Just One Itch
Comic, Meegan Estelle Lim, 20 pgs, [email protected], meeganestelle.wixsite.com/create, @meeganestellearts, $20
The stories here are real, honest, and personal, with a side of light-hearted laughter.
Meegan Lim’s Just One Itch propels the reader through a first-person hopscotch of stories, illustrating a largely disconnected gaggle of experiences with friends, family, and childhood impulses.
From her summer working as a camp counsellor to her tendency to stress bake cheesecake for her lactose intolerant friends, the writer’s stories are relatable and usually wrap up with a final “aha!” moment. I was especially tickled by the story about her father’s uncommon interest. “My dad’s hobby of exotic fish + aquariums became a normal part of my childhood,” Lim writes, going on to recount a bizarre accident that landed her father in the hospital.
I got caught up quite easily in these immersive, sometimes nostalgic stories, letting them play out freely in my head. I startled back into reality with the last page, a nod to the current pandemic, complete with “people hoarding tons of hand sanitizer.”
I appreciate this zine for its honesty and ability to keep me captivated and amused, while offering some occasional laughs. The illustrations, printed in vibrant and practiced Risograph colour, are even more impressive and realistic, making this one well worth a second read.