In the first of a few ECCC centric reviews, myself and Michelle will be taking a look at a few creator-owned and independently released titles that you can pick up this convention weekend. If you’re lucky, they’ll even be on later online after! So keep your eyes peeled for those, and in the meantime hop on down to take a look at the first book, “Fatherhood.”
Written by Ryan Lindsay
Illustrated by Daniel SchneiderWhen a father sets out to get the doll and make his daughter smile, he fails miserably. The pressure makes him crack and he enters an imaginary ‘noir world’ where he is strong enough to handle the problems that crush him in everyday life. FATHERHOOD is an emotional tale about how much love your heart can hold, how much love it takes to break a man, and what happens when you lose your grip on reality because you are clutching that love too tight.
The story of “Fatherhood” revolves around a recently divorced man looking to stay connected with his daughter. Not comfortable with letting their relationship fall to the wayside, he stays devoted to her happiness, and when a new doll comes out he finds himself going to dramatic places in order to acquire the doll for his loved one. It’s at this point that the book essentially splits in half within the narrative; the former portion on of the book is told from a third person narrative in a very trope-filled environment, while the latter is dominated with noir attitudes as the man’s quest brings him to a very dark place.
This is the hook of the book, in so many words. The age-old question is asked of how far a parent is willing to go for their child, and Lindsay and Schneider answer it in a dark thriller of a tale, full of introspection and moody artwork as the central character tears through the pages of the book, an unstoppable force. It’s a surprising little story neatly packed within the constrictions of a one-shot, and while it is essentially knee deep in genre tropes for better or worse, the final product is an open-ended and endearing tale of misery in the search of happiness. Really capturing the mentality of a devoted parent can be such a task due to the multi-faceted nature of parenthood, but the particular angle that the book focuses in on is certainly encapsulated throughout the narrative.
The one inherent drawback to “Fatherhood,” though, is that it encapsulates such a specific feeling that, to the wrong person, the more personal aspect of the story is a bit harder to connect to. Lindsay does a great job of expanding on the ideas of the book in an essay in the back, but his writing makes it clear: some things you just don’t understand until you yourself are a parent (and even then, there’s always a lot of learning). It’s that understanding that ostensibly changes your perction of the book from the story of an incredibly/excessively devoted father to that of a mentally deranged man, although both reads of the material offer up interesting points of discussion. The positive side to this is that the duality of the story in turn leads to the books biggest strength, which is the resulting discussion of parenting it inevitably leads to, and whether or not you (the reader) can connect with the protagonist’s dark journey. It’s relatively fair to say that any book that can prompt such a thought-provoking debate is certainly one of interest.
Still, the overall intent of the book is clear: Lindsay has written a love letter to his children, and you’ll probably wish that he was your father by the end of the read – especially if you’ve ever found yourself in a very familiar state of wanting.
Suffice it to say, Linsday’s writing here is rather powerful. “Fatherhood” is definitely an emotional read on a number of different levels, because given the two seperate angles of the story we’re shown two very different views of the world of a parent. It’s probably safe to say that there is no universal right or wrong to parenting, but there are definite truths that everyone with children can certainly see and relate to, let alone those of us who are someone’s children. The only weakness that Lindsay’s writing sees in the book is in the reliance of some odd metaphors (one about bees comes a bit out of left field), and its debatable as to whether or not Lindsay takes the story too far down the rabbit hole. Yet, as a singular piece of writing, it’s certainly a provocative and well-intentioned dramatization of the trials and tribulations of fatherhood.
Continued belowOf course, it certainly helps that the book’s creative team is so incredibly talented. Illustrated by the wonderfully talented Daniel Schneider, each portion of the story is beautifully realized with different artistic styles, transformed by the moody colors of Paulina Ganucheau for a multi-faceted approach. The book, as mentioned, goes into some dark corners and conveys some rather specific thoughts, so to see all of these realized in a way that doesn’t ostensibly clash with the subtext of the narrative is a definite feat, and it doesn’t hurt that its rather easy on the eyes as well. Even the lettering by Brandon DeStefano gets in on the action, switching between the two different moods and helping to really nail down the storytelling techniques employed – and it’s an important detail to notice. Point being: the creative team of this book is rather enormous, and even without all the words it’s a rather impressive visual tale.
So “Fatherhood” is a book that has a very specific audience in mind, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. A certain special level of empathy is required to truly connect to the story of “Fatherhood,” one that is perhaps not as accessible for those who have not entered into that stage of their life yet, but there’s still plenty of recognizable and visceral emotion on play. Chances are you’ll find something that connects to you – whether it be based on your relationship with your parents, or perhaps even a certain level of daydreaming. And at the very least, it’s a very thought-provoking read contained in 22 visually engrossing pages.
Final Verdict: 7.8 – Buy
“Fatherhood” will be on sale this weekend from Challenger Comics, table G-01.
