Weekly Treats! Li'l Depressed Boy & Anya's Ghost

It's not difficult to notice the nice balance of titles out this week. First to the crease is Li'l Depressed Boy vol. 1 (Image) which was a sell out on it's initial run in comic form. Written by S. Steven Struble and drawn by Sina Grace it's about a curious-looking (to us, not the other characters in the story) hero named LDB (get it?) falling for his dream girl even though she always seems to be arms length. They share tastes in all things including anti-social-behaviour, apathy and general all round slacker-ness but for LDB he's always ambling round the edges of full-blown depression. The characters are all nicely written and with all the cultural references it has a feeling of being something of a grounded, sedate flip side to Scott Pilgrim. The short, rag doll design of LDB is perfect; he always looks soft and vulnerable which counterbalances his potentially off-putting moments of bleak moods.

Then there's a couple of all ages titles:

Anya's Ghost (First Second) by Vera Brosgol has been picking up excellent early word; Neil Gaiman has even referred to it as a masterpiece. It's Brosgol's first graphic novel although her work has previously featured in volumes of Flight. See here for her rather cute blog.

There's also Page By Paige (Amulet) by Laura Lee Gulledge, also a first time graphic novelist. It's about a shy teenage girl fitting to a new life and processing it all through her art so that, as her confidence grows so does her art. It's an intriguing mix of character story and part analysis of the creative process. The book has it's own blog (see here).

And finally....

The Alexandria Safe-Zone comes under increasing pressure...

It's more Flashing and Fearing fall outs in the Weekly Treats. Be sure to take a look at Invincible Iron Man #505, Alpha Flight #1 and Avengers #14 which promises a juicy surprise leading to a line up shake up. From DC I've highlighted Deadman and the Flying Grayson's and Wonder Woman and the Furies by Abnett & Lanning (they'll also process your tax returns) for having fabulous comic-worthy titles that you wouldn't tell your loved ones about. I've also slipped in the DC Universe Online Legends cover because it just looks so Old Skool now.

The Features tab holds further enlightenment.