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SLOW NEWS DAY #3
Recommended (8/10)
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Slave Labor Graphics
Writer/Artist: Andi Watson
Price: $3.50 US |
Watson continues to entertain with his story of believable people in a believable world. He's really carving a niche for himself in high-quality, slice-of-life comics storytelling, and he's now on a short list of creators whose work I will buy without pause or question. There seems to be a universal appeal to his work, and that holds true with Slow News Day.
Katharine discovers that Owen has gone through her computer files and found her script for a sitcom set at a small British newspaper. She goes basllistic over the invasion of privacy. Meanwhile, Owen frets for his job upon discovering that the managing editor has learned that Katharine comes into work on weekends while he doesn't. Also, Owen finally has an important (though brief) chat with his father.
Watson's mono-chromatic covers really stand out on the comic-book shop shelves, and given that this title is vying for attention alongside books published by companies with much bigger promotional budgets, that's a key visual strength for the book. I continue to enjoy Watson's simple figures, but I have to admit that they work better for people than they do animals. I didn't see the oddity in the turkey that caused the characters to be so taken aback in the first scene.
And so Katharine's original purpose for travelling to Wheatstone is revealed, but what really tells us something about her character is how her priorities are changing. She came to England looking for grist for her Hollywood-driven mill, but now she's giving up the chance to sightsee to work for this little weekly ad rag. Katharine is growing, but not so much or so quickly as to make it seem like an implausible afterschool-special epiphany.
Though I love the culture-clash exchanges between Katharine and Owen (especially the paid-holiday discussion), the moment that rang most true with me in this issue was the one in which Owen stresses out about the boss's perceptions of who's working harder at the paper. I've felt and witnessed such paranoia, not to mention the amusing frustration of a boss who just isn't listening.
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