New and out now from Silver Sprocket, those ever reliable purveyors of indie excellence, Lorna is the latest comics offering from Benji Nate whose Catboy got such a glowing review here at Broken Frontier last year. Silver Sprocket have sent us some preview pages for your enjoyment. The full press release is below.
Lorna Loves Cats, is Incredibly Awkward, And Won’t Hesitate to Pull a Knife on Those Who Displease Her
In Comic Shops May 22nd; 54 full-color pages; SRP: $10; 6.25 x 8.5″ ISBN: 978-1-945509-34-6
Benji Nate’s LORNA is just like every other girl. She likes cats. She likes cell phone charms. She likes knives, punishing her enemies, and taking sunglasses from their dead bodies. You know, normal girl stuff.
In this reprint of Benji Nate’s original self-published collection, our titular heroine learns valuable lessons about how to attend parties (make friends with the cat), fighting off bullies (hack off your locker’s padlock with a bone saw), and even how to navigate the thrills of first romance.
Like Nate’s CATBOY, LORNA is the perfect blend of relatable circumstances and surreal humor. Lorna is the hyper-violent id we all keep locked inside; who hasn’t wanted to threaten boys with a knife? Though Lorna’s responses to inconvenience are hyperbolic, her violence unhinged, Nate’s humor and lighthearted tone keep the comic feeling fresh and fun rather than disturbing. Or rather, they keep it from being too disturbing—we’ve all got skeletons in our closet, but perhaps not as many literal ones as Lorna.
Nate’s a deft hand with humor, but her artwork, rendered in a brisk, exaggerated cartoony style with light pastel colors and stark black linework, is what makes the comic truly work. Too realistic and the comic would go from wonderfully dark to gruesome, and a style that’s too cute would rob it of its spookier moments.
Nate doesn’t shy away from showing us ugliness: knees crusted with grave dirt, rusty splotches on the edges of a saw, stink lines from a garbage can. Lorna’s actions are one step removed from reality, but these little details ground the comic, giving readers a delightful little chill when they’re confronted with the truth of all that catharsis.
Most importantly, LORNA reinforces the most universal truth: the best friendships are formed when we bury a body together.
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