It’s been almost 2 years since Roman Dirge released an issue of Lenore, and even longer than that since they’ve been easily available in the UK due to some licensing gubbins that I can’t pretend to understand the logic of. Original publishers Slave Labor are gone, inexplicably replaced by Titan, a company who have published a fair amount of graphic novels and reprints in the UK, but who haven’t done single issues in the US format before, as far as I’m aware.

Luckily, renumbering aside, this is the same old Lenore. Dirge’s particular brand of cutesy, goth-influenced humour is on full display, as is his talent for a hilarious turn of phrase and brilliant comic timing. Oft-imitated, but never bettered. The issue is crammed full of material, with the lead feature being a Lenore “origin” story, though as fans of the book will no doubt expect, it’s not exactly concerned with the finer details of Lenore’s post-mortem awakening. Following that, we are also treated to a two-parter about a girl and her favourite parasol, a traditional Lenore “nursery rhyme” single-pages, pin-ups, Dirge’s autobiographical “Things involving me” and a 5-page “preview” of Samurai Sloth, about the world’s slowest sword master. Every page is brilliant.

That goes for the production as well as the content – Titan might not be particularly familiar with the single issue format, but that hasn’t made them cut corners. The pages are lush and thick, doing full justice to the full-colour artwork, and when you compare it to a regular comic from Marvel or DC, you can’t help be be amazed that it’s still only $3.99. A fantastic start to volume #2 of Lenore (even though the distinction between the two is pretty academic) and a worthy way to spend your comics money on something that’ll truly work for everything you spend on it.