Published on March 11th, 2017 | by Lyla Saudi
Snotgirl Volume 1 TP Comic Book Review
Summary: Enter a glamorous world of blood sweat and tears with Lottie Person - a girl with killer green hair who just doesn't care.
4.5
#loveit
Do you know who Lottie Person is? Well you should. I mean everyone does. She is the glamourous fashion blogger living the best life ever in perfect California! At least that is what she wants you to think. You see the truth is, her friends are terrible people, her boyfriend traded her in for someone younger, her allergies are out of control, and oh, she may or may not have killed someone… in Snotgirl Volume One, written by Bryan O’Malley and with art by Leslie Hung.
Lottie is the epitome of fashionista perfection. At the age of 25 (and three quarters) she has made a name for herself amongst the fashion blogging elite. With green hair, a size 2 (on a good day) and thousands of online followers hanging on to everything she posts, she basically has the perfect life.
But the reality behind her laptop screen is not so perfect. Donning sweat pants, thick reading glasses and riddled with snotty allergies, Lottie is one insecure mess with no real friends and no real life. Looking to get a handle on her snot filled reality, she agrees to trial a new drug, except no one told her that it would end up with ‘killer’ consequences as a side effect. To elude the law she throws herself back into the socialite life like nothing happened, but Detective John Co is hot on her tail and stalking her every move. Only this surveillance has nothing to do with the case. He craves the perfect girlfriend. And Lottie is perfection after all. Killer perfection.
Writing
You may hate Lottie, and you will probably continue to hate her throughout most of the comic. But when you are presented with her vulnerabilities that hate will turn into complete immersion in the story as you want to see how her life unfolds. It is well paced with each issue building up to pave the way for the next, slowly turning into a psychological thriller complete with a stalker (or two). There were a lot of little twists (and crude jokes) I did not see coming and definitely cliff hangers that I was not expecting, and I liked how the focus is on ‘perceived online perfection’ which is a modern day issue that a lot of people face every day.
Art
The art, the colours, and the lettering all work together well, bringing the story to life. The cover is beautifully illustrated highlighting the two sides to the life of Lottie Person – her strive for perfection and her harsh reality. The colours used throughout the issues are bright and vibrant to showcase the glamourous life that Lottie leads, turning into hues of dark gloom to show her allergies and insecurities. The movement of the characters is captured perfectly in the style and layout of the pages and I love the full length fashionable outfits which are displayed in long vertical panels. My favourite touch would be how the modern day elements are displayed with emojis, text messages and hashtags, and how the characters are elegantly drawn with both slender and more realistically shaped bodies, and manga influenced facial features.
Final Thoughts?
I really enjoyed reading this series. It starts off as a cutesy story about a girl with green hair who just doesn’t care, but builds into a strange psychological thriller that left me demanding to know what happens next. With five issues in this first volume it has definitely made it to my list of favourites!
Comic Details
Title: Snotgirl
Issue: TP Vol 1 – Collects #1-5
Publisher: Image Comics
Creators: Bryan Lee O’Malley & Leslie Hung
Script: Bryan Lee O’Malley
Art/Cover: Leslie Hung & Micky Quinn
Colours: Micky Quinn
Lettering: Maré Odomo
Published: 22nd February, 2017