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ARTICLE
Book Review: Table For One
by R.J. Carter Published: February 26, 2004
"Table For One" follows Will Howland, a writer without a publication, as he works one night at a restaurant owned by his uncle-by-marriage, Ritchie D'Grado. And if that's all this story were, it would be a mediocre tale worth passing over.
But it's more than just a story about a guy bussing tables. The story is filled to overflowing personalities, each character showing his own motivations, his own individuality. Even the background patrons bring their own uniqueness to the book.
The night is a special one for Will; it's the anniversary of a bet he made with Ritchie, and tonight's the night he collects. But before he can get paid, he has to work one more night surrounded by the people he looks down on. This is the overriding personality trait--he's acerbic, he's rude, and he enjoys turning a phrase back against somebody to form an insult:
Ritchie: Hey, Will. I guess you're coming to work, right? Will: You should try asking. Ritchie: No. Not today. Rudy's not here and it has something to do with you. Tell me about it when you get here. Will: I said try, Ass King.
Will is also the most beautiful character in the book, drawing the readers eye to him as the hero of the piece. He's also dressed and groomed a far sight better than one might expect from a struggling writer.
The remaining characters are represented more as cartoons of people than as a realistic representation. The floor manager is a top-heavy hulk. The head waiter is a sniveller. The godfather (who prefers to just be called "God") is a diminutive 70's porn star, and Uncle Ritchie is an elephantine presence who starts to sweat more and more as the night wears on. And before the night is over, things in Will's life will change irrevocably and violently.
Bosch Fawstin is a breakout new talent in the media of sequential images. His use of panel breakdowns is inventive and masterfully controls the timing of the story. His characters--the beautiful and the caracaturish--are consistently rendered. If Will Eisner were going to do a graphic novel about a night in a restaurant, "Table For One" is the graphic novel he would have done. In fact, the Eisner influence is present throughout the novel--Fawstin has obviously studied from the best. But "Table For One" is also uniquely Fawstin's own, presenting a territory he has staked out for himself and a new high water mark for other independent comic publishers.
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"Table For One" follows Will Howland, a writer without a publication, as he works one night at a restaurant owned by his uncle-by-marriage, Ritchie D'Grado. And if that's all this story were, it would be a mediocre tale worth passing over.
