Wild That We're Alive: Momboy Comics - Lauren Haldeman - ★★

AUTHOR: Lauren Haldeman

GENRE: Comics Collection

PUBLICATION DATE: March 10, 2026

RATING: 2 stars.

In a Nutshell: A “diary comic” collection by the poet-artist. Covers random musings, confessions, and funny moments from routine life. Hazy in its purpose and disjointed in execution, hence leading to a lacklustre reading experience. I had expected far better from the blurb.

The blurb tells us that the author is an award-winning poet and that this book offers “a fresh, humorous, and emotionally resonant perspective on the wonders and weirdness of everyday life.” This tempted me to give this book a try. I mean, we do see plenty of the weirdness on display in real life these days, but it would have been great to look at the wonders as well. Sadly, the book doesn’t exactly do justice to this claim. The blurb also calls this a ‘debut book from an exciting new voice in comics’, but this also is inaccurate. The author already has a couple of published graphic novels to her name. (Unless the blurb writer just meant that this was a debut comic collection and not a debut book. 🤔)

The collection begins with an introduction to the author’s family members; her husband, her son, her dog Kitty (I find it hilarious that the dog is named “Kitty”! Poor chap must have an identity crisis! 😂), and three cats named Eddie, Monster and Voodoo. (Eddie sounds like the sanest of the duo, unless he is named after Edward Scissorhands. 👀) I thought this introduction would mean that the comics centre around funny/memorable family moments. But most of the strips are focussed on the author, with the others making only minimal appearances.

Further, the author depicts herself and her human family members with wolf heads. I am not sure about the reason for this. She follows the same pattern on her Instagram page and her web, but to those like me who weren’t aware of her social media handles prior to reading this book, an author’s note detailing her intention behind this decision to sketch herself as a wolf would have been helpful.

The comics are divided in sections named for the four seasons beginning with fall. But the seasonal sections don’t mean that the comics match the seasons in tone. Except for a few ad hoc references to the seasons, the writing is mostly independent of the section.

The biggest issue with the book is that there is no theme or topic. The entries seem quite disconnected from each other, going from funny family moments, personal confessions, emotional vulnerabilities, motivational one-liners, and random philosophical musings. It is very tough to get in the right reading mood for a book when it doesn’t have a dominant mood. Imagine reading a funny retort in the comic on the left page, and on the right, seeing a comic about a serious mental breakdown. How can we adjust to the sudden change in tone? With such quick flips in mood, it is impossible to hold on to a smile as we simply can't tell what mood the next comic belongs to.

Some comics in the book did resonate well with me. For instance, the one titled “consequences of our actions” showing the impact of a late-night phone doomscroll on the next morning, or the one where the author is standing helpless in the kitchen saying, “Well, it’s time to figure out dinner…every day for the rest of my life again.” I also loved this line: “Worry is a misuse of imagination.” A worthy adage to keep in mind!

Overall, while I did like some of the comics in this book, most of it left me feeling meh. The abrupt shifts in mood and the lack of a connective theme hampered my reading. Perhaps fans of the author’s online comics might feel differently? I sure hope they do.

My thanks to Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing the DRC of “Wild That We're Alive” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. Sorry this didn’t work better for me.