Who is Snotgirl? She’s Lottie Person, a 25-year-old fashion blogger, living her life totally chic and effortlessly! She’s also the titular character of Brian Lee O’Malley’s ongoing Image series with artist Leslie Hung. O’Malley is well known for the immensely popular Scott Pilgrim and mixing the melancholy with the magical, but how deep does Snotgirl get?
[easyazon_image align=”center” height=”500″ identifier=”B01ETYJKOE” locale=”US” src=”http://boundingintocomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/51FywhS5dvL.jpg” tag=”bounintocomi-20″ width=”329″]
Lottie is about fashion. Lottie is about blogging. Lottie is about youth. From what we know, Lottie’s life is filled with vapidity. Everything is about her and when it’s not, things aren’t right. Also, her life is terrible because of allergies. It causes her to be overly boogery and her struggle is to hide this fact from the rest of the world. None of these things make Lottie an endearing person, but [easyazon_link identifier=”B01ETYJKOE” locale=”US” tag=”bounintocomi-20″]Snotgirl #1[/easyazon_link] reveals that there’s more to the story than self absorption.
Lottie has plans for a “haters brunch”, but gets ditched by her two friends (whom she secretly nicknames NORMGIRL and CUTEGIRL). It’s a story that most of us can relate to in one way or another; being surrounded by people you don’t quite like and having to deal with the fact that they don’t find you worthy of their time either. Her friends suck, her life sucks, and her boyfriend needs time apart. Much of the first issue revolves around Lottie’s struggle between the unsatisfying reality of her life and the image that she’s trying to project.
Things take a turn for Lottie when she encounters a stranger that’s both friendly and beautiful, whom she nicknames COOLGIRL. Is it the beginning of a new friendship? Is it the start of a new Lottie? These are the things that she starts to wonder, but it’s the clues behind the story that are important. Lottie thinks pretty damn highly of herself, but we also discover that she’s severely insecure. She meets this new person she likes and automatically starts to doubt herself and spirals into negativity. It’s in these moments that the story digs deeper. As Lottie gets to know her new friend, the story comes to an abrupt and surprising twist.
Hung’s artwork is really key in bringing Lottie and Snotgirl itself to life. Her style is reminiscent of old school manga and haute couture fashion illustrations and it adds beautifully to the story. The colors are cool and soft but also feel distant. Everything looks picturesque and it reflects on what Lottie wants her life to be, but not what her life truly is.
THE VERDICT
Much of [easyazon_link identifier=”B01ETYJKOE” locale=”US” tag=”bounintocomi-20″]Snotgirl #1[/easyazon_link] comes off as vapid, and it would be very easy to mistake the series for being just that if it weren’t for the creative mind of O’Malley. The story and the art border on embracing and criticizing youth and its uglier sides and is all the more interesting for it. Layers are slowly being peeled away and it’s only a matter of time before we truly discover who Snotgirl is.