Review: Li'l Depressed Boy #8

From the Jamie Mckelvie cover to the sparse dialogue to the hip characters, Little Depressed Boy (LDB) #8 by Steven Struble and Sina Grace just oozes coffee culture cool. Let’s be honest, LDB is not for everyone. It’s slow, minimalistic and completely lacking in capes and tights. But in an industry dominated by superpowers, it’s always nice to take a breath and read a story with real dramatic weight.

This is not a fast comic. In fact nothing really happens in the issue at all. LDB and best friend Drew have breakfast, their car breaks down, LDB sees the girl he has his heart set on, Jazz, but doesn’t really talk to her and then he goes to sleep on his couch.
That’s pretty much it. Funny thing is, that’s not actually a bad thing. The series is about a depressed young man trying to to come out of his shell, but totally clueless as to how to do it. It’s fresh, it’s hip and it shows that if we live life with a negative attitude, it’s hard to see the positive in anything.

Sina Grace, series artist and Image editor, does a wonderful job in conveying a variety of emotions in a character that is pretty much a featureless ragdoll. In fact, LDB emotes better than all the normal looking characters in the book. It’s wonderfully simple. Grace is a consummate storyteller and the little dialogue in the book indicates that Struble has faith in his ability to let the pictures tell the story.

If you’re into deep, thoughtful and emotional tales, then check out the Li’l Depressed Boy Vol. 1 TPB as well as this issue. Great read.