The Birthday Riots
Written and illustrated by Nabiel Kanan
Published by NBM?ComicsLit
In The Birthday Riots, creator Nabiel Kanan paints a compelling portrait of a man whose life has been one long series of diminishing returns, compromises and broken promises. It's an involving and visually beautiful tale that takes the promise of Kanan's Lost Girl and shows the writer/artist developing further his already considerable creative muscles.
This is the story of Max Collins, who is a member of the campaign team of a man running for Mayor of London. Years ago he was filled with passion for positive social change, but the years have worn away at him, and he has endangered the happiness and security of his marriage with a cheery indifference and the occasional affair. He's not even aware of how much damage he has done until his teenage daughter runs away, prompted not so much by the societal unrest that serves as the tale's backdrop, as by a broken promise from many, many years back.
The story is laid out in a nine-panel grid that very much reminds me, in places, of Harvey Kurtzman's early EC work, and in other places, of Bernie Krigstein's later EC work. The artwork is more detailed and less stylized than Kanan's previous effort, Lost Girl, which suits the more naturalistic atmosphere at work here. Whether depicting a high school campus, the streets of London, or a wife's salacious grin, Kanan is able to bring this story across in a visually appealing manner with a fine line and design sense that also evokes Optic Nerve's Adrian Tomine. Kanan's style here really strikes me as perfect for the adult graphic novel format, and I hope to see more along these lines.
While the ending of The Birthday Riots finds Kanan revisiting a similar theme as Lost Girl, this is a very different story. The focus is solidly on the middle-aged state of compromise that Max finds himself in, where from the outside he seems quite lucky to have what he has, but from the inside he mourns for all the potential he let drip away while the years flew past.
Kanan's depiction of some of the supporting characters here is quite skillful; it would be easy enough to populate a book like this with two-dimensional characters while highlighting what a jackass Max has allowed himself to become, but by giving his wife and daughter the real, believable little moments that reveal their hopes and dreams (and how they have been compromised by Max as well), the story takes on a multi-dimensional reality that is easy to immerse yourself in.
A word about the book itself: This is a quality production, a handsome little hardcover that points the way to how beautiful the future of comics can look. No reader would be ashamed to be seen with a copy of this book, because even though it's filled with, y'know, cartoons, it looks and feels like a book for grown-ups. Which it is.
The Birthday Riots is a truly mature story, one that examines hopes and potentials and what it's like to realize you've left much of the promise of your life (and the promises) unfulfilled. Kanan's use of the graphic novel form is masterful, and I can recommend this without reservation to anyone looking for an irresistible story about real people.