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BREAKFAST AFTER NOON
Andi Watson
Oni Press

Darn…my three-year old scanner is going iffy on me.

Anyway, the fact that we all have our own personal tastes and opinions sets up a potentially chaotic but ultimately interesting scenario. This variety forms the crux of niche marketing activities, popularity polls, and even religious crusades. You have your own take on things while I have mine, and as long as we don’t end up killing each other or hurting others in the crossfire, then it’s all cool.

Andi Watson’s Breakfast After Noon illustrates this point. Personally, this book does nothing for me, and not because it’s a story about a couple struggling to push through with their marriage despite unemployment. While Watson’s clean and consistent art is one to be admired, I can’t help but feel that this is a ride that’s not worth the price of admission, like a roller coaster that starts off okay, takes you to the customary twists and turns, but ends just about when you’re bracing yourself for the 360.

The text on the back cover stresses that the book “chooses to focus on the twists and turns of real life rather than…the smoke and mirrors of the fantastic.” This is all well and good, but Watson’s approach seemed too simplistic for me, and his characterization of the male lead left me totally apathetic towards him. Instead of sympathizing for the characters, I found myself mentally screaming to the female lead, “Dump the shmuck already!”

At a cover price of $19.95, Breakfast After Noon doesn’t come highly recommended. But like I said, we each have our own tastes. Borrow a copy if you can. I’m glad I did.

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