It's parenthood smashing? I don't know, but friends and cousins tell me it is, usually just after their patience has been sorely tried!
Simon and Meg are perpetually exhausted. On top of juggling their own working lives - whilst trying to find a house big enough for a family, yet affordable and in the right catchment area for a decent school - they have to focus all their attention on young Cassie. And although she's an angel at bath time ("This is medicine. Drink it."), looking for starfish on the beach ("Look, hon, this one's alive." "I'll feed it," says Cassie, sprinkling it with sand) and allowing Daddy to pretend to be Mummy, she's also a right little madam, and Andi Watson absolutely nails Simon's comedic scowl of barely contained exasperation, whilst denoting the couple's depleted energy with a single-lined bag under the eye on almost every panel they appear in. You can tell that much of this is drawn from Andi's own life - it's too accurate to be otherwise.
"Cassie loves nursery, sorry, pre-school. I think she'd stay all night if she could. I'm glad she enjoys, I suppose that's good. <Actinic:Variable Name = 'But'/> shouldn't I feel guilty for putting her in nursery too much and not too little? What is she trying to say - the care I give at home isn't as good as that provided by the people we pay? Aren't kids supposed to want to see more of their parents, Dads especially? What with Britain having the longest work hours in Europe?
"And yes, I want to prove that Dads are as good at this as Mums. It's different for men. A screaming child in your arms and you get the looks. Suspicion or sympathy? I can never tell. Unless it's the old ladies who stop and stare, clearly weighing up whether or not to scream for the police."
Conversely, there's the other awful anxiety. Instead of Simon being mistaken for an abductor, what if he does somehow allow Cassie to fall into the wrong hands? On one excursion she decides to play hide and seek in a department store, gleefully unaware of the possibilities. When Simon finds her, the relief outweighs his prior fears, yet the fears remain real:
"I won't freak out, cry or yell. I won't scare her like she scared me. "Don't do that again, hon. Cassie, listen. Don't ever run away like that again. I was really frightened. Do you understand?" No, she doesn't understand. What can I do, have her be fearful of every adult male in the world?"
As always with Watson, the expressions tell so much of the story, but also remarkable is the deft way Simon's internal monologues are illustrated by the events taking place in between, and he has an ear for the way a conversation naturally unfolds, with the dialogue dancing between panels as the characters talk over each other, and the threads of several different conversations are dealt with according to their immediacy.
There was never any doubt that this was going to be our first Comicbook Of The Month, being everything that we here hold dear about comics - accessibility, entertainment, authentic observation, masterful delineation, and a unique voice. Also, something you can give to those around you who will know what's being written about. I've given half a dozen copies of this out already.
Given that this turned out to be Page 45's inaugural Comicbook Of The Month, we thought it might be interesting to show you how it was previewed a fortnight before the idea of a Comicbook Of The Month club was even floated by Simon Ghent...Andi Watson has long been one of the creators I'm most proud to have gracing our shelves. If we're here to reach the Real Mainstream of Britain, we need straight British fiction, with something to say to us about the quiet lives we each live out every day. Andi's pulled it off, time and again, with BREAKFAST AFTER NOON and DUMPED and SLOW NEWS DAY. But this... this is on another level entirely. This is his most direct work, his most accessible work, his most confident work, and his most moving. Which is not to say tragic or melodramatic, for it's neither of those. It's quiet and beautiful and absolutely from the heart. I think he may be a Daddy. Here's his summary, from the final issue:
"We're forever playing catch-up.
"Constantly learning on the job.
"Clinging to the coat tails of our little girl.
"Our baby who's growing away from us at seven miles a second.
"When people ask "What is it like to be a Dad?" I usually shrug and tell them it's good.
"It's a meaningless answer but it gets me out of trying to describe what it really means to me.
"I'm not a better person because I'm a father. I'm not suddenly full of wisdom and inner contentment.
"In fact I'm left pondering more unanswered questions than ever.
["Daddy."]
"If anything fatherhood has made me more of a person.
["Coming, hon."]
"I'm happier than I've ever been, and sadder.
"I'm more aware of the moment and more anxious for the future. I'm angrier and more content.
"I'm more patient and more frustrated, much more mentally stimulated and a lot more bored.
"It's a very long shopping list of contradictory emotions often experienced simultaneously.
"I'm a prince and stepmother, king and stepsister, horsey and fairy godmother.
"I'm a slob and a chauffeur, teacher and pupil, nurse and sergeant major.
"Dispenser of hugs, sympathy, ultimatums, and, moral guidance. The manners police and the hygienist.
"I'm a chemist and cash dispenser.
"Dancer and tickler. Monster.
"Bum wiper and bather. Grump and storyteller.
"Tyrant, pushover, builder, and cleaning lady.
"Husband and son.
"Dad."
Andi, what you are, is a star.
