The cyborg known as Roman Dirge has done it again. He’s managed to make me laugh, smile and think about talking bear poop in ways I wish I never had. Lenore is approaching a big wrap up which will lead to a character’s death. Which character is it? No fucking clue as Dirge is as unpredictable as he is brilliant. This issue finds Lenore and Ragamuffin sitting on her bed as she reads him a story. The story bears (that’s funny trust me) a striking resemblance to the events that have literally just happened to them. Ragamuffin’s evidence is the stabbed dude on her wall. He’s one of the men trying to kill Lenore and well mainly Taxidermy. Eventually the entire gang makes it to the raging battle between: Taxidermy, two Egyptian Gods and mess of soldiers that are more like cannon fodder. There’s really no need to tell you the rest of the story.
I don’t know if everyone laughs as much as I do while reading this series, perhaps there are even a couple of unfortunate bastards that don’t laugh at all, but for me this book kills. Between the running gag of Ragamuffin’s head up a bears ass, to Pooty not giving people all of the information and letting them get their ass kicked in battle or just Lenore being an adorable little kid in the middle of battle… this book offers a variety of humor and different levels of laughter.
Roman Dirge illustrates one hell of a splash page in this issue. It shows the vastness of the battle, but then also highlights his range. He continues to improve on this series which is pretty incredible when you think of how long he’s worked on the series. Not many creators can or are willing to do that. By far his character designs are one of my favorite things. If there was a plush doll of bear poop on a tree stump with a monocle, top hat and cane… well I would buy it. If it was a patch I would buy. If it were a Halloween costume… I would wear it. The point is, this throwaway character that we may or may not see again stole the fucking show.
Is this a good place for you to start reading Lenore? I don’t see why not. I mean if not you have a lot of reading to catch up on. Which is great and all and you should totally do that, but right now you can just enjoy an issue and learn about the characters and just understand the type of humor to expect. For me the wait for the next issue is unbearable (still funny), but I’ll be eagerly awaiting it regardless.
Score: 5/5
Writer/Artist/Creator: Roman Dirge Publisher: Titan Comics Price: $3.99 Release Date: 7/23/14 Format: Ongoing, Print/Digital