We Don’t Go Through the Angelgrass, Volume I
Comic, Courtney Loberg, 86 pgs,
courtneyloberg.com, $20.86
Artist and poet Courtney Loberg invites us to take a journey through an unspecified town that lies within “the palm of a gulch” in an unnamed country. This fictional piece of land holds a frightening mystery called angelgrass. The angelgrass in the area grows thick and “taller than an 80-year birch grove.” Its iridescent appearance makes the angelgrass attractive to passersby — but if anyone dares to enter the tall, hypnotic angelgrass, they will vanish, never to be heard from again. It’s not until we learn about the disappearance of main Cornflower’s best friend, Jasper, that our trek through Loberg’s surreal world truly begins.
It doesn’t take long for this tale to captivate the reader. With its colorful, detailed, and dreamlike imagery, the story is engaging from start to finish. Its beautiful artwork and peculiar characters offer an avant-garde landscape where chickens can lay black eggs, a bat can be a household pet, and visions appear in cigarette smoke. Our non-binary defined main character, Cornflower, tries their best to get through their school days, while dealing with bullies and trying to become friends with a group of misfits called the Bog Boys. However, Jasper’s disappearance is always at the forefront of Cornflower’s thoughts.
We Don’t Go Through the Angelgrass opens up the mind in a way that is unexpected. Exploring the unknown with Cornflower is both bizarre and fascinating at the same time. This comic is an absolute gem and worth the read!