“lenore”
Lenore #5
by Roman Dirge
Slave Labor Graphics
Roman Dirge’s vignette-styled comic takes us on the merry adventures of Lenore, a cute little dead girl. Issue #5 features Lenore in “The Thing What Came From the Poopy Chair,” “Lenore’s Tea Party” (complete with uninvited guest and Lenore’s revenge), and a retelling of “Old Mother Leary,” revealing the framing of an innocent cow. Lenore also makes another cameo in her Bunny Foo Foo suit, to atone for the fact that she caught the Easter Bunny in her bear trap and snapped his spine (“I wanted a monkey,” she laments to her friend, Ragamuffin). Also in this issue is a poem about Frito the Demon, his escape from Hell, and subsequent ascension into Heaven by tricking an angel (who knew angels collected Beanie Babies?). “5 Reasons Not to Blow on Your Kitty’s Tummy” should enlighten and warn even the most hard-core of kitty-tummy blowers (Reason #1 “Cats have hair,” Reason #4 “Kitty has like 6 nipples.”) Mr. Dirge also gives us a peek into is personal life with “Things Involving Me.” This issue: his career as a professional magician, and what happens when you play with alcohol and fire.
Lenore’s charm lies in its whimsy, basic black and white art, and cast of characters. Lenore: cute little dead girl with natty-dread-like hair and nun-habit dress. Ragamuffin: “The Eternal Vampire Scourge,” a spirit trapped in the body of a stuffed animal. Kitty: a dead cat. Taxidermy:… well, I’m not sure what Taxidermy really is, but he’s here. And you should be, too.
For his computer-enhanced art and morbid good humor, Mr. Dirge has been nominated for this year’s Eisner Awards, “the Academy Award of comics.” Mr. Dirge asks us to “all join hands and wish <him> luck.” He also urges us to “please remember to unhold hands afterwards cause it could just become really awkward.”
You can visit his cute little web site at http://www.spookyland.com, and send cookies and presents c/o Slave Labor Graphics, 325 S. First Street, #301, San Jose, CA 95113
