Lenore the Cute Little Dead Girl



"A Dirge for her, the doubly dead

In that she died so young.

Lenore, Edgar Allan Poe"

A series of comic books by Roman Dirge. Lenore is a fictional character inspired by the poem Lenore, by Edgar Allan Poe.

The comic tells the dark, humorous adventures of the title character, a Strange Girl named Lenore, and her variety of friends. Common themes are the reinvention of children's songs, games, and nursery rhymes to something more macabre, and subverting all sorts of pop culture icons and cultural figures in to topics of dark comedy.

Lenore's actions often result in the death or injury to those around her, and in various forms of chaos, yet she is not a malicious character, and often thinks she is doing good. Lenore is not the sole focus of the comic, with many stories featuring one-time characters (One of these characters, Samurai Sloth, is set to star in his own series). Also featured are humorous, semi autobiographical accounts of events that happened to creator Roman Dirge, titled Things Involving Me.

Lenore was also featured in a set of 26 short flash movies for Sony's Screen Blast website.

This comic features examples of:
"Ragamuffin: Pooty, I...I never liked you, but what you did was so noble. Stay with us, buddy, stay with us.
 * Ambiguous Innocence: Lenore
 * And Call Him George: This is pretty much guaranteed to happen whenever Lenore gets a pet.
 * Animated Actors: Not really actors, but Jesus still appeared for a few seconds, jumping and applauding a magician's show.
 * Animated Series
 * Anti-Hero: Ragamuffin, Pooty
 * Ax Crazy: Lenore, every time she wants to kill Mr.Gosh for stalking her.
 * Badass: Ragamuffin as a vampire.
 * Ragamuffin as a little doll, too. In volume 2.
 * Badass Decay: In-universe example. Ragamuffin often complains about this and remembers how awesome and amazing he was when he was a vampire.
 * Black Comedy
 * Bloody Hilarious
 * Body Horror: It's shown that the spell that caused Ragamuffin to turn into a doll made needles and threads burst out of his stomach and start ripping apart his skin, only to sew it back together again as cloth.
 * Butt Monkey: Mr.Gosh for Lenore.
 * He actually deserves to be the Butt Monkey soley on account of not being able/willing to take a hint, but what he gets put though is still a bit much... Thankfully, Immortal Life Is Cheap.
 * Can't Get in Trouble For Nuthin': Lenore cuts a woman's nose off in the middle of the street and no one sees her. Lenore kills Mr. Gosh and no one wonders what happened to the guy. Lenore kills an entire group of kids at a birthday party and she hasn't been discovered by anyone. Except the  Although she doesn't do these things on purpose (or perhaps she does), Lenore is an authentic Karma Houdini.
 * Can't grow up: Lenore.
 * Casanova: It's implied in Pooty's case, even though he's just a thing formed of two small buckets, that carries a trident.
 * Chaotic Stupid: Lenore.
 * Character Development: Lenore. In the first issues she doesn't really seem to know that she is doing evil things, but later she is quite aware of it and she actually likes it. This is heavily implied in issue #13 where she declares that her dream is to have her own personal army of small indian boys and to take over the world, while she's smiling mischievously.
 * Chew Toy: Almost everyone, except Lenore... She's of course the one doing the chewing.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Lenore. Well, she's still a kid after all...
 * The Cloud Cuckoolander Was Right: Many instances in which Lenore is indeed right, no matter how absurd they can be.
 * Complete Monster: In-universe, Ragamuffin, before he met Lenore.
 * He actually is after he met Lenore, too, it's just that his new form greatly reduces his capability of wreaking destruction and mayhem.
 * Not so much after he met Lenore, because if he was, he would have killed her (as he wanted to do in the first issue in which he appeared) or at least he would have left her when he was turned into a vampire again. Even more, he was so protective of her that he.
 * Covert Pervert: Although he's from Hell, you still wouldn't expect a 'thing' like Pooty to be this.

Pooty: It...it hurts so bad. Also, you're touching my left nipple which feels disturbingly nice."

"Lenore:I don't want to get naked with the bears! And stop trying to stick that in me!"
 * Creepy Child
 * Cruel and Unusual Death: The many deaths of Mr.Gosh.
 * Cute Little Fangs: Lenore and Ragamuffin, in his rag doll form.
 * Dark Is Evil
 * Dark World
 * Deadpan Snarker: Ragamuffin.
 * Death Glare: Lenore gives this to Ragamuffin a few times.
 * Doppelganger: Ouchie Boo Boo, Lenore's copy, a demon dressed as a nurse, that kills with syringes.
 * Downer Ending: The animated series ends at the finale of the second volume. Lenore.
 * Eldritch Abomination: Pooty Applewater's cousin.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Ragamuffin, after he encountered Lenore. He would kill anything, except her.
 * Entendre Failure: When the gnomes told Lenore they have had the chance to multiply in numbers since they have been waiting for her for a long time. And well, they needed to get busy somehow. Lenore doesn't get that.
 * Face Palm: Lots and lots from Ragamuffin
 * Fan Art: Some of it, here.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: Lenore blowing into Mr.Gosh's belly button. And Pooty making love to a goat.

