I'm So Glad We Had This Time Together by Maurice Vellekoop. Pantheon, 2024. 9780307908735. 496pp.
Vellekoop's graphic biography begins when he's a little boy in love with his mom, heading downtown together on Remembrance Day. When he arrives home with a new book (Cinderella) he shares it with his older sister. After a pillow fight with his two brothers, everyone sits down at a family dinner during which his father goes into one of his regular rages. And then his father takes him on a special excursion to see Fantasia, "an experience that more or less set the course for the rest of [his] life." Disney becomes his obsession. (Later Barbies and science fiction do, too; there's an amazing scene where he first sees Planet of the Apes on TV.)
His relationship with his parents becomes a little more complicated when he comes out to them, but he's lucky enough to have theater, drawing, and good friends to help him through difficult times. Vallekoop attends art school and eventually moves to New York where he works as a commercial artist. He contends with loneliness throughout his life, though the book ends on a high note.
Worth noting: Vellekoop's illustrations feel like they belong to past decades, but they also have a quality. I particularly enjoyed the way he drew family photographs (there are quite a few on the endpapers), movie posters, and scenes from movies and TV.
Also: the photo drawn on the cover appears on the outside of the hardcover, under the dust jacket. Be sure to have a look.
