Written Drawn and Colored By: Roman Dirge
Titan Books
About once every month my boyfriend and I go to our local comic book shop and buy a graphic novel recommended by the shop owner and he has yet to let us down. A few months past, however, he managed to exceed all expectations and introduced me to this gem of a tale; a short-story based series revealing the “life” of a cute little dead girl named Lenore.
Originally released nearly 17 years ago in black and white Lenore: Noogies collects the newly coloured first four issues of the series. By displaying just about every situation you wouldn’t want to see a child a part of, in a manner that is not only funny but also thought provoking, Dirge has proven not only himself as a great creator, but, Lenore as being an amazingly original and worth-while series.
Through out this edition of the first series we encounter many strange, eerie and oddly relatable characters. Everyone from the “Happy Friendly Seeing Impaired Mouse” to Lenore’s ex-love Gosh are tortured and maimed for our enjoyment and the sacrifice couldn’t be more appreciated.
Dirge successfully tells the story of Lenore’s afterlife and human life through simple one (and up to 7) page stories which could be compared style wise to that of Archie Comics. While there is little originality in panel design – which is to expected of an older series – there is a mass amount of quality cartoon based art that carries a dark humoured tone that in alignment with each plot point will bring about a laugh from just about anybody.
How I have lived these 20 years and never come across this masterpiece I will never know. What I do know, however, is that I wish upon no one else the same ignorance. Lenore: Noogies is, as far as I am concerned, the best short story based comic this world has seen.
Give it a go and then give it a go again, because believe me you won’t want to stop devouring the sick world of Lenore and all the laughable terror this innocent dead girl brings about.
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