Egads!  Who would've thought we'd actually carry a plush doll?  But this is different, it's Owly!  A plush doll that has its origins in a series of self-published mini-comics by the unflappable Andy Runton.  How could we say no?  Once you see it, you may end up asking yourself the same question.

Owly's back in this his second full-length graphic outing.  Just a Little Bit Blue is basically a parable of Christian charity in the guise of a cute funny animal comic, and it successfully accomplishes its task.  As with all Owly comics, there is no dialogue or narration.  The only text appears in a sign that's tacked on the wall of a shop visited by Owly during the course of the narrative; for the remainder of the story, the visuals alone are relied upon to carry the story forward -- although there is an occasional recourse to communication through symbols and eidetic recollection.  Many comics claim to be "suitable for all ages," but Owly really and truly is:  any child old enough to hold a book can get something out of this, and we'd be hard pressed to imagine any parent anywhere on the planet who could find something to object to in this comic book.

Owly finally finds a permanent home in the first Owly trade paperback from Top Shelf.  This 160 page volume offers newcomers a chance to find out what buyers of the self-published (and Top Shelf distributed) Owly minis have been discovering over the last year:  Owly is one of the cutest and most endearing characters existing in that ephemeral reality constructed in lines on paper.  The two Owly adventures herein collected -- The Way Home and The Bittersweet Summer -- are related entirely in pictures; but while the characters that populate the similarly pantomimic work of Jason and Kriek (see below) tend to delve a bit into the shadows of the human psyche, Runton's Owly -- ironically, considering the animal that is his name sake -- is of an indefatigably bright disposition and never fails to direct his feet to the sunny side of the street.  This is one strip that is guaranteed to chase those blues away.  It's only a matter of time until the Owly plush dolls start rolling off the production lines.   Hmm,  wonder where we'll put ours...