to attention aimed at everything surrounding Cat Sip. Paul recognized “that YouTube girl,” and the next man noticed the car. Amanda now expects another stranger to do the same and answers the compliment before Sarah can finish it. But Sarah is not interested in the car. She is complimenting the black cat pin on Amanda's shirt, an accessory Amanda chose for herself that represents her genuine love for cats.
Sarah says she had hoped to eat at Shells Kitchen because she has not eaten all day. She needs a bite and someone to talk to. Without the restaurant, Sarah says she will go home and tell her problems to her cat. Amanda asks what kind of cat she has, and the conversation suddenly becomes easy. Sarah has six cats, but only one is a good listener: a Russian Blue. Amanda says, “I love Russian Blues. I have three!”
Does Amanda mean three Russian Blues or three cats total? The way the line is written, “I love Russian Blues. I have three!” sounds like she owns three Russian Blues. But when Cat Sip takes off, the comic shows Amanda with three differently colored cats: one orange, one white and orange, and one gray. Only the gray cat resembles the Russian Blue breed, making three cats total the stronger visual read. The dialogue points one way, while the art points the other.
The exact number remains unclear, but the connection does not. Sarah has already admitted that she needs someone to talk to. Amanda agrees to go eat with her and answers, “I need to talk to someone too.” Amanda came back to Shells Kitchen expecting another platter to tell her what to do. Instead, she finds someone who shares her love of cats and needs someone willing to listen just as much as Amanda does.
Sarah and Amanda walk down the pier beneath the full moon as their new conversation turns to why Sarah came to Shells Kitchen. Amanda asks what kind of problems Sarah is having. Sarah answers, “Relationship.” Amanda immediately says, “God, we're so cliché. Guys are the worst!” Sarah hesitates before correcting her: “Actually, uh... my problem is with a girl.” Amanda answers with a small, surprised “Oh.”
I applaud VeeFriends for including a relationship between two women here and treating it as naturally as any other relationship in the comic. Sarah being attracted to women is not presented as her problem. The relationship is the problem, just like it was for Amanda. That distinction matters. The message is simple: it is okay to be gay, and I agree with it.
This kind of representation has also become increasingly normal in children's entertainment. In 2019, Arthur showed Mr. Ratburn marrying a man in a TV-Y episode, and GLAAD's report on kids and family programming documents LGBTQ characters and couples across shows from major networks and streaming services. That does not mean every parent agrees. Alabama Public Television refused to air the Arthur wedding episode, which shows why some families may still see this as controversial. But children's media has been including same-sex relationships for years, and I think that is a good thing. Kids who are gay, or who have gay parents, relatives, and friends, should be able to see that their lives belong in these stories too.
Then Sensible Sommelier and Observant Oyster appear in the foreground, watching Amanda and Sarah walk away. Shells Kitchen has been demolished, but these two are still here. Sensible Sommelier asks, “What do you think? Third time's a charm?” Observant Oyster replies, “Hmmm... We'll see.”
“Third time” refers to Amanda's third visit to Shells Kitchen and what may be the VeeFriends' third attempt to help her. The final reveal makes Sarah's arrival feel less accidental than it first appeared. Did Sensible Sommelier and Observant Oyster arrange it, or are they only watching to see what Amanda does next? Sensible Sommelier sounds hopeful. Observant Oyster has seen enough to know that one promising conversation does not mean Amanda has broken the cycle. “We'll see” is exactly right.
The hidden observers bring the issue back to the Twilight Zone feeling James Patrick wanted from the beginning. Calm Clam told Amanda that Shells Kitchen was only one way VeeFriends reach out. Now the building is gone, yet its VeeFriends remain involved. Whatever Shells Kitchen really is, it was never only a restaurant.
In Closing
Shells Kitchen gives Amanda the right answer the first time she walks through the door. The problem is that knowing what to do and being ready to do it are not the same thing. Amanda leaves planning to dump Paul, lets his apology pull her back in, and returns one year later after the relationship has become frightening. Even after she finally gets him out of her life, the hearts around her face in the parking lot show that the pattern has not disappeared with him. Shells Kitchen can tell Amanda the truth. It cannot make her live by it.
Each of the four seafood VeeFriends gives Amanda a different part of the answer. Sufficient Shrimp separates her worth from Paul's behavior. Loyal Lobster is loyal to Amanda, not to preserving a relationship that is hurting her. Calm Clam finds the fear underneath her attachment to Paul. Observant Oyster strips away every excuse and tells her to dump him. Together, their traits turn one obvious instruction into a fuller picture of why Amanda has such a difficult time following it.
