Lenore: Noogies (2009) is written, drawn and colored by Roman Dirge. It is a hardcover graphic novel (also available in paperback), published by Titan, retails for $17.95 list price and has 128 pgs.
According to the author’s greeting page, the hardcover collects the first four “original” issues of “Lenore.” The stories have been given a updated, fresh look. Just for the sake of disclosure, the publicist sent me this copy, asking me if I was interested in reviewing it. Indeed I was skeptical but I said, sure, why not?
I’d never heard of Roman Dirge or his beloved character, Lenore, a character so named after an Edgar Allan Poe poem of the same name that he prefaces this story with. Supposedly, this darkly, humorous tale has been a hit with U.S. readers. Synopsis:
SHE’S DEAD CUTE
Take a dark, surreal trip with Lenore, the cute little dead girl, into the world filled with vampire teddy bears, possessed stuffed animals, love obsessed glove puppets and cuddly ickle kittens. With more mayhem and mutilation than you can shake a severed head at, Lenore is the celebrated product of creator, Roman Dirge’s twisted genius.
This review will be short and sweet. Realizing that Roman Dirge put his heart and soul into this graphic novel, I respect the effort but unfortunately, the humor and “genius” of this character and her adventures eludes me. Lenore, who is dead, seems to enjoy a macabre lifestyle. There were scenes that left me speechless. Page after page left me puzzled and confused, like what am I supposed to get out of all of this? The stories seem to be gags with graphic violence thrown in for laughs. In a nutshell, I didn’t get it. I’ve concluded that I am not the audience for this book.
The author’s dark humor is compared to that of Tim Burton but wait, I can actually follow Burton. I’m sure I’m in the minority in thinking this graphic novel was not what I had been expecting and that it was more than a little dull. Alas, I just couldn’t follow it and can’t recommend this to anybody. However, I realize that the author has a following and hey, different strokes for different folks. The artwork was interesting but the story: forget it. D. Maybe one of you will have better luck.
