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Lenore: Wedgies
Publisher: Titan Books
Written and Drawn by: Roman Dirge
Being released on May 18^th, Lenore: Wedgies is the second collection of Dirge’s hysterical Lenore comics, which were originally published in black and white by Slave Labor Graphics. But now they are published in nice glossy color and bound in a neat little hardcover package, from our friends at Titan Books (who also publish the brand new Lenore comic book series).
For those of you unfamiliar with this indie-gem, it spins the tale of the little undead girl Lenore and her friends on their dark misadventures. Most stories are self contained, a handful being one-shots featuring one-time characters, and a series titled “Things Involving Me,” which illustrates whimsical moments from Dirge’s own life. This volume includes such favorite tales as Lenore becoming Queen of the Gnomes, her having an encounter with a pumpkin-headed scarecrow who has a taste for children, and a dead pet frog named Bloaty. However, my personal favorite tale in this collection is actually a “Things Involving Me” segment, where Dirge talks about an accident he had while he used to perform magic.
Dirge’s sense of art and style is twisted fun, packed full of lovable gothic hilarity. Although one may draw comparison to other Hot Topic favorite Jhonen Vasquez’s Invader Zim (which Dirge wrote a ton of episodes for), I feel Lenore stands out on its own in terms of its quality and humor (Vasquez I feel is a little more sadistic, especially in his JTHM comics). The best part of these tales is that since most are self contained, you can pick up the book and read whenever you want to for a laugh (although inside jokes do build, so if you start from the beginning, there is a bigger pay off included in some of the comics).
So here is my recommendation to pick up Lenore: Wedgies on the 18^th for a great read. The book is a hardcover, with 128 pages, for $17.95, and collects issues 5-8 of the Lenore comic.
Drew McCabe
drew@comicattack.net
A copy of this book was provided for review by Titan Publishing.