Lenore Returns With A Vengeance: Lenore Vol. 4 #1
by Josh Davison
[*Mild Spoilers Ahead!]
Flashback Squirrel returns to inform the reader of what happened when we last saw Lenore and friends. Lenore brought a pickle hat to life, and it’s been trying to eat her, Pooty, and Ragamuffin for the past four years. Now, Lenore, Pooty, and Ragamuffin are starving and running out of food. They manage to make due, but Pooty wants to kill the pickle hat…even if it’s against Lenore’s wishes. Fortunately, the Time Goats have arrived to stop this potentially catastrophic event that could end the world as know it.
Lenore #1 kicks off the fourth volume of the little goth girl’s surreal and grim adventures. This is also my first experience with Lenore and her world, and I found it all pretty damn entertaining.
It relies on the dark and surreal logic of something like Invader Zim or Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, two of my favorite cartoons of all time. There is also a definite Oatmeal vibe to all of it, which was a site I definitely frequented a lot while definitely doing my work in my high school computer classes. Yes, I was a bit of an emo high schooler, sue me.
In any case, I found Lenore delightful. It may rely a little heavily on “so random” humor here and there, but that isn’t it’s only trick.
Invader Zim is the most apt and timely comparison for sure. Roman Dirge and Jhonen Vasquez definitely seem to be on the same psychic wavelength.
Lenore herself is a wonderful character. She’s contrarian, strange, and even a little cruel at times. There’s nothing really redeeming about her, but that conversely makes her more fun in this comic.
Dirge’s artwork is pretty delightfully incongruous with itself, with the cartoonish foreground characters contrasting the more realistic and detailed background heavily. Yet, that works wonderfully for this comic. Lenore, Pooty, and Ragamuffin should stand out as these horrid misshapen figures in the world. The color palette contrasts in the same way, with our main characters’ muted colors popping against the more colorful backgrounds.
Lenore #1 is a fun and dark return to the world of the dead little goth girl. She’s back to her mischief and mayhem, and I’m left looking forward to where it goes from here. This one gets a recommendation for sure. Check it out.
Lenore #1 comes to us from writer and artist Roman Dirge, cover artist Sarah Graley, and variant cover artists Roman Dirge and Juan Chica.
Final Score: 7.5/10
