Inner City Pagan #5

Posted: Tuesday, March 15, 2005
By: Darren Schroeder

Cover of Inner City Pagan #5 Creator(s): Lee Kennedy
Publishers: Self Published
From: UK
Price: £3.50(UK)

Life is for the most part a random assortment of experiences, feelings and reflections. Most of us let them wash over us and give little thought to recording them. Lee Kennedy knows better. Recognising that each such observation can capture an important aspect of her life, she uses them as the basis for her short strips and sketchbook, 80 pages of which she has collected together for this anthology.

For stories that are so random, it is surprising how quickly Lee is able to construct a feeling of immediacy in her work. After only a couple of pages were are firmly aware of her voice as creator, and her strong personality. All the works here are autobiographical in content, from the amusing snapshots she makes of scenes from memorable dreams to a recollection of the way she and her mother each reacted to her perceived weight problem in childhood. Lee is quite hard on herself in these comics, presenting herself as an overweight neurotic, vaguely disappointed with the way life has turned out.

Lee is also quite cutting in her observations of others. The collection of pages from her sketchbook skewer a range of acquaintances in drawings that are full of energy and personality, giving life to the quotes she includes from conversations and overheard remarks.

Alongside the harsh observations is a keen sense of humour, with amusing and cartoonish illustrations that make reality more palatable. Of particular delight are Lee's illustrations of her cat Wotan, who appears in many of the strips as a comedic chorus, reacting to events in an amusing fashion or just behaving in a way that any cat lover will recognise.

This collection might be a haphazard assemblage of material from other works, but it captures a strong creative voice whose observations on this perplexing adventure we call life are a pleasure to sample.

In a Word: Vivacious .



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