It was new comic book day yesterday, so what better way to celebrate than by posting a review of a book that came out eight days ago. Yea, I’m a little behind on my reading. But I’ll make up for it by telling you about something really good…
Li’l Depressed Boy is an absolute gem of a series, one that I come to love more with each passing issue. If you prefer your comics chock full of action and adventure maybe the mundane life of LDB isn’t for you. But if you love great characters and real emotion then LDB is likely to be just your cup of tea.
“Supposed to be There Too” is essentially volume five of LDB’s tale, carrying on from the original 16 issues which left us wanting to know what was going to happen between LDB and his new girlfriend, Spike, making us wait 18 months before picking up the next issue.
Just like the previous issues there’s not much that happens in these twenty-odd pages, but what does happen plays out so beautifully that it doesn’t matter one iota. In some comics it’d be frowned upon to take more than two pages to show someone walking home but Li’l Depressed Boy is full of this sort of simpleness. No words are spoken, no other characters shown; it’s just LDB’s emotions played out across those simple panels. Likewise when our hero is waiting outside his managers office, pacing up and down, the concern and angst is easy to see.
Even the smallest, simplest of things become massively important and the team of S. Steven Strubble and Sina Grace pull on the readers heart strings at every possible turn with wonderful writing and gorgeous artwork that are both as simple as they are engaging and emotional. We get to see the happy LDB and the side that lives up to his name all portrayed in such a real and human way you kind of forget that the main character is, essentially, a sack.
The supporting cast of characters are all so beautifully created and rounded-out that everything just feels so natural and real when you read this book, and every time I get to the end of an issue I just want to carry on reading more. It may not be action, mystery, horror or anything you’d expect to find in a comic book but it’s often more rewarding than any of those things, it’s just real life and it’s incredibly easy to relate to.
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