M., Simon – Days

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Days

Was James Kochalka the first person to do a really dedicated and serious diary strip?  In my hazy memory there were others who tried it, but they never seemed to stick with it for very long, and so James is credited as the inspiration for all these other people doing their own diary strips.  I’ve sort of soured on the piles of sweetness in the Kochalka diary strips over the years, but the man is still something of a pioneer.  Add Simon M. to the list of people who tried this diary strip thing for a while and then tossed it aside, which is a shame, as at least Simon came at this from a different perspective.  There wasn’t a single four panel diary strip in here; stylistically they were all over the map.  As it should be!  It’s fine for James Kochalka to be the inspiration for all these diary strips, but once those strips are started the artists should veer off into their own directions, and Simon did an admirable job of that here.  He only tried this for a few months and these are his picks from that pile.  Topics in here include his tiny chile plant, watching the birds, finding humor on his deodorant can, listening to tragedy while getting ready to watch bands, quiet days, hangovers, moving, taking a walk on a nice day, drawing a potato while lacking real inspiration for the day, pigeons in a puddle, keeping it simple, drunken wisdom, dressing up as Sarah Palin for Halloween, finding a white hair in his beard, and even posting a crossword he’s been stuck on (if you’re still stuck Simon, I could help you out with that).  So in terms of subject matter it didn’t revolutionize the field or anything, but I very much appreciated his efforts to make each day look unique, and his genuine appreciation with the  little things in life.  Check it out, maybe if he gets swamped with requests for this book he’ll pick up his diary strips.  No price, but let’s say $3, as this a fairly hefty book.