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Lou
Lou is an eleven-year-old tomboy growing up in a small, working-class town in New England in the 1990s. One summer, it becomes clear that her brother Eddie’s boss at the pizza shop is mixed up in some unsavory business. Things become more precarious, until finally Eddie shows up for work to find his boss Joey has vanished. Melissa Mendes is a cartoonist living and working in western Massachusetts. She attended Hampshire College from 2002 to 2006, and received her MFA from the Center For Cartoon Studies in 2010. Her debut graphic novel, Freddy Stories , was published with help from a Xeric Grant.
160 pages, Paperback
First published April 12, 2016
60 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 29, 2019
Lou is a 160-page graphic novel by Melissa Mendes about an eleven-year-old girl in a working-class family in New England in the 1990s. Her mom is completely overwhelmed by Lou and little brother’s constant fighting. Oldest brother Eddie works in a pizza place where the book is mixed up in something criminal. Lou wants a dog, they can’t afford it, and they get a dog.
One night the strained relationship between mom and dad succumbs to a night reprieve from the recognizable misery for their anniversary dinner drunk. Eddie is babysitting, the little one runs away and ends up in the old movie theater the kids (dangerously) play in, where he finds Eddie’s boss hiding out.
Very simply and basically drawn, it doesn’t end as badly as Mendes’ partner Charles Forsman would have told it! Whew! (Though getting closer to real-life horror is what I appreciate about Forsman, actually). But Lou is successful in capturing a kid’s eye view of growing up. And in the after-matter you get a sense that at least some of this story is autobiographical (at least the dog Sammy is the same). You can get it on sale right now on Comixology.
One night the strained relationship between mom and dad succumbs to a night reprieve from the recognizable misery for their anniversary dinner drunk. Eddie is babysitting, the little one runs away and ends up in the old movie theater the kids (dangerously) play in, where he finds Eddie’s boss hiding out.
Very simply and basically drawn, it doesn’t end as badly as Mendes’ partner Charles Forsman would have told it! Whew! (Though getting closer to real-life horror is what I appreciate about Forsman, actually). But Lou is successful in capturing a kid’s eye view of growing up. And in the after-matter you get a sense that at least some of this story is autobiographical (at least the dog Sammy is the same). You can get it on sale right now on Comixology.
January 31, 2019
An unpretentious graphic novel easily read in a day that tells the story of Lou and her family. Completely relatable family, and I liked the excitement of the plot.
May 21, 2016
3.5/5 A seemingly simple look at childhood which presents a deeper story than one would first surmise. The art is basic and unpretentious hand drawings and the story seems to take place over one summer as the kids don't go to school. Lou and her brother are about 12 and 6 and spend every waking minute bickering, arguing and together. The also have a teenager brother who works at a pizza shop. The family is poor, can't afford a pet dog, but dad brings one home anyway. The book mostly examines the dynamics of the two bickering siblings; mum seems to be depressed, with it all we get a glimpse of the parents past, how mum dropped out of college, they met in a bar, she got pregnant, they got married, he works landscaping with his dad. To add excitement we also have a mysterious but also somehow sad story of the pizza store owner being beaten up by what appears to be mafia types, the owner disappears and the teenage son who has appeared to be a punk layabout so far steps up and starts running the shop. Everything comes to a head one night when the little boy runs away when being babysat by the teen while the parents are out celebrating their anniversary. An engaging story, rather bittersweet, but also optimistic. I would read more from the author.
April 30, 2016
I knew of Mendes's Lou, and she had originally publish this story through Oily Comics as a series. Now we have the entire story, and as my colleague on the podcast, Andy W., put it, this is the kind of alt. book that could easily be appreciated and enjoyed by younger as well as older readers. Another great recent publication from Alternative Comics.
July 1, 2016
A straightforward, unpretentious comic. Similar in tone to Lynda Barry in that it's told from the kids' points of view. The artwork is somewhat crude, but it services the story just fine.
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August 21, 2016A melancholy little comic of small-town childhood. Gets the feel just right. Pretty good.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews