"I have something to tell you. I kissed somebody." "Why?" "He was cute."I tried reading this graphic novel at work. It was a big mistake as I started crying from what I was reading! I put the book down and just regained my composure, only to finish reading it in the privacy of my bedroom.This, dear Readers, is the result of great writing/art: emotional reaction. I combine writing and art because Jonathan Ames and Dean Haspiel did a wonderful collaboration and The Alcoholic is the result."...I have no other frame of reference in my sheltered life--other than fiction--for how things were on that day."It feels as if this story is a mixture of fiction and Ames's life. I wouldn't know as I did not do any looking up after or before reading The Alcoholic. I wanted to get this review typed out first just to demonstrate the power of this graphic novel. I say it feels like his real life because many situations occur that seem make-believe but the reactions of "Jonathan A" are very believable. For example, there's a "celebrity" he meets in the last third of the book and at one point all he can focus on is her mouth. Cliche writers and various other amateurs would probably have the character looking at breasts or various other parts of the anatomy.The overall writing and tone of The Alcoholic is very easy to follow but DIFFICULT to accept if you have genuine human empathy. The many events of Jonathan A's life, whether good or bad, shape him into the title of the novel. Some of these events are humorous and will have you laughing, but Ames and Haspiel are about reality, so most of the events will have you teary-eyed if you're comfortable with your emotions, bawling if you're overemotional and at the very least attentive if you're someone who locks your emotions away. "If the phone doesn't ring, it's me."I don't want to say much about the plot, as other reviewers and sources can provide that info. Overall, I highly recommend it. It's a realist's take on the real world in which we live. Also if you're a fan of Breaking Bad, the overall tone of this story will please you, as it has that "hilariously devastating" tone that us fans will miss.P.S. I just realized I didn't write much about Dean Haspiel's art. His style truly brings Ames's words to life. I'm not a very good judge of "art" but Haspiel did an amazing job, especially for this story. I hope to see more of his art (as well as Ames writing) in the future. I...just was not as taken with this as I wanted to be. And I love the literature of addiction/alcoholism—LOVE IT, with the fervour I typically reserve for being passionately in love with, well, addicts and alcoholics. But this somehow jangled and didn't quite, almost, but didn't—I don't even know what. The story lops off at the end in a very Moth-broadcast kind of way, and there were parts that just seemed to need to be said aloud...I don't think the genre transplantation quite took here. Also, emetophobes beware: lots of drawings of barf! Including one moment over which I did groan in empathy: wherein our hero wakes up literally in a garbage can (his helpful partner having placed him there in the night thanks to aforementioned horking). But somehow...I don't know. It's NOT that the hero is self-involved; I adore self-involved heroes. It's not that he's privileged and miserable: I'm privileged and miserable. It's not that his story isn't horrifically sad: it is. I don't know what it is. It's just not there for me. Sentimental moments go slack when they should be taut; erratic scene shifts confuse me where they should be merely jolting my complacency; and finally, WTF IS WRONG with Great-Aunt Sally, whose lovely wrinkly old face just looks dirty. Something about the way this artist does cross-hatching for shadows makes everyone look, in the words of a greater critic, as though they've just emerged from the coal bin.
What do You think about The Alcoholic (2008)?
Holy fuck, this is really not somethig I should have read while already feelig like crap.
—jrd199
I like Jonathan Ames's candidness and his always caught in wonder mindset.
—aly
This was beautiful and bare bones and fantastic.
—Pusia
