Saturday, November 29, 2008

DFC Reviews: Vern & Lettuce, Sausage & Carrots

Vern & Lettuce

by Sarah McIntyre.

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(Vern & Lettuce cover to issue 14 of the DFC. Art by Sarah McIntyre.)

Vern & Lettuce appears in the DFC comic each week and it’s definitely one of my daughter’s favourites. Molly loves this quiet, simple strip and it’s always one of the first she reads each week. Each week Vern (the sheep) and Lettuce (the rabbit) have their little adventures that have, so far, involved babysitting little Rabbits, learning the Tuba, a road trip into the city and much, much more. Molly thinks it’s funny and loves how cute the characters are.

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(Vern & Lettuce strip from the DFC issue 1, by Sarah McIntyre)

It’s also my favourite strip in the DFC. There’s something quite lovely about it. The art is playful, the stories simple, each episode is self contained but has built up into quite a long story which is always great fun to read each week. But above all else I like the look of the strip. It’s the colours that Sarah McIntyre chooses to use that make it my favourite; it’s got quite a muted palette, but it’s subtly, beautifully effective.

Molly was going to add some words to this herself but in the end settled for drawing Vern & Lettuce instead. But she did say to tell you how much fun Vern & Lettuce is and how she thinks Sarah McIntyre’s great. That goes for us both.

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(Sarah McIntyre’s Vern & Lettuce - artwork by Molly.)

Sarah McIntyre’s website is here, live journal is here, there’s an interview with her here and Vern and Lettuce have their own Facebook pages here.


Sausage & Carrots

by Simone Lia

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I wanted to add something about Molly’s other favourite strip; Simone Lia’s Sausage & Carrots, but it’s very difficult to write that much about a strip that’s just 3 or 4 panels long. But each week Molly opens her DFC and, more often than not, flips it over to the back cover and reads Sausage & Carrots before she’s even got her shoes off. Now that’s a recommendation.

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(Sausage & Carrots from the DFC preview website. Art by Simone Lia)

I get the feeling it’s a strip you either love or hate. It’s simple, silly, funny and drawn in Simone Lia’s clean style that she used oh so beautifully on one of my books of 2007; Fluffy. If you hadn’t guessed by now, for the Bruton household, Sausage & Carrots is much loved indeed.

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(Simone Lia’s Sausage & Carrot. Art by Molly.)

Simone Lia’s Sausage & Carrots appears each week on the back cover of the DFC.

Simone Lia’s website.

The DFC is published weekly, subscriptions and back issues available online.

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