Comic Review: At the Caves + Horseome + Curse of the Bogmen / Author: Liz Lunney / Illustrator: Liz Lunney / Publisher: Self / Release Date: Out Now

Charming, witty and unpredictable. Those are the three words that I would best use to sum up Lizz Lunney’s comics, and luckily these two new collections are no exception to that description.

At the Caves contains strips about recurring Lizz Lizz characters like Depressed Cat, Leaning Rabbit and The Magical Unicorns of Keith the Wizard. The names alone should hint at the playful nature of the contents, which range from gags about bullying cats to puns about rival chip shops. The simplicity of the artwork might well have been a practical issue when Lizz was starting out but she has since turned it into a virtue, printing her childlike linework in rich colours and binding the collections in colourful card-stock. Visually reminiscent of Top Shelf stalwarts like James Kochalka and Jeffrey Brown, Lizz has created a consistent stable of work that is instantly recognisable and always enjoyable.

Of her most recent releases the Horseome/Curse of the Bogmen split was my favourite, despite being the smaller of the two. I always find that Lizz works best with a small amount of space, with a recurring joke or insightful observation. These bite-size chunks of Lizz’ work always leave more of an impression than the longer, more sustained strips, which makes the variety of mini-comics available from Lizz at conventions and through her web-store so appealing. Lizz’s strips don’t tackle the big issues, they’re not lengthy things that you can lose yourself in, but she does create the most wonderful distractions, little pockets of whimsy that never fail to elicit a smile from even the most hardened of cynics. Nobody should be forced to suffer a life without reading Lizz’s comics at least once.