The third visit changes the form of the help. Amanda finds Shells Kitchen destroyed, but she also meets Sarah, another person carrying relationship problems of her own. Sensible Sommelier and Observant Oyster watch them leave and wonder whether the third time will finally be the charm. Maybe they sent Sarah. Maybe they only recognize that Amanda has found a different kind of answer. Either way, Calm Clam was telling the truth when he said Shells Kitchen was only one way VeeFriends reach out.
The Twilight Zone influence does more than frame the opening and ending. It allows the issue to leave its strangest rules unexplained. The seafood can be torn apart, eaten, and served alive one year later. Shells Kitchen can be demolished while Sensible Sommelier and Observant Oyster continue watching from the pier. We never learn what Shells Kitchen is or how far this system reaches. Explaining it would shrink it. The mystery is what lets one restaurant feel like a doorway into a larger part of VeeFriends.
Taken as a whole, VeeFriends Issue 18 is funny, disturbing, and emotionally grounded. The talking seafood is absurd, but Amanda's struggle is painfully normal. People can recognize a bad relationship, receive the right advice, and still repeat the same decision. The VeeFriends can point toward a better path, but Amanda still has to choose it. Observant Oyster's final “We'll see” is the right ending. Amanda's story was never about whether good advice was available. It was about whether she would finally use it.
Official First Appearances
VeeFriends' official Issue 18 article identifies five first comic-book appearances:
- Observant Oyster
- Calm Clam
- Loyal Lobster
- Sufficient Shrimp
- Sensible Sommelier
After The Issue
Inspired by how VeeFriends treats character traits as forces that shape reality, I created Alien Traits: a 1-of-1 NFT series interpreting each of the 251 core traits. No repeats. Each visual piece also includes a written definition of the trait it represents in OpenSea's "About" section.
Explore the full Alien Traits collection here: https://opensea.io/collection/alien-traits
Easter Eggs
1. Self-Improvement costs $55.
That double five is another reference to Gary's favorite number 5. VeeFriends Comics keep finding ways to work that number into the background. Issue 14 gave us 5.55 on a cash register and 5555 on a safe. Now Issue 18 puts two 5s on the first item of the menu.
Gary's connection to 5 goes back to the Jets jersey his mother knitted for him when his family could not afford to buy one. She put the number 5 on it, and Gary has said that jersey represents his life more than any other item he owns.
So $55 is not a random price. It is another little Gary-number Easter Egg.
2. Amanda's necklace echoes the Eye of the Golden Caller.
Amanda wears a green rectangular stone inside a gold frame. The shape and colors immediately reminded me of the Eye of the Golden Caller from VeeFriends Issue 14.
The two objects are not identical, and the story never treats Amanda's necklace as anything more than jewelry. But Amanda has three cats, and the Eye of the Golden Caller was stolen by literal cat burglars in Issue 14. That extra cat connection makes the resemblance and the possibility of a deliberate reference stronger. It is still unconfirmed, but there may be more connecting Amanda to the Eye than the shape and colors of her necklace alone.
3. The wine bottle is from 1997.
Sensible Sommelier serves a bottle with 1997 printed on the label. In a comic built around VeeFriends characters, that feels like a direct reference to Who Was Born In 1997, a VeeFriends Series 2 character.
After seeing this Easter Egg, dirtdog365 went back to the character's earlier artwork and found another layer. Sensible Sommelier's official Series 2 design labels the bottle 1975, the year Gary Vaynerchuk was born. That makes the comic's change to 1997 feel even more deliberate: it swaps Gary's birth year for the year in Who Was Born In 1997's name.
4. One of the “fresh” lobsters is already red.
The smoking lobster in the display tank is an obvious joke. His color creates another one. NOAA explains that live lobsters are not normally red and turn red when cooked. Shells Kitchen has placed a bright red lobster inside a tank labeled fresh.
Either this restaurant has found an extremely rare lobster, or the poor guy already looks cooked before anyone places an order. At Shells Kitchen, both explanations feel possible.
5. The grocery store sells Silly Cereal.
When Paul first meets Amanda, the boxes on the shelf behind him say “Silly Cereal.” That immediately reminded me of GaryVee's Podcast Puffs, the real cereal box built around Gary's podcast brand years before VeeFriends Comics.
Maybe Silly Cereal is only a grocery-store gag, but seeing a fictional cereal box inside a Gary Vee comic reminded me of GaryVee's real Podcast Puffs cereal.
Podcast Puffs image and package-design source: Cesar R's 2019 Behance project.
