The AlcoholicWritten by: Jonathan Ames
Art by: Dean Haspiel
A while back Vertigo started releasing a new line of Original Graphic Novels. They were all just about square (a little over 9 inches by a little over 7 inches) and of the eight six have featured creators who had never worked with Vertigo. Some were well known names in the comics industry who had just never published anything through Vertigo: Harvey Pekar's The Quitter, Gilbert Hernandez's Sloth, and David Lapham's Silverfish. While others have featured creators who have simply never worked in comics before: rapper Percy "MF GRIMM" Carey's Sentences, journalist G. Willow Wilson's Cairo, and now novelist/essayist/playwright/all-purpose-storyteller Jonathan Ames' The Alcoholic.
While ostensibly this is just a slice of life story about the loosely veiled "Jonathan A." it is of such an incredible quality that it must immediately take a place among my favorites of the genre. It is both funny and heart-wrenching, apologetic but unrepentant, brutally honest while clearly mixed with fiction. We follow Jonathan A. through the perils of a lifetime of alcoholism and drug abuse, fall in love, get his heart broken, go to France, become a novelist, and have an incredibly touching relationship with his great Aunt. Quite seriously this was one of the best stories I have read all year and this has been a year of great stories. Dean Haspiel is also fast becoming one of the artists that I am most intrigued by in the industry, he works in several styles and all of them are picture perfect for the stories he is telling.
If you like stories like Brooklyn Dreams, Fun Home, Blankets, the works of Harvey Pekar, Complete Lowlife, Box Office Poison, Too Cool To Be Forgotten, then it's time to tell your LCS to get you a copy of The Alcoholic!
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