White, Daren & Campbell, Eddie – The Playwright

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The Playwright

Is it better for a writer to have a wealth of sadness and loneliness to draw from for his work, or is a fulfilled life without art the preferred outcome?  It’s only due to the mastery of Daren and Eddie that it took me so long to figure out that that was the central question of this book.  Things start off with a sad and lonely playwright who ostracized his family years ago by writing a play which was based heavily on the life of his retarded older brother.  This playwright meanders through life, looking for excuses to look at women but without having the courage to actually talk to them, and never seems to dwell much on the essential emptiness of things, as he decided long ago to go for financial success over everything else.  We learn about his formative years, his first exposure to the wonders of internet pornography, and his stunted attempts to at least keep current with the rest of the world.  Daren White, for you whippersnappers out there, edited the DeeVee anthology in the 90’s, and it’s entirely possible that it’s still going and I’ve just missed it.  Eddie Campbell needs no introduction, assuming you have any sense at all of great comics.  Both of them weave this tale together masterfully, as Eddie has the visuals of the life of this sad little man down perfectly and Daren manages to guide things over to a chance for redemption naturally. It should go without saying that a book with Eddie Campbell as a contributor is required reading, but just in case maybe you thought you could skip this one for some reason, you’re wrong.  This is a beautiful meditation on making art to the exclusion of all else and how it’s impossible to lay a thoroughly black or white judgment on that choice.  If you’ve somehow missed Eddie’s work up until now, this is an excellent place to start. Everybody with even a mildly artistic mindset should read this book.  $14.95