Huge and wonderful leap forward in terms of both storytelling and visual style. Campbell writes in the afterword about how a lot of people hated this book and its new style, but I don't mind stylization, especially when it means the characters are more visually distinct from each other. The whole story feels like it's starting to coalesce. ( )

Still a fantastic study in the development of a creator. Also a super slowburn story that is oddly hooking for me. Some artistic changes didn't gel with me, but overall, really interesting work. Definitely continuing. ( )

i think i've probably mentioned this series before; i know i've done lengthy appreciations elsewhere on Books 1 & 2. morgan made me sit down and read Book 1 once, sternly, that's what did it. it's beautifully drawn and very nicely written, about a goth girl who's awkward and shy, in a community college, and the series is (i think) about her coming of age, like a butterfly very gradually emerging from a cocoon. the series doesn't seem very ambitious at first glance, until you realize that the tone is perfect, and by that time it feels so real that you recognize every bit of every one of the characters, from their petty flaws to their hopes and dreams. and root for them all. and after that they're all so real, that wall dissolves utterly between the playgoer and the play. which is odd, since i have nothing at all in common with any of them, except for that little thing about all being human. 6 books, dunno if that's all or if it's still in progress, but i have to stop after every one for a year or more just to savor. delicate, all nuance, all the detail exactly right, and altogether kind of a tiny, modest, perfect thing. ( )