A graphic novel for the girls of the house

Clubbing (Minx Books, 2007)
Writer: Andi Watson
Art: Josh Howard
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

After teenaged goth chick Lottie is busted trying to get into a night club using a fake ID, her parents send out of London to spend summer with her grandparents. Here, she gets a little variety in her life--learns about golfing and fishing, manages to win a cake decorating contest, and discovers that it is possible to survive without a cellphone--and learns that friends and possible romance can be found in places she never thought to look. She also becomes involved in a solving a mystery when a woman is murdered on her grandparents' golf courseher to spend the summer with her grandparents in the country... and her grandfather appears to be the most likely suspect.


"Clubbing" was one of the inaugural entries in the "Minx" line of graphic novels. These are books targeted at young teenage girls, and, as such, I am about as far away from being the target audience as possible.

However, a well-done book isa well-done book, and I enjoyed "Clubbing" quite a bit. Like any well-done juvenile fiction, the book can be read and enjoyed by kids and adults alike,

The basic storyline is one that I remember reading in countless mystery books when I was a kid, so juvenile fiction is apparently still juvenile fiction. The "big city kid goes to the country" is used with great effect here, particularly as writer Andi Watson ellicits such a perfect portrait of a spoiled rich girl who is somewhat out of her element. Kids and adults will both develop a strong liking for Lottie, smiling at her victories and feeling sorry for her during one particular scene where she tries to make friends and fails. (Some of her antics may be funnier to kids than adults, but they're consistently entertaining, and there's never a dull moment to be had.)

While the basic storyline is typical of juvenile fiction (I'm making an assumption here--it's been decades since I read my last "Hardy Boys", "Jimmy Bond", or "Secret Seven" novel, and I've let the whole Harry Potter thing pass me by, but since the Minx line is supposed to be all hip and cutting-edge and appealing for girls in their early teens, I think it's a safe bet that a talented professional like Watson was writing something appropriate for the target audience andthat therefore kids' lit is still kids' lit), Watson throws a twist into his tale at the end that I did not see coming. It's both funny, creepy, and he wrote which is one of my favorite lines from any fiction I've read recently, be it comics or "real" literature: "And that's the last I saw of Gran--as she was trying to hug an extra-dimensional horror."

(I don't think I'm spoiling too much by quoting that line... or by saying that this graphic novel put a twist on life in a quiet British village that's similar to that found in the movie "Hot Fuzz".)

As for the artwork, Josh Howard has a cartoony style that is both appropriate for the story and that should appeal to most readers. He also has a sense of layout and story-flow that few modern artists possess--it's a clear, easy-to-follow visual story-telling method that is remarkable because it doesn't call attention to itself. Howard is practicing graphic storytelling as it was done during the heyday of American comics, and it's nice to see such craftsmanship in a book that's supposed to be hip and new. If more up-and-coming artists and their editors and publishers had paid attention to these sorts of fundementals over the past 20 years, maybe American comics would be as big a business as they deserve to be.

"Clubbing" is a fun read that once again proves that comics can be used to tell all sorts of stories, and I think this is one that should appeal to just about every member in a household (except maybe the 9-year-old boy who thinks girls are yucky). The final page of the book sets up the potential for a sequel, and I'll be keeping an eye out for it.

'The Complete Geisha' explores nature of human heart and soul

The Complete Geisha (Oni Press, 2003)
Story and Art: Andi Watson
Rating: Nine of Ten Tomatoes

"Geisha" was the second comic book series from Andi Watson (perhaps best known as the writer of Dark Horse's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" comics. In a future where life-like androids are used as sextoys/prostitutes and servants, the operator of a successful security company "adopted" a sex 'droid, wiped her initial programming, and raised like his own children. The result was Jomi, who, although human in every way except for her android body, is now struggling to find her place in a world that sees her as something less than human.


Jomi is a talented artist, and she dreams of making her living doing art, but critics denegrate her work, saying it is soulless and crude because she's an android, which in turn makes it hard for her to sell her paintings. When a crimelord approaches her with an offer of an obcene amount of cash to produce a forgery for him, she has to choose between the satisfaction of knowing the critics who hate her will be fawning over a forgery she created, or being true to her art and soul and turning down the offer. Along the way, she befriends a neurotic supermodel and defends her against her battlebot-driving ex-husband, and learns the ins-and-outs of her adopted family's security business.

Aside from the main story of Jomi vs. The Art Forger and the Battlebot, "The Complete Geisha" also contains the various short stort stories featuring Jomi and the rest of the "Geisha" cast. Like the main story, these are very well-done. These short stories also give the reader some insight into how Watson's style developed as he worked on the series.

"The Complete Geisha" presents excellent comic book stories that have action, humor, and lots of heart. It's the sort of comic book work that one wishes more creators were able to produce.