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Review: Little Star
Little Star
Written and Drawn by Andi Watson
Published by Oni Press. $19.95 USD
I like Andi Watson's work a great deal. I like that he focuses on very small but universal subjects, so let's keep this review small and maybe it will be more universal.
I think you call them "kitchen sink dramas." And that's great, there's definitely a place for them in comics. But with truthful but multilayered graphic works like Alison Bechdel's Fun Home emerging, I think Watson needs to push a little harder.
What's best about this book is that it really does ring true with the lead character, Simon's, frustrations with fatherhood and how to reconcile ambition and creative fulfillment with the demands of family. It's a classic struggle and his observations are very good.
Where I think the book falls short is that it's all really about Simon and what he wants to do and what he decides to do. He's a good father and an okay husband but he shuts his wife out of his decision-making and I don't see him growing out of that by the end. The book kind of putters to a close with the supporting cast left undeveloped, conflicts not resolved dramatically and potentially interesting, less comfortable areas left unexplored. That is, I felt like Watson was holding back here, and this isn't the first time. In one scene, a coworker jokes around with Simon that maybe Simon fancies a certain female coworker, and that's fine if that's not the story Watson wanted to tell, but I get the feeling he would never even think of it. His characters can procrastinate, they can get a bit irritable or grumpy now and then, but a dangerous, extramarital flirtation? Never. When Simon's part-time coworker, stay-at-home daddy friend gets some ambition and takes the job Simon decided against for the sake of his own family, does Simon call the guy on it? No. Or, to back up a bit, would Watson conceive of a story where the two guys actively competed for the same job and fucked up their friendship? I don't think so.
Maybe it comes down to the fact I know I have an unexciting life, and yet it's much more interesting than the character in this book, in similar circumstances. Even a kitchen sink drama should show you something more dramatic than your own life, right? Watson is good enough that he could write something with a lead character who isn't so damn sweet and guileless, who fucks up pretty dramatically and you like him all the more. It's time to get a little more honest, a little looser. Break some dishes into that kitchen sink.
Written and Drawn by Andi Watson
Published by Oni Press. $19.95 USD
I like Andi Watson's work a great deal. I like that he focuses on very small but universal subjects, so let's keep this review small and maybe it will be more universal.
I think you call them "kitchen sink dramas." And that's great, there's definitely a place for them in comics. But with truthful but multilayered graphic works like Alison Bechdel's Fun Home emerging, I think Watson needs to push a little harder.
What's best about this book is that it really does ring true with the lead character, Simon's, frustrations with fatherhood and how to reconcile ambition and creative fulfillment with the demands of family. It's a classic struggle and his observations are very good.
Where I think the book falls short is that it's all really about Simon and what he wants to do and what he decides to do. He's a good father and an okay husband but he shuts his wife out of his decision-making and I don't see him growing out of that by the end. The book kind of putters to a close with the supporting cast left undeveloped, conflicts not resolved dramatically and potentially interesting, less comfortable areas left unexplored. That is, I felt like Watson was holding back here, and this isn't the first time. In one scene, a coworker jokes around with Simon that maybe Simon fancies a certain female coworker, and that's fine if that's not the story Watson wanted to tell, but I get the feeling he would never even think of it. His characters can procrastinate, they can get a bit irritable or grumpy now and then, but a dangerous, extramarital flirtation? Never. When Simon's part-time coworker, stay-at-home daddy friend gets some ambition and takes the job Simon decided against for the sake of his own family, does Simon call the guy on it? No. Or, to back up a bit, would Watson conceive of a story where the two guys actively competed for the same job and fucked up their friendship? I don't think so.
Maybe it comes down to the fact I know I have an unexciting life, and yet it's much more interesting than the character in this book, in similar circumstances. Even a kitchen sink drama should show you something more dramatic than your own life, right? Watson is good enough that he could write something with a lead character who isn't so damn sweet and guileless, who fucks up pretty dramatically and you like him all the more. It's time to get a little more honest, a little looser. Break some dishes into that kitchen sink.
Posted by ChristopherAllen at 11:34 PM [Link to this post]
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