"Ragamuffin: Look, man, I don't know what your problem is, but your reign of harassment ends now or I'll cut you, bitch. She's a ten year old girl anyway. You even realize how creepy you are?
 * Gothic
 * Grotesque Cute: Lenore
 * Hell: The place where Lenore runs from... or a dimension that looks exactly like it. In either case it smells like fritos.
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: Ragamuffin is voiced by Roman Dirge, the creator himself.
 * Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Ragamuffin as a vampire and Lenore.
 * Intergenerational Friendship: Lenore and Ragamuffin. Their biological age difference is 10-20 years (Lenore being 10 years old and Ragamuffin 20-30 years old) and their real age difference is 300 years (Lenore has been 10 for 100 years and Ragamuffin has been 20-30 for 400 years).
 * The Jailbait Wait: Averted, as Mr. Gosh doesn't wait for Lenore to grow up to hit on her. Plus, Lenore can't even grow up physically.
 * Jerkass: Lenore and Pooty. And even Ragamuffin, sometimes.
 * Karma Houdini: Lenore.
 * Kids Are Cruel: Your Mileage May Vary here, depending on your characterization of Lenore.
 * Large Ham: Ragamuffin. What should I do?! Me! One of the most savage killers the world has ever known!
 * Lethal Klutz: Lenore does this quite often.
 * Literal Metaphor: Got your nose!
 * Live Action Adaptation: Well, just a trailer.
 * Lolicon: Mr. Gosh. It's definitely Played for Laughs, but letting the joke aside, the guy is obviously obsessed with a ten year old girl, physically speaking, as Lenore is probably much older mentally than she looks, even though she doesn't show it.

Mr. Gosh: Yeah, but she's been 10 for a loooooong time now, man."

"Ragamuffin: Something's wrong. Your blood should have turned me to my own self. Unless something is wrong with your blood?
 * Looks Like Cesare: Vampire Ragamuffin.
 * Love Martyr: Mr. Gosh.
 * Mad Love: Mr. Gosh's love, or more appropriate, obsession, for Lenore
 * Nightmare Sequence: Pumpkin head. He absolutely adores children...with butter.
 * No Hugging, No Kissing: The fact that Lenore despises Mr. Gosh's attempts of 'loving' her is clear proof that the characters live in this kind of world.
 * Not Quite Dead: Lenore. After she is, Ragamuffin.
 * Obliviously Evil: Lenore.
 * Obviously Evil: The creature that got stuck in the dream catcher.
 * Odd Couple: Lenore and Ragamuffin
 * Odd Friendship: Lenore and the other creatures( e.g. Pooty, Taxidermy, Muffin Monster).
 * Older Than They Look: Extreme cases in Lenore and Ragamuffin. The first one looks like she's ten, but she's actually 100 years old and the second one looks like he's probably twenty and something, but he's actually 400 years old.
 * One Head Taller: Lenore and Ragamuffin, in his human-vampire form.
 * One-Man Army: Ragamuffin massacres
 * Only Sane Man: Ragamuffin is the only one who thinks clearly and logically when it's necessary, despite his diabolic nature.
 * Our Vampires Are Different: They eat people instead of drinking their blood.
 * Platonic Life Partners: Lenore and Ragamuffin. Except someone wouldn't normally expect them to be together like that, because she's a child (or not) and he's a rag doll for the most part of the comics. Unfortunately (or fortunately), there is always the fandom and its alternate versions of the story.
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old: Lenore and Ragamuffin.
 * The Power of Blood: When Lenore pricks her finger and spills a drop of blood on a doll. It turns out to be a vampire that was cursed to be an inanimate plaything, and her blood broke the curse. Unfortunately, he realizes he's still in a doll's body because the curse didn't break properly due to the fact that she is dead.

Lenore: I've been embalmed!

Ragamuffin: "

"Lenore: I don't do guilt."
 * Reluctant Monster: Taxidermy.
 * Sealed Evil in a Teddy Bear: Ragamuffin oh so very much.
 * Self-Insert Fic: Roman Dirge appears in the first episode, as a shop boy.
 * Shout-Out: Lenore was inspired by the poem Lenore by Edgar Allan Poe.
 * Single-Target Sexuality: Mr. Gosh is Lenoresexual.
 * Smoking Is Cool: With Ragamuffin.
 * Stalker with a Crush: Mr.Gosh with Lenore.
 * Strange Girl
 * Surreal Humor: Well, not through and through, but when the main character is a 10 year old Undead Child / Enfant Terrible who spends most of her time in Cloudcuckooland, this trope does get invoked from time to time.
 * Tall, Dark and Handsome: Ragamuffin, in his original form.
 * True Companions: Lenore's friends, who always help her everytime she gets into trouble.
 * Those Wacky Nazis: Zombie versions of dead nazi soldiers.
 * Undead Child
 * Vomit Indiscretion Shot: In the first episode, Lenore kills all the hamsters from a Pet Shop. When the guy who sells at the shop sees the massacre, he throws up.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Ragamuffin,.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Too many instances in which both Lenore and Ragamuffin can be called this. Even though they're not exactly heroes.