Matthew Dooley is undoubtedly one of the wittiest people working in comics today. Sometimes that wit can be biting and dark, as in his alternate universe story of a failed Elon Musk working in a call centre in last year’s short story in the flipbook comic Spite with Joe Stone. On other occasions it is far more gentle and sedate, as in his most recent full-length offering, Aristotle’s Cuttlefish, published last year by Jonathan Cape.
The narrative driving force of Aristotle’s Cuttlefish is the relationship between young, would-be musician Toby, on a work experience placement at the local council offices, and the lonely Mr. Daniels, who oversees the lost property department for the town of Dobbiston. This is a lost items refuge with a difference, though, because its decades of mislaid paraphernalia are housed in a massive secretive bunker below the council buildings.
From those depths Mr. Daniels introduces Toby to his strange, solitary world. One where he conducts eccentric, existential experiments trying to recreate the elixir of life, or record the music of the spheres. All as a truth-seeking diversion from the lonely existence he lives at home, mourning his long-dead wife and enjoying only the company of his pet caged bird.
The main storyline frequently cuts away to vignettes giving the history behind the objects that make their way into the lost property office. Some of these include: a young boys Intergalactic Commander action figure consigned to a spiteful fate, the bizarre story of a long believed lost medieval text from Dobbiston’s past, and “Linda”, a much loved snooker cue tragically left behind on a bus. Complementing the themes of the main narrative thrust they range from the wonderfully ludicrous to keenly observed spotlights on human foibles.
Dooley’s art is as clean, precise and well-defined as ever, with an innate understanding of how to use page structures, varied sequential storytelling techniques, perspective and the passage of time to gently manipulate the audience’s emotional responses and connection to the page. Aristotle’s Cuttlefish is a beautiful and often subtly underplayed character study, touching on ideas of loneliness, routine and a need for purpose in life, all leading to a very appropriate and touching finale. Ultimately there’s no one out there making comics quite like Matthew Dooley is, particularly with the curiously British idiosyncrasies that he injects into his work. That, perhaps, is the greatest compliment that can be paid to one of the UK’s finest cartoonists/graphic novelists.
Matthew Dooley (W/A) • Jonathan Cape, £22.00
Review by Andy Oliver
