The Li'l Depressed Boy #13

Written by S. Steven Struble
Art by Sina Grace

How long can a series survive on charm alone?  Really, were this book able to keep on schedule, I would have dropped it a while ago, but when I was putting in my pre-orders, the series was still enchanting me.  There are two or three more issues left before I'm done, so there's always hope that it will pick up enough to lure me back.

Truthfully, I like this comic, but it's way too decompressed and slow-moving to keep my attention.  In this issue, the LDB has a dream, goes on a date, almost gets promoted at work, and is given news that is mildly annoying about his blossoming relationship with his boss, which appears to completely devastating.

A big part of what is turning me off of this book is the ambiguity of it.  When a popcorn popper mishap causes the LDB to be kicked off the concession stand, I was left with no understanding of what he did wrong.  When Spike tells him that he can't be open about his dating her, we see a full-page picture of him maybe looking sad, but I don't know why.

Also, since I'm complaining so much, I'm totally worn out by the way that ironic, pop-culture referencing is used in the place of conversation between characters.  Joss Whedon can pull that off.  It seems that S. Steven Struble can't.

While I'm complaining a lot about this comic, I do enjoy it.  I think the problem is formatting - if this was a nice, thick (300+ pages) manga-sized book that came out every couple of years, I'd probably love it.