Writer/artist Neil Kleid offers up a remarkably personal story here, but it also serves as a strong commentary on the comic-book industry. A charmingly simple art style celebrates an entire lifetime, and Kleid's concise script fleshes out the main character efficiently and effectively. Though clearly fictional, the book draws upon current events in the craft and universe feelings of personal triumph and powerlessness to offer up a thoroughly convincing character study using only the briefest vignettes to tell a much larger story.
Ever since he first discovered comics as a kid, Kevin Hall was obsessed with them, and after a while, he became enamored of the craft as well. A typical comic-book geek, he eventually finds his artistic voice, and with it, confidence. He builds a life in and outside of the industry, and a part of it is a family. Professional successes are outweighed by the frustrations, though, but through it all, he remains devoted to storytelling... a passion he passes along through his family.
Kleid's art style is a cute one; his thick-lined approach is simple, but effective. It allows the reader to connect and identify with the main characer more. I love how he ages the character, gradually beefing him up and distancing him from the boy he once was. At the same time, though, he never completely loses that boyish look, and that reinforces the character's innocence, which in turn reinforces the tragedy of key events.
I also find it interesting that only two characters -- Kevin and his grandson -- spend any amount of time in full view. That reinforces the intensely personal tone of the story. The other figures in the book are players, yes, but they're not really characters, per se. We learn little about them, save for Kevin's wife's eventual acceptance of his creative passions.
Kleid offers up a biting criticism of an industry that seems to turn its back on those to whom it owes so much. The main character's experiences put one in mind of the stories of creators who had to fight to get credit for the icons they contributed to pop culture, but also of those who toiled for corporate publishers only to be forgotten later on. I'm impressed, though, that Kleid also finds room for his character to accept some responsibility as well. Hall is as much a victim of his own bad decisions as he is of corporate politics. Kleid emphasizes personal responsibility here as well.
To say I relate to the main character is putting things lightly. No, I've never published any comics or won an Eisner. But I've been that awkward kid, reading comics in his bedroom and feeling like an outsider among my peers at school. Longtime comics readers will connect with Kevin Hall with little effort.
