Lenore: The Time War #1 Review

 

Writer, Artist, Colorist & Letterer: Roman Dirge

Cover Artists: Roman Dirge & Kit Wallis

Editor: David Leach

Designer: Matt Bookman

Publisher: Titan Comics

Price: $3.99

Release Date: February 12, 2025

 

Flashback Squirrel enjoys diving off the Argentine coast. As he explores the wonders of the ocean floor, the scuba squirrel brings us up to speed on Lenore and his friends. What happened to Lenore, Ragamuffin, and Pooty after the Pickle Hat tried to eat them? Let’s slip on our time rings, leap into Lenore: The Time War #1, and find out!

 

Story

Time Goats may enjoy rescuing people. They're less enthused about being eaten. The tasty tenderloins scatter Lenore and her friends across space and time. Pooty fights for his life in ancient Rome. Ragamuffin must adapt to survive in the Cretaceous Period. Lenore suffers in a cosmic cul-de-sac from an upset tummy.

 

While Ragamuffin forges a new life among carnivorous friends, Pooty feels lost and alone. Amid the strange beauty of space, Lenore joins a celestial choir. While she enjoys her new life, after six years, Lenore wonders why her new friends spend each day singing the same celestial refrain.

 

Lenore: The Time War #1 celebrates three friends who will never land on Santa's Nice List. The dogs of war have yet to bark. Still, Lenore's irreverence angers a god, and the climax promises an epic journey across the ancient world. Or perhaps Roman Dirge will montage over that Odyssey and concentrate on the good bits (like finding the Golden Lamb Fleece)?

 

Art

Roman Dirge lavishes a loaded palette on epic scenes of displaced friends. Lenore hangs out with tooth-shaped aliens wearing robes and awaiting the awakening of a giant octopus. Pooty faces comparatively tall Human gladiators wearing red-frilled golden helmets with his crimson pitchfork. He passes women in robes and sashes and guards in armor to sit on the throne in his grand hall. Ragamuffin crouches with Velociraptors in the tall grass, watching sauropods and triceratops eat. In the evening, Ragamuffin relaxes in a T-Rex skull and scratches his back with a crab on a stick beneath a starry blue sky.

 

Grandeur inspires awe as Pooty fights in the arena, Ragamuffin endures the daily struggle for survival in the grasslands, and Lenore watches a giant god arise in the heavens. The colors red, gold, and green dominate Roman Dirge's loaded palette, adorning objects like Roman helmets, Pooty’s throne and drapes, and the Raptors’ eyes and mouths. Lenore: The Time War #1 hurls cartoony characters into detailed worlds that form convincing portraits of life in Roman Dirge’s uniquely wacky way.

 

Roman Dirge writes generously sized words into balloons, colored boxes, and backgrounds. While Lenore: The Time War #1 looks like a comic with amply filled panels and enormous double-page spreads, the lettering evokes a children’s book. (Or perhaps a book that makes you think it’s a children’s book until you look inside). Sound effects help us hear roaring monster babies, shouting aliens, and a remark that makes a god cry. Thanks to Titan Comics for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

Lenore: The Time War #1 is a celebration of friendship, a guide to surviving in interesting times, and a reminder to have fun regardless of what life throws our way. After a page of tattoos, two one-page stories showcase Lenore’s mischievous side amid amusing carnage.

 

Rating 9.7/10

 

For more covers and a look inside see my preview of Lenore: The Time War #1. 

 

For more Roman Dirge craziness see my review of I Can Count To Ten.