If I’ve learned anything from reviewing comic strips, either from those published by Fantagraphics or from reading the various webcomics scattered across the internet every single week, it’s that a regularly published comic can become part of your life. Either because you rely on it to give you that weekly chuckle or because you’ve come to love the characters it’s, much like life, a routine that you gladly accept. I checked out a comic recently referred to me by a friend: Lone, by Alex Harris. Is it good?
Lone
I consider Xkcd, Poorly Drawn Lines, and Cyandide and Happiness to be regular friends I check in with every single week. There are so many strips out there now that I imagine everyone could have their top two and 10 people wouldn’t have the same titles in their lists.
Lone by Alex Harris is certainly funny, but also deeply meaningful.
What’s good?
First and foremost this book is about an anthropomorphic wolf who lives an average life, works at an average job and sucks at dating women. He’s lonely of course-it’s right there in the title, and he’s largely incredibly easy to relate to. He’s filled with doubt and insecurity, but all in all is a good person. The most relatable element that I think a lot of folks can understand is his ability to make things much more complicated and dramatic in his head. It’s with this that Harris makes you nod your head as he bungles seemingly simple things.
Told in a four panel square, Harris tells each mini-story very well with good comedic timing and storytelling technique. I can’t say enough how much I idolize the timing good comics have, and this one has it in spades. Either a line of dialogue lands perfectly with the facial expressions of the characters or a well timed closeup nails the joke. As the comics become more recent it’s clear Harris is getting better as an artist, or at the very least finding the visual aesthetic. In the early strips the art is good, but with a thinner line and more detail in the backgrounds. Over time the lines get thicker, the backgrounds more general and the art becomes overall more impactful.
What could be improved?
This is a relatively new comic strip with only a few pages of strips and I’ll guarantee if you give this a chance you’ll want a lot more of it. The story essentially charters a short portion of the protagonist’s life and much of it is focused on dating. More strips of Lone doing day to day things would help round out his personality too.
A lot of this comic is about love, or lack thereof.
Is It Good?
This is a solid read you can do in one sitting, it’s free online, and it has a lot of heart. You’ll laugh but most importantly relate to this lone wolf named Lone.
Check it out and tell me I’m wrong!
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