Lenore, the Cute Little Dead Girl
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Lenore, "the Cute Little Dead Girl" is a fictional character created by Roman Dirge, inspired by the poem Lenore, by Edgar Allan Poe. Lenore has appeared in several comic books by Dirge, and was featured in her own series published by Slave Labor Graphics. She was also featured in a set of 26 short flash movies for Sony's ScreenBlast website.
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[edit] Plot outline
The comic tells of the adventures of the title character, Lenore, and her variety of friends. The primary focus of the comic is dark humor, with many of the stories having amusing twist endings. Common themes are the reinvention of children's songs, games, and nursery rhymes to something more macabre, and subverting all sorts of pop culture icons and cultural figures in to topics of dark comedy. In one story, for instance, Lenore accidentally kills the Easter Bunny. While Lenore's actions often result in the death or injury to those around her, and in various forms of chaos, she is not a malicious character, and often thinks she is doing good. Lenore is not the sole focus of the comic, with many stories featuring one-time characters (One of these characters, Samurai Sloth, is set to star in his own series in 2006). Also featured are humorous, semi autobiographical accounts of events that happened to creator Roman Dirge, titled "Things Involving Me."
[edit] Publications
As of October 2005, 12 Lenore comic books were released. These have been collected into 3 separate compilations.
Up to issue #8 the series had little continuity or sense of time, however issues 9 through 12 had a continuing storyline. The comic is normally drawn in black and white, with some computer effects for shading. Issue #12 was in color and #13 is apparently going to be also.[1]
Lenore is also featured in issue #2 of Slave Labor's new comic book The Haunted Mansion, based on the popular Disneyland attraction.
Creator Roman Dirge is currently running Lenore comic strips on his LiveJournal community 'Lenore Comics'.
[edit] Compilations
These are compilations from the comic books. They are:
- Lenore: Noogies (from #1 to #4) (1999)
- Lenore: Wedgies (from #5 to #8) (2000)
- Lenore: Cooties (from #9 to #12) (2006)
Roman Dirge's website Spookyland.com has announced that issue #13 is currently in progress [2].
[edit] Animated films
Created for Sony's website ScreenBlast, these are no longer available. Any website distributing these is doing so illegally[3].
- The New Toy — Lenore "accidentally" kills some hamsters while looking for a squeeze toy.
- Ragamuffin — Lenore resurrects Ragamuffin.
- The Magician — Lenore murders a magician.
- Bloaty The Frog — Lenore plays with a dead frog.
- The Taxidermy — Lenore meets her neighbor, Taxidermy, who wants her to take care of his pet, Malakai.
- The Return of Mr. Gosh — Lenore kills her admirer...again.
- Magic Muffin — Lenore encounters a magical muffin elf.
- A Walk In the City — Lenore butchers a stranger while walking about.
- Lenore, Queen of the Fairy Gnomes — Lenore is found by gnomes who claim she is their long lost queen.
- The Tea Party — Lenore has some friends over for a tea party.
- Grave Error — Tummy-blows are issued.
- The Thing What Came From the Poopy Chair — Lenore combats cleaner.
- The Day Mr. Chippy Walked — Lenore helps half of a woodchuck.
- Hairball — Lenore encounters a living hair clog in her drain.
- Fugly Duckling — Lenore harasses the ugly duckling.
- Kitty #46 & Kitty #53 — A sample of Lenore's dead cats.
- Insurrection of the Insects — Told as in a story book, flies fight back against a spider.
- The Dream Catcher (Part 1) — Lenore is haunted by a nightmare.
- The Dream Catcher (Part 2) — Lenore meets "the tooth fairy".
- Frito the Demon — Also told like a story book, Frito the demon escapes hell.
- The Last Dance of the Ladybug — Yet another story, a ladybug has her revenge.
- Little Bunny Foo Foo — Lenore kills small animals and a fairy, a take at the popular rhyme.
- L'il Ballerina — Lenore dances ballet... at a funeral.
- Death Bed — Lenore encounters the pets whom she killed.
- Lenore's Last (Part 1) — Lenore visits the doctor.
- Lenore's Last (Part 2) — Lenore dies...again.
[edit] Movie
There were plans for the making of a Lenore feature film by Sony Family Entertainment. [4] A script was written but it was not approved by Dirge. The contract has expired and there are no movie or TV series currently in development.
