cover image Sad Girl Space Lizard

Sad Girl Space Lizard

Iggy Craig. Silver Sprocket, $19.99 trade paper (168p) ISBN 979-8-88620-001-0

Storyboard artist Craig (OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes) doodles a fond, rambling mishmash of science fiction, giant robot action, queer romance, and psychological probing. Somewhere in deep space, two alien lizard women crew a two-reptile spacecraft/mecha in a war against wormlike “vermin.” Neurotic, self-questioning Lieutenant Left hates her job, struggles with depression, and goes to pieces around her superior, the hyper-competent, dragon-like Commander Right. “How am I still not good at... anything?” Left asks herself. After an accident, the two are stranded in space and finally confront their feelings for each other, which leads to some frank lizard-on-lizard action. Craig drew the book, initially with his non-dominant hand, while recovering from a repetitive stress injury, and the scribbly, bug-eyed black-and-white art has the tossed-off look of an early webcomic or ’90s zine. There’s a similar DIY vibe to the story, which pushes plot to the background in favor of sexual chemistry and deep dives into the characters’ inner states. This spaced-out romance will baffle some readers but delight iconoclasts who like their comics rough and ready. (Dec.)