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Shit.

This one disarmed me.

Today is beautiful outside. A little warm for my tastes, but this is the weather normal people like and they all go outside and do normal-people things. Personally I like a little gloominess, a little overcast skies, even some rain. It doesn't have to be cold, but I'm not a hot-weather kind of gal. I do not like to sweat. Or even glisten. I do not like to glisten.

But in honor of the nice weather, I took the longest walk known to man, and it was good. I went all over the place, first with the boyfriend and the dogs, and then up to the library. That last bit of the walk takes only about 20 mins, though the way there is uphill, and I was already a bit tired from the first walk, so I was pretty gross by the time I got to the library. I went to pick up some books that were on hold, this being one of them. I sat down to read a couple of them before heading back home so I could get a little less gross. I read Fatale, Vol. 1: Death Chases Me first because that was the sort of mood I was feeling, and it seemed to match what I needed. This was the second book I picked up. And I flipped through it.

What the hell?

The illustrations were not what I was expecting, and I sort of even rolled my eyes. Because it was not what I wanted to read, the colors and the art and the teeny text even. I mean if I wanted to read a book I would have read a book, I wanted a graphic novel, I wanted some action, I wanted...

And then twenty minutes later I realized I was still reading. And I didn't want to put it down.

This is the saddest story I have read in a long time. This doesn't make it bad, or even good. It is simply a truly sad story about loss - loss of loved ones, loss of innocence, loss of childhood. I did not cry because I am a statue, but something inside of me ping'ed. There was a ping inside of me somewhere. It made me think of my own losses and that's not something people normally want to think about. The relationship between the boy and his father is the most heartbreaking relationship I've ever encountered, even in a graphic novel. And the illustrations that at first I wanted to smirk at? I completely forgot that I was even reading a graphic novel.

It's like a sad, heartbreaking version of Calvin & Hobbes. Sort of. In a way. Kinda. And not.

This is Hornschemeier's first collection. I will be looking for more of his work.

Walking home from the library I found myself wishing I had a lion mask to wear. I just sort of wanted to hide for a little bit. Which is what I am doing now this afternoon, sans lion mask (alas, I do not own one). I have my pug and my books and I am just going to hide and have all the feelings for a bit..