The Li'l Depressed Boy - It gets you right in the feels

The Li'l Depressed Boy Volume #1 - She Is Staggering

The Li'l Depressed Boy is written, coloured and lettered by S. Steven Struble, Penciled & inked by Sina Grace and published by Image comics. The Li'l Depressed Boy started out as a webcomic and made its way to a print version in 2011. An important thing to remember when reviewing a comic like The Li'l Depressed Boy is that you can only judge a story on the story it is trying to tell. In the same way you wouldn't judge Batman as a romance story you can only judge The Li'l Depressed Boy as a story about a guy making his way through a particular time in his life. In saying that I really enjoy stories just about people in their everyday lives not to say that I don't love stories about the extraordinary but I find stories about people and their lives easy to relate to. The Li'l Depressed Boy is one of my absolute favorites and is pretty relatable on one level or another to most people.

This is how I feel when I write some days

LDB is just your average guy he likes indie bands, comic books and video games, he is also in a bit of a rut at the moment as his life meanders along with no real purpose. All this changes when he meets a woman. She is fun, outgoing, different and pushes LDB out of his comfort zone if only LDB can learn her name without the awkward moment of admitting to someone he has been on several dates with that he doesn't know her name. Everything is going great with the mystery woman, LDB takes her to music shows, bowling, laser tag and shopping. After a few dates LDB thinks things are going really well until she drops a bombshell on LDB shattering his new found confidence and happiness.

The art in The Li'l Depressed Boy is great using thick outlines and a slightly dulled colour palette. The backgrounds are usually simply detailed or mostly blank and at some points in the story are used extremely well to help bring you into LDB's feelings. Oh I also forgot to mention that LDB is a rag doll. Is he a rag doll because he sees himself as being bland and featureless? Is he a rag doll so the reader can see themselves in him? Is that how LDB thinks others see him? Did they just feel like designing him as a rag doll? Am I reading to much into that? Possibly, but I find it a very interesting art choice that is really different.

I love this page

The story is told entirely from LDB's point of view so we find out thing as he does so the reader is often just as surprised as LDB in certain situations. I really think everybody can relate to LDB as somebody who is going through a rough patch in their life that feels very stuck in that place and let's be honest with ourselves for a moment and admit we have all, at one point or another, been in a relationship that wasn't exactly what we thought it was so this makes LDB's relationship troubles are relateable to almost everyone who reads it.

I give The Li'l Depressed Boy 4.5 out of 5 hipster concerts.

Find out more about The Li'l Depressed Boy here.