SNOWMAN

Abigail’s friend isn’t the Frosty kind of snowman; rather, he’s of the abominable variety in Roger Langridge’s “Abigail and the Snowman” #1. The first of a four-issue miniseries, the issue establishes the relationship between the two, as well as that of her and her father, and her early, icy interactions with her new schoolmates. Within the span of one page, Langridge establishes Abigail’s situation with a standard first-day-in-new-school introduction structured with a brilliant and simple efficiency. One single panel with Abigail surrounded by a classroom full of judgmental school kids, complete with their caricature-like frowns, tells readers everything they need to know about her new environment. Langridge’s cartoonish style is enhanced with a straightforward kind of stripped-down technique; one simple change to an eyebrow is all it takes to convey disgust, disinterest or joy with deceptive simplicity. The first real relationship Langridge lays out is that with her father, a refr