Kylooe

Hong Kong artist Little Thunder’s enchanting debut comprises three stories linked by the uncannily cute character Kylooe, a furry white monster who inhabits people’s dreams. In “Downhearted Dragonfly,” an awkward teenage girl living in the shadow of her popular sister meets a boy who lives in a rainbow-hued dreamland, but travel between their realities proves precarious. In “Green Tunnel,” a young man recalls his fraught high school relationship with an eccentric, artistically gifted classmate. “Never Been Happy” visits a reeducation camp in a world where expressing emotion has been outlawed. “Once you get a taste,” a repeat offender warns a boy arrested for crying over his father’s death, “you’ll never be able to resist the temptation.” Kylooe pops up throughout, within dreams, or in one story as a character in a children’s television show. Little Thunder’s vibrant, elegant drawings, drenched in color, give life to fantastic creatures and phantasmagorical dreamscapes as well as lovingly observed details of Hong Kong neighborhoods, shops, and apartments. The characters’ subtle, humanistic expressions help the stories maintain their delicate balance of whimsy and melancholy. Diving into this lush escapade is like sliding down a rainbow, rain showers and all. (Mar.)