Page 45 Review by Stephen
Page 45 Comicbook Of The Month for May 2025
A brand new voice and vision, and how very, very refreshing!
There’s a colour-fountain of fantasy to be dipped into early in a dreamscape worthy of Winsor McCay. It tumbles out of the pages’ collage compositions. You can spot hints to come of this hyper-reality as early as the shopping trip (haha, that carpet!), Lanyue’s bedroom with its music ribboning around, soaking kaleidoscopically into her mind’s eyes; then her Hong Kong flat’s iron-latticed balcony, foliage either a) tumbling down from the roof above or b) seeping through from another dimension, depending on how you view its integration. As to the dreamscape, it’s as eye-popping as its inhabitant(s).
“If I were to die in your world, I could never again meet you in your dreams.” Oh dear.
Back to reality (he sang) and all three stories – linked somewhat tenuously by the fluffy cream-coloured thingy you’ll find floating on the cover – are more than a little melancholic, like the teenagers who star.
Ah yes, the true life of a teenager, when you don’t communicate with your peers except on an immediate, superficial or perhaps cultural level (bands, TV, celebutards...) and not at all with your parents. Even if communicating just a little might explain your behaviour and alleviate your loneliness, that’s all totally off the table. Your parents wouldn’t understand; they are forbidden to understand! It’s a story as old as the hills: young individuals in the throes of discovering themselves but finding themselves forced to conform in order to fit in, suppressing their thoughts and feelings because everybody else does for fear of exactly the same thing: laying themselves bare and vulnerable, only to be branded the outsider-weirdo.
Or, in the case of our third individual hear, for fear of being locked up. Expressing elation, deflation, defiance or disgust isn’t just socially unacceptable, it is against the law. And that’s just the initial premise. You wait the tale truly gets into its stride.
A final nod to the fuck-awful parenting in the first third, and Lanyue has a sister her parents dote upon, especially in her physical absence whereas Lanyue is entirely absent from their minds even though she’s sitting right in front of them. That simmering silence is going to explode...
In summary: what you had and what you lost and what you never really knew.
The publisher writes:
"A typical teenager finds growing up is rough. One day she cuts class to buy the new album from her favorite band and sees a strange, mysterious, yet familiar creature on the cover-it is Kylooe, her old friend! He's back, he's real, and he'll do anything to protect her.
Then, an awkward girl makes an impression on a popular teen and they begin to connect beyond their peer statuses."
And, in a world where expressing emotion is forbidden, a group reflects on the decisions that changed their lives forever.
Step into the intimate, touching, and emotional dreamworld of Kylooe! Hong Kong artist Little Thunder brings imagination to life with beauty, joy, and wonder through surreal art and sensual colors in this collection of three stories.
