At its core, Snotgirl is still a book that heavily reads as being about imposter syndrome; while it’s practically the context the whole book makes itself work out of, with Lottie’s literal and figurative delusions, there’s still the greater mystery of some of the people in her life, and what exactly is going on.

This volume gives a few answers and suggests some other possibilities, helping to unravel the exact mystery of what Caroline is up to and what her motives are in general – much less specifically as to what she wanted to do with Lottie in the first place.

Volume One of Snotgirl introduced us to Lottie Person’s life as a model, and everything life and the modern age of the internet complicates along with it. The book was peppered with a few standout moments of murder – to put it shortly and sell the book to anyone who hadn’t picked up issue one. Sometimes, there’s blood and no victim, and, sometimes, a victim without any blood.

While this volume doesn’t give any concrete answers, it starts to pull back the curtain just far enough to give readers an idea of what exactly is happening, and that will only serve to complicate things even further.

But to go back to the core of the book, the emotional struggles, anxieties, fears, and realities that Lottie goes through continue to up the ante for her personal stakes and the reader’s investment.

Things get weirder, they get scarier, and they get sadder, but the lens of the story can still zoom in and get smaller – tackle her friends, her relationships with them, and how those change, struggle, and grow. There’s an excellent balance between the reality of the world Lottie is living in, the way she perceives it, and that third, mystery point of view, where no one really understand what’s going on.

It’s a story that’s heavily about anxiety, how someone can handle it, and, more often, the ramifications of misunderstandings going severely unchecked. The visual identify this book has continues to add every bit of credence required to make this experience as complete as it is. There’s a complete melding of the visual storytelling with the explicitly written storytelling that knows how to change and when to shift focus. The horrors of everyday life look different than the horrors of the unknown; angles will change stylistically, the focus of the narrative lens will suddenly paint someone vaguely in a now obvious and strikingly clear light.

Snotgirl Volume Two is a shockingly real take on the struggles of being an artist, with a shockingly surreal and beautifully orchestrated tapestry of bizarre happenings around it. If Snotgirl Volume One was a must read to get your feet wet, then Volume Two is a must read to jump in up to your head, come up for some air, and take it all in.

Creative Team: Bryan Lee O’Malley (writer, co-creator), Leslie Hung (artist, co-creator), Rachel Cohen (colorist), Mare Odomo (letterer), Studio Jfish (special thanks)
Publisher:  Image Comics
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