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Lovely Ugly Cruel World #9

Well, if I was hoping to nail down an opinion on Amanda’s comical prowess with this issue, it’ll have to wait until I find another actual comic from her.  This issue is mostly a text story with bits of comic thrown in, as the “relationship” between Amelia and Francis is fully explored.  The issue alternates between Amelia’s take (which is most of the issue) and a small bit where Francis discusses Amelia briefly with a couple of friends.  It’s mostly about reading between the lines, as neither actually comes out and admits liking the other, but there’s plenty to dig into in this issue.  I like my comics with a bit more, you know, comics in them, but it’s a fine line, and it’s clear that Amanda was trying something a little different this time around, which pretty much always gets a round of applause from me.  The only part I didn’t like was the extended dialogue about being goth versus not being goth, and that’s mostly because I’m getting older all the time and that whole argument is utterly uninteresting to me.  Overall it’s another solid issue though, with what appears to be something dangerously close to a happy ending.  Worth checking out, especially if the “goth or not” discussion means more to you than it does to me.  $2

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Lovely Ugly Cruel World #8

Why do so many comics people not put their names in their books?  I’ve seen one good reason for this so far (a teacher asked me to take his name off the page because he didn’t want his students to google him and find his comics), other than that it always seems like a simple thing that was forgotten.  At least this one was easier to find than most, as it’s right there on her website.  So if anybody out there knows a reason why I shouldn’t put Amanda’s name up here, by all means let me know.  How about that comic?  It’s clearly a transitional issue, so it makes me happy that I picked up #9 too.  A young man named Francis whose mother has just died has a conversation with an older man, and a young woman named Amelia (who is either the girlfriend or the regular friend of the young man) strikes up a conversation with the roommate (Sam) of Francis.  These separate conversations are going on at the same time, with pages flashing back and forth between them as the comic goes on until Francis finally gets home by the end.  We learn that Francis has written a book that his friends think is quite good (but he has no interest in trying to get it published), that he’s looking for a job at the library, and that Sam and Amelia don’t talk to each other, but that they’ve found something in common by the end of the comic.  An intriguing book, but it’s always weird to jump into the middle of a big story, especially without any sort of recap of the previous issues.  Like I said, I have the next issue to read still (it should be up in a few weeks), but so far I’m cautiously optimistic.  Amanda has a great ear for dialogue anyway.  $1