Page 45 Review by Jonathan
"I have no idea what I'm doing."
This work which collects the entirety of the Charley Butters trilogy really ought to have been at least sub-titled "How Travis Just Keeps Making The Same Mistakes Again And Again And Again..."
Yes, 'sensitive soul' Travis, a self-confessed slacker who works in a record shop and has somehow found himself singing in a death metal band with his friends, despite actually liking '60s music, garage rock and girl bands is not in a good place and it is only going to get worse. Much worse. The sad thing is... he will only have himself to blame. Though he'll try and blame Charley Butters, which seems a bit harsh, since Charley Butters was a little-known painter who mysteriously vanished from public sight in the 1950s before making any significant impact on the radar of public consciousness.
Whilst out in the middle of the woods filming a video for their band, the boys and their reluctant director Stuart stumble across an old cabin filled with journals and hundreds of versions of the same painting. They quickly learn it was the hideout of one Charley Butters, and putting the pieces together, they discover that he simply decided to disappear into the woods leaving his old life behind. His reasons for doing so aren't entirely clear, certainly not to Butter's then wife, who Travis and Stuart interview for a documentary film about the reclusive artist they decide to make after becoming hooked on his intriguing story through avidly reading his diaries.
So far, so good. Travis even finds the willpower to break up the band much to his friend Mike's - who really is death metal for life if you'll pardon the oxymoron - chagrin and finally gets the courage to ask out the girl of his dreams. He even manages to fit in a much overdue haircut! Yes, it starting to seem like Travis has it all. Unfortunately, he also has a burgeoning drink problem. Which he is rapidly beginning to lose control of...
As his addiction continues to spiral out of control, it's not long before his professional and personal lives are disintegrating faster than a shredded beer mat at the hands of a plastered pint-sinker. Soon it seems to Travis... through the always truthful lens of the bottom of a glass... that his only sensible option is to follow the route of Charley Butters, quite literally, heading to Charley's cabin to seek solace in solitude. And thus, perhaps, in also trying to track down the absent artist, somehow begin to find himself and thus get his life back in order. Which, on the face of it, if executed properly, with the appropriate degree of restraint on the consumption of alcohol, sounds like a pretty good plan. Unfortunately, self-control is not one of Travis's strong points...
I won't regale you with any further plot points, for Travis's own journey, how it does and also does not mirror that of Charley Butters, is the true story here. Yes, I can promise you will learn the whereabouts of the titular artist, but by that point you'll be too busy shaking your head at Travis's continuing further descent into the ethanol-fuelled rabbit hole of his own making...
Strong, clean art black and white art from Zach Worton, like a finer-lined version of Dylan HICKSVILLE Horrocks, with his round faces and pinhole eyes, and also Michel THE SONG OF ROLAND Michel Rabagliati with his pointed noses. If you like a graphic novel that takes its protagonist for a walk on the wild side, then leaves them slumped in a sorry heap, this could be for you!
