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SLOW NEWS DAY #2
Highly Recommended (9/10)
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Slave Labor Graphics
Writer/Artist: Andi Watson
Price: $3.50 US |
Andi Watson's look at conflicting cultures and the reporting racket continues to hit its mark unerringly. I find it easy to relate to these characters, as they're going through and discussing things that I've experienced myself. Slow News Day reads as though Watson followed around real people for weeks on end and simply put their lives to paper. As was the case with his previous limited series (Breakfast After Noon, another slice-of-life story published by Oni Press), Slow News Day is a must-read comic book that should be on people's minds when comics-awards time rolls around again.
Owen and Katharine cover a juicy story... at least by The Wheatstone Mercury's standards, but they find themselves and their story dismissed by the advertising-focused management of the paper. Meanwhile, Katharine's reasons for travelling from San Francisco to the small English town become clearer, and she gets a peak at Owen's home life.
I work as a reporter and occasional editor at a daily newspaper. Trust me when I say that reporters and editors at newspapers everywhere share the same frustration over the power of the advertising department. The lesson isn't one restricted for those involved in the newspaper or media in general. Money talks, and it's an unfortunate but understandable reality of the world in which we live.
Watson's style is very much a less-is-more kind of entity, and it tells the story extremely well. With but a few lines, he presents characters that are surprisingly expressive. He doesn't allow his cartoony approach to get too exaggerated, but it also serves to convey the more subtle moods of Katharine, Owen et al. The covers for this book also boast a refreshing simplicity, and it serves to catch the eye.
As a journalist, it was a safe bet that I was going to love this book, but there's a lot more to Slow News Day than life at a small-town paper. Watson includes so much more of these characters' lives, from Katharine's Hollywood aspirations to Owen's toothache. Another safe bet is that every reader will likely see a part of him or herself in these pages.
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