6. Paul's salesman carries the colors and vibe of Bad Intentions.
AnneBagg noticed on Is It Canon that the salesman who helps Paul charge $328,000 to Amanda's card wears a green suit with an orange tie and has an enormous grin. DomRouz later brought that theory to me for review. The salesman does not physically resemble Bad Intentions. The possible connection comes from the green-and-orange palette, his exaggerated grin, and the way he cheerfully helps Paul make an exploitative purchase using Amanda's card.
That gives the scene the colors and energy of Bad Intentions, but it remains a possible visual and thematic reference rather than a confirmed cameo.
7. The sports car carries two Notorious Ninja references.
The back of Paul's car says SHINODA, connecting it to Renji Shinoda and Shinoda Motors from VeeFriends Issue 07. Then the front of the car gives us a tiny shuriken, or ninja star, to make the reference even harder to miss.
The license plate adds PAUL5, working Gary's favorite number into the same car. SHINODA tells us where the car came from, the shuriken reinforces the ninja connection and PAUL5 tells us who made Amanda pay for it.
8. Amanda uses V-Mobile.
The top of Amanda's phone says V-MOBILE, which dirtdog365 spotted. Instead of showing a real-world phone carrier, the comic gives Amanda a VeeFriends-branded mobile network.
9. Amanda's phone battery is at 55%.
The $55 menu item is not the only double five hiding in Issue 18. When Amanda messages Paul, the status bar on her phone shows 55% battery. Gary's favorite number is worked into such a small detail that it is easy to miss even while the phone is sitting in the center of the panel.
10. Burn Island appears to be sitting behind Amanda.
While Amanda explains her relationship on the boat, a volcanic island rises from the water behind her. dirtdog365 gets full credit for catching this one. The silhouette looks remarkably close to Burn Island, the volcanic island inside the VeeFriends world.
It could still be an unnamed island in the distance, but a volcano with that shape does not feel like a random choice in a VeeFriends comic.
11. Could Paul himself be Bad Intentions?
A tiny carrot is tucked into the lower-right corner of Paul's Ornery Fans screen. Because Bad Intentions' official story begins with the Fear Carrot, the detail looks like another possible reference to him.
The Is It Canon discussion took that connection one step further: what if Paul himself is Bad Intentions? The theory is that Bad Intentions exposes or tempts the worst parts already inside people, and Paul's entitlement, exploitation of Amanda, the green sports car he later drives and wrecks, and the Fear Carrot hidden on his Ornery Fans screen make the idea feel possible.
But the comic does not identify Paul as a VeeFriend or confirm that Bad Intentions changed form or entered him. The salesman, the Fear Carrot, and Paul's green car may be related clues, or they may be separate details. For now, this is a credited theory, not canon.
12. Amanda's car changes from red to purple.
When Amanda leaves Paul, she is standing at the open door of the $328,000 red sports car he charged to her. It was on Amanda's card, so it should have been hers once Paul was gone.
When Amanda later returns to Pier 5, she comes flying back in a purple sports car. What happened to the red one? Did she sell it or trade it because the PAUL5 car was too much of a reminder of him? Did she replace it with one that matched her better? The comic never tells us, but it makes the color change impossible to ignore.
In VeeFriends, purple is not just branding. The official VeeFriends explanation of purple calls it the balance between red and blue, the middle where opposite extremes blend. We have already watched that idea move through the comics. In Issue 01, Mikey's hoodie changes from red to purple as he moves away from those extremes and toward balance. Josh Courage first pointed that detail out to me, and D.J. Coffman later explained on Whatnot that in VeeFriends you do not want to live too far in red or blue. The balance is purple.
VeeFriends For Teachers Issue 01 repeats the move when Billy's red shirt becomes purple after Lara reaches him and the two begin working together. Issue 03 may use a softer version when its red hot-air balloon takes on a purplish hue as it rises away, although that one could still be color and shadow.
That history makes Amanda's purple car feel intentional. She has separated herself from Paul and now arrives in the VeeFriends color of balance. But her first words are that everything is worse and she still needs advice. So has Amanda actually found balance, or has only the car changed? The color may show how far she has come. Her return to Shells Kitchen shows how far she still has to go.
13. The lifesaver is numbered 309.
VeeFriends has used 309 for two limited comic editions. Issue 04 had 309 SDCC-exclusive variants, while Issue 13 had 309 limited editions distributed at ComicsPRO. The events were different, but the print count was the same.
Rumor has it that 309 entered the system because Gary texted that number when the print quantity was being decided. Some people thought he may have meant 300, but instead of asking him to clarify, the final decision was to go with 309.
But whether 309 began intentionally or through a possible typo no longer changes what it has become. VeeFriends used the number again for another limited edition, and now Issue 18 places it directly on the lifesaver at Pier 5. What may have started as an accident has become a recurring number inside the VeeFriends collecting system and its lore.
