Silly me... that old song, "Only a Prawn in Whitby" rattles through my head... I guess that might be one of the reasons I picked this comic up at Caption... Whitby's creator, Gavin Ross does proclaim his interest in music in the comic, but not C86 indie music; he runs a Marc Bolan fanzine, so whether he would even have a passing likeness for Cud is highly debatable. The point is moot; this comic has nothing to do with music.
In the editorial Gavin mentions that he saw the film American Splendour detailing Harvey Pekar's ordinary life, & the idea impressed him greatly. From this I would also surmise that Gavin is not heavily involved with the alternate comics scene, as 'whittering about self' is an alternative comix mainstay. This lack of artifice is also apparent in the artwork; Gavin has a quite conventional realist art style. In a way it is quite plain & would not look out of place in a mainstream magazine: an asset to the comic as a whole. Unfortunately this means that it is a little plain & functional; there is no bold experimentation with the line or style. But then, this might only serve to distract from the story telling. There are 2 stories in the book & both are satisfying reads.
The first, Whitby is thus called because this is the destination of Gavin & his pal Martin as they set out to celebrate Martin's birthday with a 'night on the town'. The story is in the telling - this is presumably as close to real life as Gavin feels he can make it, but it strikes me that there may be little in the way of planning & forethought involved in the creation the comic itself. It starts off at a leisurely pace but there are a couple of points where the panel to panel layout gets a little confusing, (at one point he resorts to 'directional' arrows) & the final page seems somewhat cramped (it would have worked better as 2 pages, even if the final panel filed half the page). To counter, it also has to pointed out that Gavin is an accomplished comics artist, as the art sample that accompanies this review should testify - he is quite capable of putting together a very good page of comic art (i.e. compostion & flow).
The second story details a visit to see his father, but as his father is in prison at the time, it details the getting there rather than the encounter itself. The actual meeting; the point where they meet in a fond family hug is just the denouement to the process of 'visiting'.
I am fond of these stories as they appeal to my comics sensibility - the understated nature focusing on the moments of life that are mundane, yet magic which life throws up all the time if you care to look. Although autobiographical comics are not uncommon, this sort of impartial documentation of the everyday is less common. It might also be considered voyeuristic, but it is also informative - it reflects directly the lives of people in a way that is rarely seen. So much of modern life is reflected poorly in the media in general. Soap Operas engender a rational that something 'dramatic' must happen all the time. Life is challenging enough without the desire to insert a cliché ridden 30 minute story arc with a cliff-hanger ending to every situation. This is what makes Whitby a refreshing change. In a way the lack of "planning & forethought" is a strength - Gavin knows what happened - it is his view of what happened & he has committed it to the pages of this entertaining comic.
mooncat