#matthew dooley

[capegraphicnovels]

Exciting new Cape author alert!

New author klaxon! We are incredibly excited to tell you all that Matthew Dooley, who you may remember as the winner of last year’s Cape/Observer/Comica Graphic Short Story Prize, is coming to Cape for his new book Flake!

Flake a story of betrayal, revenge, small-town claustrophobia… and ice cream.

The book is a little while off yet, but if you’re impatient (like we are), you can see more examples of Matthew’s work here.

[semper-legens]

125. Flake, by Matthew Dooley

Owned?: No, library Page count: Unknown/not numbered My summary: Howard is a regular man. An ice cream man, in fact - in the small town of Dobbiston, he's been reliably maintaining his late father's patch for years. But there's competition on the way. Tony Augustus, his half-brother, is muscling in on Howard's territory, and will stop at nothing to get Howard's customers. Out of options, will Howard be able to keep his father's trade, and reckon with his family's past? My rating: 4/5 My commentary:

I picked this up because, well, it's a graphic novel about an ice cream man having some kind of ice cream wars over his turf. Look, I don't know, all of these books I'm reading for research can get quite heavy, both literally and figuratively, so I'm always looking for something a bit lighter to fill in the gaps. And this was an absolute delight. My instinct is to call it quirky, but honestly that seems almost like I'm damning it with faint praise - it's not in the same category as your manic pixie dream girl with brightly coloured hair who says lolrandom things occasionally, it's just got its quirks. It's about a man from the North-West who runs an ice cream van and just wants to keep running his ice cream van, despite his half-brother muscling in on his territory. It's about family, and self-identity, and stubbornness, and how you keep it together despite the increasing weirdness of the world. It's a sweet little story and I really enjoyed it; you can read the whole thing in one sitting, and still come out of it feeling quite satisfied. I was fond of it, moreso than I thought I was going to be.

So, the story was pretty simple - Howard's getting forced out by Tony, but doesn't want to take it lying down. But neither is he a particularly confrontational man, so he tries his best to keep the status quo and not rock the boat too hard, right up until the point where something has to give. Despite his ordinariness, Howard was a pretty strong protagonist; he's very much an everyman, the kind of bloke you'd bump into in the pub and have a nice but meaningless conversation with, but his determination and resilience makes reading his story interesting. Threaded through all this, though, is a story about a family feud; basically, Howard's father cheated on Howard's mother with Tony's mum, leading to the conflict between them. Howard is trying to reconcile the fonder memories of his father with this objectively scummy thing that his dad did, and work out his complicated relationship with Tony, exacerbated by the fact of their professional conflict. I like that it was a little complex, that there weren't any easy answers, that this was a story about how these middle-aged men's lives were kind of messed up by their dad, and how hard that is to reconcile even years after his death. Howard's fears of becoming like his father were potent (at one point his wife mistakes him for cheating with a younger female friend) and added some depth to him, made all the better that this fear was never spoken aloud. Sure, none of this is Shakespeare, but on the other hand it's a bit more complicated than I thought this book would be, and made it much better in my estimations.

I'm also gonna talk about the art a bit - usual disclaimer, I'm no artist so I'm not going to claim any real expertise in this area, but I did like how well the art complemented the story. The colours were sort of muted and washed out, but still there; it reminded me very much of the feel of a disintegrating seaside town, the kind of place where people come on a weekend if it's sunny but otherwise avoid, that peeling paint and vaguely seedy carnival rides kind of feel. But there was still warmth there, and there was still joy there, exemplified by the characters who found their way despite the bleakness of the setting. Characters were cartoony, but still distinct and recognisable. The blending between the slightly-brighter flashbacks and the drab current time was very well done, and really helped to show Howard's mindset even in scenes where we don't necessarily know what he's thinking. It was well-suited to the book, and made for a highly enjoyable read. I'd definitely recommend this.

Next, back to ancient Britain, for the second part of the Roman Quests.

[jeffstern]

Matthew Dooley - Flake

Another book club graphic novel - we were really into reading short stuff after having read a few longer things. This one, a story about love, friendship, and finding your way in the world as a bit of an oddball/weirdo, is set in the apparently cutthroat world of the ice cream truck business. Probably my favorite of the graphic novels we read in this period of time. Which was Sept/Oct of 2021, so I’m a bit behind in logging my reading. And at least a few of these books/posts are out of order because The Overstory was something we started in 2021 and ended in 2022. Oops, at least I’m logging.

[downthetubes]

Early Bird Tickets available now for October's Lakes International Comic Art Festival

Early Bird Tickets available now for October’s Lakes International Comic Art Festival

Early Bird Tickets for this year’s weekend-long Lakes International Comic Art Festival in Bowness-on-Windermere (14th – 16th October 2022) are available now. The Early Bird Ticket discount is available until 20th April 2022 and gets buyers 20% off prices. Simply use the discount code LICAF20 at checkout, which is valid for day passes and weekend passes. Head to the Festival web site now for…

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[brokenfrontier]

Split - Matthew Dooley and Joe Stone Halve the Page Count and Double the Fun

Split – Matthew Dooley and Joe Stone Halve the Page Count and Double the Fun

THOUGHT BUBBLE FORTNIGHT! Adopting a flip book format with a fun physical flourish, Matthew (Flake) Dooley and Joe (Stutter) Stone’s Split is (contradictorily) a collaborative effort that isn’t a collaboration. It’s double helping that perhaps showcases the more whimsical sides of the duo’s comics output. But those who have followed the practice of both artists will know that even at their more…

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[brokenfrontier]

"Feeling Part of the Community is a Big Reason I Make Comics" - Matthew Dooley on the UK Indie Scene and His Eisner Award-Nominated Graphic Novel 'Flake'

by Andy Oliver

Matthew Dooley has an off-centre, idiosyncratic, and often bleakly humorous view of the world; something that has been a constant on the UK indie scene since his work first started…

https://www.brokenfrontier.com/interview-matthew-dooley-flake-jonathan-cape/

[thecomicon]

'Flake' Is The First Graphic Novel To Win The Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize

‘Flake’ Is The First Graphic Novel To Win The Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize

Up until this morning I had never known that there even was a literary sponsored by the elite champagne brand Bollinger, but I do now. That’s because, for the first time, a graphic novel has won this year’s Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize, as reported by The Guardian newspaper.

This prestigious prize is awarded for works of comedic value with the winner getting – amongst other prizes – a rare…

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[downthetubes]

Observer/ Cape/ Comica Graphic Short Story 2017 Competition Launches

Observer/ Cape/ Comica Graphic Short Story 2017 Competition Launches

Are you an aspiring graphic novelist? Do you have an original story to tell? Jonathan Cape Graphic Novels and Comica have again got together with the Observer newspaper to offer you the chance to see your work in print and win £1,000. Now in its 11th year, it’s an opportunity to get your work read by industry experts; this year’s judges are writer Phillip Pullman (whose own graphic novel, The…

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