14. The no-parking sign says 32A.
The no-parking sign beside the wreckage of Shells Kitchen says 32A. That tiny number opens one of the strangest mysteries in VeeFriends comic collecting.
Collectors use 32A as an unofficial name for Friendship is Havoc, the mini-comic included with Mattel's VeeFriends x Masters of the Universe Skilled Skeleton and Skeletor two-pack. Mattel confirms that a mini-comic comes with the set, but neither Mattel nor VeeFriends officially calls it Issue 32A. The name came from somewhere inside the collector community. Finding where has been much harder than finding people who use it.
The earliest public use I can find came from BroFit AZ after the March 2026 VeeFriends meetup in Lufkin. On March 24, BroFit asked whether anyone had any "32 As" because he had seen copies in Lufkin, but they were gone when he went back for them. Tracy, who had also seen the comics that weekend, replied, "What is 32 A?" The physical comic was already there in Lufkin, but at least one person who saw it did not know the nickname.
Six minutes after BroFit's post, Dan Doll wrote, "I can't believe all of the 32A sold out that quick. Wild." Dan identified himself as one-third of Good Guys Collect, and BroFit's Lufkin recap three days later included both "32 As IYKYK" and a separate shoutout to "Team Good Guys." When I asked Tracy about it months later, she knew which comic 32A meant but not where the name came from. She pointed me toward Good Guys Collect.
That gives us the earliest public trail I can find, not the place where the name started. BroFit's first post placed the copies in Lufkin, and his recap connected 32A to that same weekend. Black Spot is the comic shop in Lufkin, which made it the most obvious place to investigate. That is why I later asked whether the shop had created the nickname. BroFit said Black Spot had nothing to do with 32A. His answer rules out the clearest explanation for the Lufkin connection, but it does not make March 24 the beginning of the name itself. BroFit's post never introduced or explained 32A. He used it as though other people already knew what it meant, which tells us the nickname was already circulating before the earliest public reference I found.
Tracy's answer made Good Guys Collect the strongest lead I had, so I asked Dan whether he knew where 32A came from. He remembered learning the name in Lufkin and thought it was hilarious that D.J. Coffman had now used it in the comic, but he genuinely did not know who coined it. I believe him. Good Guys Collect did not create 32A. Dan's public post helps document how quickly the name was already circulating after Lufkin, but not where it started.
By March 31, Is It Canon was publicly promoting a segment called "Talk Comic 32A - an issue neither of us has read." In the April 1 episode, Tom explained that he had spotted one copy in the background of an eBay listing, contacted the seller, learned there were two, and bought both. Anne asked whether the listing itself had called the comic 32A. Tom said no. Whoever gave Tom the name, it was not the seller whose listing led him to those copies.
Ron Jordan, posting from The Stars Podcast account, was already part of the March 24 conversation. He replied to BroFit's post with a brain emoji and tagged Dan, BroFit, VeeFriends, Tom, and others. Dan's post about all of the 32A copies selling out was a direct reply to Ron. BroFit's Lufkin recap also placed Ron at the same Texas weekend: “Golfing 9 holes with @TheStarsPodcast at Neches Pine golf course in Diboll, TX.”
Ron Jordan also posted an eBay listing titled “VeeFriends Comic 32A Enclosed”. Its description said, “We are calling it 32A until further notice.” That “we” makes me wonder whether Ron was part of the group that created the name, or even the person who came up with it. He may be the source, but that remains unconfirmed.
By then, I knew that 32A meant the VeeFriends x Masters of the Universe mini-comic. What I still did not know was who created the name or why. When DomRouz said he could not remember "how, who or why it is referred to as 32a," BroFit answered, "we dont talk about 32A." I asked whether Black Spot had coined it. BroFit ruled out the shop, so I clarified, "I'm aware it's the MOTU reference. But I don't remember who first coined it." His answer was, "that will remain the mystery for most...."
My full response was, "God willing I will figure it out eventually and share it with people who don't like feeling left out and would rather feel and be included but thanks for your help so far!" BroFit never responded. He also never said that he did not know the origin. Instead, he ruled out Black Spot, said, "we dont talk about 32A," and told me its origin would remain a mystery "for most." Taken together, that heavily implied he knew more and was refusing to tell me. Maybe BroFit even created the name himself. Maybe he only knew who did. Both possibilities are speculation because no one with the answer has been willing to bring the rest of us into the fold.
Later that day, BroFit ghosted me and Irish exited the Alien Traits Holders Chat. He has not reached out or spoken to me since. What a strange turn of events around an Easter egg. Oh well. Anyway...
