Customer Reviews

Slow News Day (v. 1)

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Andi Watson gets better with each project. His brushwork is a marvel of economy--the minimal style skillfully conveys subtle expression and mood for maximum impact and insight.

The story itself is fairly straightforward. Katherine, an aspiring American screenplay writer, heads to England to log some time at a local newspaper as creative fodder for her project. She partners with prickly Owen, and keeps in touch with her ambitious boyfriend back in the states. Conflict ensues and lessons are learned.

The ending is well done, if not a complete surprise. What makes this book shine, though, is the complex characterization that Watson imparts through dialogue, story and art.

Slow News Day is about escapism, but does so in a graceful way. Katherine is a San Francisco native, doing an internship in Wheatstone, England (as rural and remote as it may sound). Ostensibly there to learn a bit about small-town journalism, Katherine is also doing some sneaky research for a sitcom she's writing.

Slow News Day smells of romantic wish-fulfillment: Katherine manages to be successful at everything she does (journalism, television writing, a weekly column for the Times...) except for romance. And even that comes eventually. Slow News Day, however, does this in a less painfully self-conscious way. Andi Watson is telling a good, self-contained story with amusing, empathetic characters. The art - although not packed with detail - is an interesting, indicative style that helps keep things moving at a good pace.