Hello folks! It’s me! Mexi! Here to talk to you once more about a Comic I Need to Read! The column where I read a comic by a little known creator.
This week is a little more indie than I usually do. It’s a super cool zine that I found at a comic store I went to while visiting some friends in Seattle. It was a bit of a trickier zine to find sources for for y’all to read, so I understand if you weren’t able to quite read all of it or any, but I hope you were able to! And, without further ado:
Lazy Lover by Elaine Lin
Lazy Lover is a series of one-off comics tied together loosely around vague relationships the character has had with a female lover and a male lover. While neither relationship is fully explained, hints of why the main character did not stay with the lover or why the lover left the main character are scattered around the zine. It’s a mixture of comedy and melancholy, delving into both the romance and post-romance phases of the character’s relationships.
The art is this beautiful, seemingly simplistic yet truly intricate work, bringing just enough detail for the reader to understand the feelings trying to be portrayed. The surrealism in some of the work is nice. There’s this absurdist and abstract move from reality which brings more of a magical realism element to it all. I like the imagination behind the work as well as the symbolism of some of the art.
The minimalism of the coloring works perfectly for this sort of zine. It’s this strange combination of red, white, and yellow which provides an almost eerie, alien feel to the work. It brings out the confusion and the mixed emotions of the piece. It works well with the themes of regret and mourning as well as acceptance and moving on. I like how the coloring adds to the work overall.
Zines are always intriguing to read and I feel that Lin truly delivers in this bizarre descent into the feelings of losing a relationship and recovering from that loss. It’s a well-drawn, well written piece of abstract thought and working through emotions and I truly appreciate the effort placed into it. It’s definitely a zine you should read, if you can get your hands on it.
You can find parts of Lazy Lover on Elaine Lin’s on website or her tumblr.
Next Month, I’ll be reading:
How to Be a Werewolf by Shawn Lenore
If you want to read along with me, please do! You can find this web comic here.
If you have any thoughts on Lazy Lover or have a creator I should try reading, please, email me at mexigremillion@gmail.com. Who knows? Maybe I’ll talk about your thoughts or read something by that creator!
See you next month!