Breakfast After Noon

Rating:
Summary: The comic for non-comics readers
Review: For fans of graphic novels, comics and sequential art, Andi Watson is the real-deal. His use of line, texture and brushstrokes evokes a masterly touch in a medium frequently given to assembly line product and connect-the-dot plotting. One look thru his great graphic novel, "Breakfast After Noon" will make you a fan of his art. Luckily, those that buy the book and read it will also become a fan of Andi the writer.

His stories have that lived-in feeling and his characters eminate from real life in a way that is all too rare in today's spandex-obseesed comics market. BAN is a particularly English story, sprinkled as it is the British slang and set in an English town reeling from the closing of a local manufacturing plant. The couple caught in the center of the story could be friends of yours, but Watson makes them distinct individuals with their own agendas and desires. This is a slice-of-life story with no urgent plotting or climatic ending. But that doesn't mean that BAN is without suspense or dramatic purpose, but it achieves its meaning and resonance thru character instead of external plot machinations, which is refreshing in a medium so often over-written.

And Andi's art is a true treasure, and the best part is he keeps getting better with each subsequent series. He's done other excellent work and has a new series coming out for ONI Press where he plans on putting his own unique twist on the world of superheroes.

BAN is the comic you can read and feel confident passing along to your non-comics reading friend. It's a great book by a great artist.

Rating:
Summary: the dregs
Review: I purchased this book beacause a friend recommended it to me after I read Alex Robinson's wonderful graphic novel _Box Office Poison_ I enjoyed BOP because the characters seemed very real to me unlike the characters found in Super Hero comic. Breakfast's story deals with a young couple who have been living together for quite awhile but who have never tied the knot. When they are finally ready to enter wedlock they both lose their jobs at a ceramic manufacturer. Whereas Rob becomes obsessed with the idea to get his old job back, Louise views being laid off as an opportunity to do something else with her life. Rob really does not take job hunting seriously and does little more than drink beer, lounge around the house, and play games. Louise goes back to school and takes a course in computers. the two characters drift apart from each other as the book goes on. Drawn in a deceptivelt simple style, Watson's art is very moving with bold sparse lines.