When Tom and Anne reached this no-parking sign in their Shells Kitchen episode, they called 32A their favorite Easter egg and said people would have no idea what it meant. They then said it was "not our position to tell," repeated "if you know, you know," expected people to send DMs asking what 32A meant, and told them to ask around.
Tom and Anne also gave D.J. Coffman a shoutout for putting 32A on the sign and said he was on the "inside knowledge." The collector nickname had officially crossed into the comic, while the story behind it remained reserved for people already in the know.
People are allowed to have inside jokes, and some secrets genuinely need to stay private. Sometimes a story belongs to someone else, and sharing it would violate a confidence. If that is what is happening here, I respect it. Nothing publicly available, however, makes clear how identifying who coined a fan nickname for a promotional mini-comic could carry stakes that serious.
Respecting a legitimate confidence would be one thing. Turning the fact that some people know into a public game is different. Tom and Anne celebrated the Easter egg, made a point of how many listeners would be left out of it, and then told everyone to ask around. I did. If asking around meant doing the work and eventually being brought into the fold, the mystery could have been fun. Instead, the search led back to people who made it clear that an inner circle knew the answer but would not share it. I do not know whether Tom and Anne expected that response or realized how exclusionary the search would become. But being told to ask around is not fun when asking only makes "if you know, you know" feel more like "we know, and you do not."
So my invitation remains open to whoever knows how 32A got its name. If sharing the story would violate a real confidence, say that plainly and I will respect it. But if no legitimate confidence is at stake, keeping the answer hidden only preserves the line between the people inside the joke and everyone left outside it. An Easter egg should reward curiosity. It should give people a reason to look closer, ask questions, and eventually feel the satisfaction of finding the answer. Exclusion should not be the prize. Tell the story and bring people into the fold. Let 32A become a piece of VeeFriends history everyone can enjoy, not a badge proving who was allowed inside.
15. The black cat may be much more than a cameo.
The Pier 5 sign gives us another appearance of Gary's favorite number. But look beneath the broken Shells Kitchen sign at the lower right. A small black cat with yellow eyes is sitting in the wreckage. It looks like Very, Very, Very, Very Lucky Black Cat.
The comic never names the cat, so I cannot call the cameo confirmed. Hiding a black cat directly under the restaurant's fallen shell logo still feels far too specific to ignore.
The timing makes it stranger. Very, Very, Very, Very Lucky Black Cat first appears in Issue 02 shortly before the green fairy finds the Fear Carrot and becomes Bad Intentions. If the black cat can change people's luck, did its appearance affect what happened next? Becoming Bad Intentions looks like a terrible outcome, but what if it ultimately set the larger VeeFriends story onto the one path it needed to follow?
Special Edition A gives that question a much larger framework. Balanced Beetle says, “The challenge brings the change.” Bad Intentions answers, “Who do you think creates the challenges?” and insists that none of it works without him.
I previously compared the Supercomputer-5000 selecting the perfect team to Doctor Strange looking through 14,000,605 possible futures and finding the one path where the Avengers defeat Thanos. If Bad Intentions was deliberately included on that perfect team, perhaps his fall was not a failure in the system. Maybe becoming Bad Intentions created the exact challenge the larger VeeFriends story needed. That would make the black cat's Issue 02 appearance lucky in a brutal way: what looked like disastrous luck in the moment may have set the story on the only path that could eventually produce the right change.
16. Did the black cat turn into Sarah?
Then the cat disappears before Sarah arrives. Sarah walks into the story wearing a crescent moon necklace, finds Amanda at exactly the moment she needs someone, and gives her the human connection that another plate of advice could not.
What if the black cat did not leave? What if it turned into Sarah, Animorphs-style, and approached Amanda in the form she was finally ready to hear? If that is what happened, the luck was not simply finding Sarah. It was the VeeFriend becoming the kind of help Amanda needed.
Put this beside the theory that Paul may be Bad Intentions, and an even bigger possibility opens up. Maybe some VeeFriends can change form, influence humans, or appear as human beings.
That would explain the timing of Sarah's arrival, but it depends on a power the comics have not confirmed: the ability to physically become human. Special Edition A calls Bad Intentions a diabolical trickster who masquerades as a friend, but that could describe deception without a literal change of form. Issue 18 never shows the black cat transform either. But the cat's disappearance and Sarah's moon necklace make the theory worth exploring, even though the transformation itself remains unconfirmed.
17. Amanda wears the VF logo.
The black pin on Amanda's shirt is the VF logo, reduced to its familiar black cat shape and bright eyes.
Up Next
Read all VeeFriends Comics Explained posts here: VeeFriends Explained Posts.
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