Planet Karen is one of a growing number of autobiographical comics (a field made popular by the fun and at times insane drawn antics of Jennie Breeden of The Devil’s Panties). However, while TDP often focuses on Breeden’s con-going experiences and the like, Karen Ellis delves deep into her own day-to-day life, and while her comic may lack the ongoing plotlines that attract me to so many storytelling comics, she still manages to captivate her fans through a combination of art and writing skill that can turn even the most boring of real-life moments into something worth reading.

Ellis can take what would ordinarily be a boring bland moment and through a combination of art and description of what’s going on in her head draw people in. Perhaps part of this lies with how she strikes a cord with what we all have felt at times… such as needing to get up, having work that needs to be done no matter how sick you feel… and trying only to fall back onto the bed and deciding to stay there “just for a couple more minutes. Maybe.” Who hasn’t felt that sense of “just another minute,” whether it’s hitting the snooze on an alarm clock or needing to get up despite how miserable you feel.

Ellis’s skills as a storyteller allow her to turn even her fight with depression (or struggling to stop smoking or banking woes or leaks in her apartment) into something fascinating to read. Add in her artwork which has evolved in the year-and-a-half PK has been running (noses started appearing around 100 strips in) and more recent strips have become something that looks quite slick. Considering that black seems to be one of Ellis’s favorite colors, the addition of shading (or in this case highlighting) and lighting effects helps the characters stand out and come alive. PK is a definite example of an autobiographical comic done right, and will definitely be added to my daily reading list.