It's Lonely At the Centre of the Earth - with Keith Lehtinen
It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth is the kind of comic that feels like someone handing you a piece of themselves. Keith Lehtinen talks about why Zoe Thorogood’s autobiographical graphic novel affected him so deeply, from its raw depiction of depression and relationships to the constantly changing artwork that externalizes her inner life. Heavy, funny, beautiful, and deeply human, it’s a book that stayed with Keith long after he finished reading it.
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Edited by Case Aiken
Scored by Bret Eagleston
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⏱️ Chapters
00:00 Welcome and Introduction
00:09 Keith on It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth
01:06 The Art and Visual Storytelling
01:51 Autobiography, Depression, and Creativity
02:39 The Book’s Most Devastating Line
03:31 Zoe Thorogood’s Character Work
04:26 Visualizing Emotional States
05:08 Final Recommendation and Keith’s Plugs
05:37 The Word From Tomorrow Promo
06:26 CPOV Tag
Transcription
00:00
Case Aiken
Welcome to Certain Point of View's Trade School, where each episode a different host talks about a comic book trade paperback that they loved and why they love it.
00:09
Keith Lehtinen
Hello, I'm Keith Lettanen, host of Certain POV comic book review show. We have issues and host of Certain POV music show Jukebox Vertigo. I am incredibly excited by the chance to talk about a comic that really means a lot to me and honestly emotionally devastated me in a way that no comic really has and really messed with me. But Its in a good way. In a really good way. I am talking about Its Lonely at the center of the Earth by Zoe Thorogood. This is an autobiographical graphic novel, and Its. Before I get into it, there's a series of things I need to tell you if you're going to be uncomfortable with it. This does have discussions of someone taking their own life and general, like, real triggers of depression. So I just want to get that out.
01:06
Keith Lehtinen
If that's not something you can enjoy, by all means, you know, avoid the book. But if Its something that you can enjoy as a study, if Its something you enjoy, you know, like looking at it from the outside or you're comfortable experiencing your own through it. I can't recommend this book enough. It's absolutely devastating. The art is. It's so good. And the way that she uses different art styles and different character designs to tell the story and to talk about emotional states and characters and who they are is just really spot on. I also want to talk about the COVID because I think the COVID is, like, one of the best covers ever. It just grabbed my attention immediately when I saw it, and I just thought, that looks amazing. I've always been a fan of Zoe's.
01:51
Keith Lehtinen
I just think, like, they just do an amazing work. And I actually got my copy, which I'm looking at right now, signed at Baltimore ComicCon last year, which I am so thankful for, and just. It's so good. But as I said, this is a autobiographical graphic novel that took place in a pretty dark period in her life. And I do love the artist's idea of, like, the just in general, the artist idea of, hey, when something's going on in my life, I just need to document it, you know, I just need to get it down. I need to make art of it, and that's what this does. I'm not gonna go step by step. There's a lot going on here. There's depression, there's a terrible relationship. There's you know, just the act of being a creator, and I love it.
02:39
Keith Lehtinen
But the one line I want to read because I think this is the most emotionally devastating line I've ever read in a comic book, is, I don't want to kill myself because he left me. I want to kill myself because I understand why he did. And Jesus Christ, if that is not the most emotionally devastating thing I have ever read, I can't express enough how much that just knocked me on my ass. But, yeah, I highly recommend this book because Its a real trip, but Its not a trip in a way that you wouldn't understand. It's legible. It's. It's not some. I'm trying to think of. It's not a psychedelic thing. You understand what's going on, and you feel the emotion as you read it. You're like, yeah, I've been there. I might have been there, but I've been there.
03:31
Keith Lehtinen
And the way she draws her characters, specifically the way she draws herself, there's such a, like, tiredness to the character. Kind of, like, done with all of this, and just. It's just. I can't. I'm trying to find the best way to describe this book. It's incredible. And there's a really poignant scene where she meets your younger self, and I love that scene. I think Its really sweet. And, yeah, I like, God, everything I talk about is a spoiler. There's a lot of really good characters, and there's. I don't know. It's funny because I picked this book, I'm like, yeah, I could talk about that forever. And now I'm trying to talk about it. I'm like, there's not a lot I could say because Its just so good, and I don't want to spoil it. There's a lot of, like, really weird imagery.
04:26
Keith Lehtinen
Imagery that kind of emphasizes the state of mind, using, like, visuals, literal visuals, to emphasize a state of mind, which I really like. I think. I think Its done really super well. And, yeah, I don't know really what else to say beyond the fact that, yeah, Its just so personal and so emotional in a way that I haven't really had a graphic novel really hit me as, wow, I'm literally talking to somebody about their life. And this is intense and heavy, and Its almost like they're trusting me with it. I really appreciate that. And like I said, I got a chance to meet Zoe and tell her how much I love this book. I actually read that specific line I read earlier to her and told her how much it meant to me and she was super sweet, amazing.
05:08
Keith Lehtinen
And yeah, that was really cool. So make sure to check it out. It's just absolutely incredible. It was published by Image and was nominated for a bunch of awards, so you've probably heard of it. But if you haven't read it yet, you should. That's everything from me this time, of course. Make sure to check me out on Bluesky at We have issues bsky Social thank you so much and happy reading.
05:37
Case Aiken
The world is getting stranger every day, and somehow Trans Metropolitan saw nearly all of it coming. From weaponized misinformation to political theater to tech that reshapes our lives faster than we can process, the series future feels uncomfortably familiar. The Word From Tomorrow is a new read along podcast digging into that uncanny prescience. Hosted by Case Aiken and Keith Letinen, each episode welcomes a guest to explore how Warren Ellis and Derek Robertson's dystopian satire mirrors the world we're living in now. Across the 10 episodes, we walk through the entire series, its politics, its media chaos, its dark humor, and the way it continues to hit with stunning clarity. Listen@ certainpov.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
06:26
Speaker 3
Certainpov.com.