Comics that deal with grief – especially the kind that comes from losing a close loved one – have long been providing creators with an outlet to process their feelings. In Plant Daddy, though, Neil Watson-Slorance goes a step further, delivering something that is also deliberately additionally constructive as well. Part mini-graphic memoir and part “how to” book, this short comics offering manages to encapsulate two very different emotional states; both the trauma that bereavement leaves in its wake and the feelgood qualities of immersing oneself in nature.
As the title suggests Plant Daddy is concerned with Watson-Slorance’s love of gardening but this newfound hobby is inextricably linked to his mother’s passing. In what acts as a prologue to his horticultural tips and suggestions he looks back to his childhood and the pride his mother took in her garden. In the immediate period following her death Watson-Slorance is overcome by the enormity of his emotions and the effect that grief has on our mental health. But inheriting his mother’s favourite gardening book, and the copious notes she made over the years, spurs him on to do something very practical that will connect them across the decades through a mutual green-fingered passion…
Plant Daddy is an endearing comics diary of Watson-Slorance’s efforts to follow in his mother’s footsteps. One that allows us to experience his mistakes and successes along the way while also providing something cathartic that those who have lived through similar events will recognise and understand. His quirky cartooning style – with bobble-headed characters eliciting reader empathy from the outset – mixes caricature and realism to great effect, and there’s a fun blend of regular sequential panel-to-panel storytelling, practical instruction, and occasional illustrated discussion. Colin Bell ably tackles the lettering duties, ensuring that the need for extensive text at points is organic and never intrusive.
With a central plot point of a sunflower-growing project also acting in a metaphorical capacity, the main strip ends on a quite beautiful final page. Autobio that both shares and informs.
Neil Watson-Slorance (W/A), Colin Bell (L) • Self-published, £5.00
Review by Andy Oliver
