The Many Deaths of Laila Starr by Ram V follows the goddess of death as she’s fired from her job, as a child will be born soon who will cure death. Since her services are no longer necessary, she is cast down to our world to live out her remaining life as a twentysomething human, the titular Laila Starr. Originally, she plans to kill this child to prevent humanity from gaining immortality, but ironically enough she can’t bring herself to take a life. What follows is Laila coming to grips with her newfound mortality and the human condition.
Ram V’s use of personification is quite interesting because we get some very unique perspectives. There’s a moment in the story where we get the perspective of a church. The building holds deep love for its caretaker and those who find comfort in its walls. In a similar move, we get to see the entire life of a cigarette from the moments it’s lit to seeing its last embers flicking out. This also makes a neat juxtaposition between the fleetingness of the cigarette and the longevity of the building and how they both comment on the themes of life and death in the story.
I love this comic. It’s one of my favorite comics I’ve ever read, and it’s my first time reading the work of Ram V, and now he’s a writer I’m looking out for. The piece tackles themes such as life, death, mortality, loss, and what it means to live. All handled beautifully and with care. This deep exploration of the human condition is beautifully set against Filipe Andrade’s absolutely gorgeous art. For a book about death, it’s lovingly colorful and vibrant but also suits the tone of the story perfectly. This creative duo manages to create such a beautiful ode to life in only five issues.
The Many Deaths Of Laila Starr has left a profound impact on me. It’s the kind of book you read and immediately feel the need to tell your family and friends you love them not out of some fear of losing them but out of appreciation that you get to live alongside them. That you get to share moments with them and create beautiful memories that’ll stay with you forever. The book contains poems from Akur Puri who Google doesn’t seem to have any information on but one of them I come back to is
I want to arrive at the end
with scars to show
for each rash decisions made
by a careless heart
It really just reminds me to live, and I don’t just exist but actually live life. Take those risks and enjoy the roller coaster. Whatever may come, the good the bad take it all in and experience it all. You deserve to. I wholeheartedly recommend giving this a read even if you don’t read comics. It’s only five issues, so it’s short and sweet and stays with you long after reading. The work touches you and leaves a beautiful memory.
Get the book! Check out The Many Deaths of Laila Starr, written by Ram V and illustrated by Filipe Andrade, at the New York Public Library, the Brooklyn Public Library, or the Queens Public Library.
About the author This review is by Nashawn G., a Multimedia major here at BMCC, who loves stories and the various mediums they can be told through.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
