On his site, Sean Azzopardi describes ‘Life’s A Party’ as “15 years, 600+ pages, one autobiographical series.” Previously, BF’s Andy Oliver has reviewed two entries in this series Once There Was Dancing and One For The Road, not to mention considerable coverage of Azzopardi on Broken Frontier over the years (going back to at least 2011!). All that said, we are considering here Not Red Deeps!, one of the newer entries of the ‘Life’s A Party’ series. The story itself concerns Mr. Azzopardi’s own experience with psoriasis, but not in any conventional manner of comics storytelling. Psoriasis is not even mentioned by name until fifteen pages into the story.
Not Red Deeps! is a double-edged sword of a title referring to a school for “children with learning difficulties” and also referring to the color of skin affected by psoriasis. As a new reader, the first thing one might notice is the high quality of presentation. Azzopardi could have told his story in black and white, however here we see not just full-color but an overlay of an additional pattern to reinforce the theme of psoriasis as a condition that has been in the background all Azzopardi’s life. Even the color choices effect the reader’s perception of the narrative as the muted schemes ebb and flow with brighter colors as the story unfolds.
It’s very tempting to micro-analyze all 44 pages of this mirror into Azzopardi’s life (there’s so much packed into every panel and page), sufficient to our purpose at the moment is simply to examine the structure of the narrative. Azzopardi starts his story in his Mother’s womb and proceeds through his life, showing the progression of time through single panel portraits and explaining his experience in depth through longer scenes. Some scenes are dramatic, some humorous, some horrific, or some a combination of the above.
After two decades-plus of self-publishing, and championing small press in general, Sean Azzopardi still delivers an unusual subject for an autobiographical story with excellent art, ranging in style from cartoony to surreal.
Sean Azzopardi (W/A) • Self-published, £6.00
Review by Gary Usher
Thanks, Gary
(And BF)
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