Psycho Gran #2

Previously: Psycho Gran #1

Psycho Gran #2 | Created, Written, and Drawn by: David Leach | Digital Assets Manager: Jo Browne | Publisher: Nick Landau | Titan Comics

This has been a very trying week, to say the least. After the result of the United States presidential election, I have honestly found it terribly difficult to become motivated to do much of anything, let alone something even resembling fun. Everything feels very empty, right now, and filling that void with anything more than sadness rings hollow in a world where we are forced to accept bigotry at the highest international level.

“I have to”, I thought, and despite my continued lethargy and inaction, my thoughts were correct. Life moves forward. Commitments must still be honored, and deadlines must still be met; so I ended up here, staring down Psycho Gran #2.

I am so very glad this is the first item I am forced to check off my to-do list. I mean, I greatly enjoyed what I consider profound artistry in the first season of Quarry, but its subject matter I found so compelling just a few weeks ago is honestly not something I’m sure I could stomach right now, so I’m happy that series did already have its season finale. I am liking this season of The Walking Dead and talking about it, but somehow, the idea of discussing the hows and whys of a dangerous man who has somehow convinced a lot of people to follow him doesn’t sit well, right now. Not yet, anyway.

Enter, this book. Psycho Gran #2 is the second collection of David Leach’s series of one-off stories from Titan Comics. In case you are unfamiliar, the titular character is an older lady making her way through everyday misadventures, like dealing with loud music and manspreading on the train or meeting door-to-door evangelists while tending her garden, and just beating up asshole men who treat her rudely. Maybe it’s catharsis talking, but I loved each and every panel of this.

But, yes, I genuinely did enjoy Psycho Gran #1, which introduced me to the character for the first time two years ago, and Psycho Gran #2 is more of the same fun. Psycho Gran has her TARDIS-like bag, her flying dog Archie, and every bit of irreverent and absurdist humor anyone who enjoyed the first issue will love to see again. She’s essentially an evolved Mary Poppins who could just as easily hit you over the head with whatever is in her hand as she could use it to fly away, and she has the matching reputation to boot. She is the kind of character I maintain would perform wildly in an animated series, but even in static form, Leach’s artwork communicates a punk sensibility and moments of well-placed surrealism that make it feel about as animated as a printed page could feel.

Well, I say “printed page”, but Psycho Gran #2 is actually a digital comic, like the previous issue, and is exclusively available through Comixology’s website and app. I highly recommend going there to get your fill of vigilante justice and forgetting about Negan, if only for a little while.