Page 45 Review by Stephen
Astonishingly candid companion to GET A LIFE, the latest Monsieur Jean story by the same creators, this is the two writer/artists recounting the making and original publication of that book in Paris - as an act of therapy as much as anything else!
Philippe's life is threatening to fall apart as he mentally drifts, creatively stagnates and moves out of his marital home into a small studio harassed by a woman who won't stop screaming at him either outside or through the walls of the tenement they share. Charles, meanwhile, is a study case in procrastination: instead of cracking on with GET A LIFE or Monsieur Jean, he goes shopping for stuff he doesn't need including (I found this bizarre for a French Cartoonist of the Real Mainstream) SIMPSONS comics and Batman memorabilia.
Now, the thing is that both these artists are, as I said, writers and artists - which is an usual collaboration. The result is a thoroughly entertaining relay race as they come and go out of each other's lives, fret about which of their two publishers should get the book and whether one of them's about to go bust, muse over practicalities versus creativity, and - from Philippe - there's a sequence about the intense thought that can go into being spontaneous! You can see why this is a comicbook creator's comic (Andi Watson picked up a copy - he's a huge fan of these two, and I can see why: although different in style they share a priority about comics which is communication through minimal visual information - this is an art form to be read fluidly) because it's situations they share - like wondering whether readers will attend signings, or the first glimpse of their own comic printed when they all check its quality! - and it's a revelation for those of us not involved in the creative process, as well as being highly accomplished. Seemingly random elements like the hunt for a decent hairdresser (sorry, Geoff - barber!) suddenly snap back into place with unexpected relevance, whilst other pages are grin-inducingly clever, like Berberian drawing himself at the drawing board, with his wife hovering over him and their kid acting up:
"Busy drawing?"
"Yeah, I started that thing I told you about, you know..."
"Oh, right, the "making of" the next Monsieur Jean... So... am I in it yet?"
"Uh... no... not yet..."
"You haven't said that I keep bugging you? And that you can't work?"
"Oh c'mon... why would I say that...?"