[edit] Characters
[edit] Lenore
Lenore is a 10 year-old undead girl, who lives in a mansion with her friend Ragamuffin. She died from pneumonia the first time, and was embalmed and buried and came back for some reason. The series does not precisely explain the reasons for her first return. In the 8th issue, Ragamuffin points out to Lenore that she looks sick. He tries to convince her to go to the doctor, and she eventually acquiesces. The doctor x-rays her and discovers that she not only has no heartbeat, she also has a rat living in her ribcage. She then dies and goes to Hell, only to return because "Hell was itchy and smelt like Fritos." She was then dug up by Ragamuffin in issue 9. She loves animals but always tends to hurt or kill them. Lenore has a way of scaring people and things without having to try, but she has many creepy friends.
[edit] Ragamuffin
Ragamuffin can at first sight look like a ragdoll with worms for hair and filled with polyester, but he has a very interesting story and personality. Ragamuffin was a vampire who fed upon the flesh of the living. One night he attacked a young woman and ate her. Unfortunately, she was a powerful witch's sister. The witch cursed him and transformed him to a doll. The curse could only be broken by a drop of blood. But as the blood Lenore gave him was mixed with embalming fluid, he resurrected, but would never cease to be a doll (although he was briefly transformed back into his body at the end of issue #11, but returned to his rag doll form in the last frame of issue #12). He lives with Lenore in her old mansion and has the doubtful pleasure of being a patient attendant on her many adventures.
Ragamuffin is a little unsure of some of Lenore's crazier ideas, and is oddly enough the occasional voice of reason in the comic. Still, as shown in the later comics, Ragamuffin is very loyal to Lenore, often joining her plans in the computer animated cartoons.
[edit] Mr. Gosh
Mr. Gosh is a human-size sock puppet man with buttons as eyes, and is madly and obsessively in love with Lenore. Even being killed several times by Lenore, he keeps returning from the grave — often saying that he forgives her for killing him, as he supposed she always does it by "accident". Including other times, Mr. Gosh has been killed by Lenore during the "Lawnmower Incident", in which she ran him over repeatedly with a lawnmower, after he proposed to her. He is also unpopular among some of Lenore's friends, especially Ragamuffin, who threatened to feed Mr. Gosh his own bowels if he bothered Lenore again in issue 12. The threat was carried out in the next panel. Some of his other injuries include: being poisoned, being set on fire, bashed with a shovel, stabbed in the head 6 times, and having his head explode, and yet he still loves Lenore with all his heart. That is, if sock puppets have hearts. Lenore actually falls for him briefly when his hood is removed by Pooty. When Lenore realizes who he is, well, more than his heart is broken.
[edit] Taxidermy
Taxidermy is a man with the head of an embalmed (taxidermied; thereof his name) deer that is often at Lenore's. He claims that his strange appearance is a 'medical condition'. His very first appearance in the comics had him looking like a tall, emaciated deer with a stitched-up head wearing a suit, and he even had hooves for hands. He later (and currently) takes on the appearance of a human with deer skin stitched around his head, antlers sticking out on top, and a non-moving, pincer-like thing where his mouth would be. And human hands, of course. This design was also adopted for the flash cartoon version of Taxidermy's first appearance in the comics. He has a little pet named Malakai, confirmed to be a taxidermy form by Roman Dirge on the SpookyLand forums. Taxidermy also leads a horde of taxidermied animals. The horde appears occasionally to assist Lenore and her friends against their enemies.
[edit] Pooty
Pooty Applewater made his first appearance in issue #9 as a bounty hunter sent to bring Lenore back to the underworld. Lenore convinced him to let her stay and he became one of her friends, playing a part in the battles that followed. He is small, has an odd bucket-like head and carries a trident.
[edit] Muffin Monster
The Muffin Monster made his first appearance in issue #5 at Lenore's tea-party. Not much is known about him except that he likes muffins which seem to give him gas. He could possibly play a larger role in future issues.
[edit] Kitty
Lenore often carries a dead kitty with her. The kittens weren't dead when she got them, but she accidentally kills every kitty she takes care of. She is even confronted by the spirit of "kitty # 12" about her cruel behavior towards animals but she never seems to notice her actions cause death.
