Lauren Ipsum: The Librarian WE Deserve
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Happy Places
Have you ever had an experience with a librarian that changed how you read, gathered knowledge, or wrote awesome, steamy fanfic? Librarians are the gatekeepers of story. They cannot judge or deny access based on income or social status. Good librarians usher in all generations and types of readers. And great librarians go out of their way to advocate for the magical institutions that are public libraries.
Honestly, the library is my happy place, where I go to read or even just to peruse if I have a free fifteen minutes. My past two birthdays, I made it a point to spend at least a little time reading at my local library because it quiets my mind and gives me the best reset.
So when Charles Brubaker sent us his comic strip collections, Lauren Ipsum and Lauren Ipsum: Throws the Book At You, it was a great day to be a fan of librarians!
Meet Your New Favorite Librarian
Lauren Ipsum is a humorous comic strip about a librarian rabbit who takes her job seriously. She is meticulous about a tidy library, ensuring that every book is in its proper place, and ensuring her patrons easily find what they are looking for. Lauren is not a fan of patrons who fail to return books on time, and she frequently clashes with a particular patron, Mr. Wolf, who struggles to grasp the concept of due dates.
Right from the start, Lauren Ipsum is hilariously irreverent, witty, and charming. Brubaker’s knack for snappy banter is only matched by his innate skill at visually rendering his animated cast of characters in their world of books.
As a protagonist, Lauren is oblivious to anything that doesn’t fit her narrative. She’s got no time for nonsense…except her own hijinks and her penchant for writing steamy fanfic for her favorite story, Space Vixen, which is both wildly hysterical and brutally believable.
The supporting characters are an adorable array of critters ranging from a fox to a cat to a catfish (she’s actually half cat/ half fish). Each character is beautifully fleshed out and each has their time to shine.
Brubaker’s line work is solid and clean. Even if the panel borders aren’t perfectly straight lines, it doesn’t matter because all the characters vibes are wacky and break those borders often. I particularly love his use of screentones to separate backgrounds and draw the eye toward highlighted characters and gags.
His art style is equal parts Watterson, Schulz, and Kelly; it’s cute, exaggerated, but clearly defined. But there’s also a sweet nod to Hargreaves’ Mr. Men and Little Miss books.
The observational comedy could only come from someone so in tune with the vast variety of folks that walk through the doors of a library. And Brubaker is not afraid to put us on PUNishment and send us to the PUNitentiary either.
Lauren Ipsum is clever and hilarious. Brubaker has a great talent for capturing both the magic of libraries and the extremely specific people it takes to operate them.
Charles Brubaker has released two compilations: Lauren Ipsum and Lauren Ipsum Throws the Book At You, both available at his shop and also through Amazon. You can also support Brubaker and follow along with more Lauren Ipsum webcomics at https://laurenipsum.thecomicstrip.org.