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 graphic novel 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). Also featured are humorous, semi autobiographical accounts of events that happened to creator Roman Dirge, titled "Things Involving Me."
[edit] Publications
As of August 2007, 13 Lenore comic books were released. These have been collected into 3 separate compilations, except issue 13 which will be included in the fourth compilation..
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 and 13 are both presented in full color.
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 LiveJournal has announced that issue #14 is currently in progress. [1]
[edit] Animated films
Created for Sony's website ScreenBlast, these are no longer available. Any website distributing these is doing so without Sony's permission, although Dirge has given permission for people to distribute them as they see fit.[citation needed]
All films begin with a line from Edgar Allan Poe's Lenore: "A dirge for her the doubly dead in that she died so young". "Dirge" also happens to be the surname of Lenore's author.
- 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 and crushes him with her finger.
- 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. The moral of the story is "Be more specific".
- L'il Ballerina — Lenore dances ballet at a funeral and an Irish dance on a coffin.
- Death Bed — Lenore encounters the pets whom she killed.
- Lenore's Last (Part 1) — Lenore visits the doctor.
- Lenore's Last (Part 2) — Lenore goes "home".
[edit] Movie
There were plans for the making of a Lenore feature film by Sony Family Entertainment. [2] 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 other creepy friends. Though the reason for her death and return is mostly shrouded in mystery, issue 14 will have more of her origin revealed. [3] Her character has developed from being a somewhat malicious character in the early comics, hurting people out of spite or revenge, to a well meaning but dim character that kills people by "accident", stemming from the fact that Lenore is generally unaware of her surroundings as well as the fact that she is dead.
[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 an immortal vampire who fed upon the flesh of the living. One night he attacked a young woman and ate her, but 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 appears to be a human-size sock puppet man with buttons as eyes, but he is a dead person with a bag over his head. He 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 (according to Mr. Gosh himself, 164 times) 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. 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. Beneath his hood his head is rotten and causes all who look upon it to vomit, except Lenore; she finds Mr. Gosh much more attractive without his hood. This could be his 'true form' or it could be due to the 'lawnmower incident'.
[edit] Taxidermy
Taxidermy is a man with the head of an embalmed (taxidermied; thereof his name) deer that is often at Lenore's side. 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. Taxidermy was set to have his own full color 32-page comic, but Roman Dirge gave up on it after 9 pages. According to him, it is sitting in a box just waiting to be finished.
[edit] Pooty
Pooty Applewater made his first appearance in issue #9 as a bounty hunter sent to bring Lenore back to the underworld [Heck]. Lenore convinced him to let her stay and he became one of her friends, playing a part in the battles that followed. He has a small, odd bucket-like head (with another bucket underneath) 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 claims they were evil.
[edit] Undead Nazis
Zombie versions of dead Nazi soldiers ascend from Heck after Lenore accidentally releases them. Their mission on Earth is to bring back the escaped Lenore, which they nearly succeed in doing. They are, however thwarted by Ragamuffin, temporarily reverting to his original, vampire form, and Lenore's neighbors, including Taxidermy. This plotline progresses in issues #9 through #12.
[edit] Wicket Willowbean
Wicket was introduced in issue 13 and is claimed by Pooty to be his cousin. Despite first revealing himself to be a horrible demon monster, he then showed his real (supposedly more terrifying) form which is basically Pooty with a round helmet.
[edit] Ouchy Boo-Boo
First appearance in issue #9, Ouchy Boo-Boo is sent to capture Pooty and Lenore and return them to the underworld disguised as Lenore's sister. She turns out to be a skilled opponent, but Pooty kills her in the end.
[edit] External links
- Official website (access restricted as of September 14, 2007)
