Book Review: The Many Deaths of Laila Starr by Ram V., illus. Filipe Andrade

[juushika]

Title: The Many Deaths of Laila Starr
Author: Ram V.
Illustrator: Filipe Andrade
Published: BOOM! Studios, 2022
Rating: 2.5 of 5
Page Count: 130
Total Page Count: 529,000
Text Number: 1938
Read Because: browsing graphic novels shelf at..., hardback borrowed from the Timberland Regional Library
Review: The god of death is fired and sent to live on earth when the baby who will invent immortality is born. The art here has a stretchy, caricatured flow and vibrant colorwork, celebrating the setting (Mumbai) & related cultural imagery. But the plot bores me. It's a meditation on the fear of & inevitability of death and doesn't offer anything new to that well-tread ground: chose to value life in the face of death; okay. When short comics are released in individual issues, I think they suffer; the beats (introducing/dismissing supporting characters; tackling the resolution) are too regular & often rushed. The big takeaway, and one day I'll internalize this, is that American comics tend not to work for me.

Comments

[thawrecka]

I found this kind of dull, too. It felt slight, but also felt like the creator was convinced it was more deep and profound than it was.

[juushika]

Absolutely. And reviews seem to see that deep & profound, which I'll admit confused me. I think death is one of those topics (deep cultural anxieties and social taboos, but impacts everyone anyway) where saying/hearing the slightest bittersweet thing about it feels, often, incredibly profound, not because it's a nuanced insight but because the bar is low and the topic is emotionally fraught.