Comprised of Meredith Gran’s popular webcomic’s first two years of strips, Octopus Pie Vol. 1 tells the story of two twenty-somethings living together in New York. Ning is the uptight one who works at Ollie’s Organix, and Hannah is her friend from kindergarten turned stoner and pastry baker.
The style is simple yet effective. As Darryl Banks suggested in our past interview (if you haven’t read it, check out his interview in issue 7) you can tell each character by their silhouette. Ning and Hannah operate wonderfully in the Jack Lemmon/ Walter Matthau (Odd Couple) dichotomy. As the story grows, you are introduced to a wealth of interesting characters, including Hanna’s Zen-like boyfriend Marek and Hanna’s drug dealer/Ning’s initial love interest, Will.
Originally published by Villard Books, then by Image Comics in 2016, Octopus Pie covers a lot of topics, including feminist theory, literature, indie rock, transitioning neighborhoods, and weed. This book can pull you in and does the one job it’s supposed to do, which is make you love the characters and follow them wherever they want to go.