Other People: Days of the Bagnold Summer & Driving Short Distances

In his wry depiction of two awkward young men’s long, lonely summers, Winterhart captures the claustrophobia of being a moody, misfit boy in a monotonous town. This meditative volume collects two short graphic novels originally published in the U.K. In “Days of the Bagnold Summer,” slumping, long-haired teen Daniel mopes around reading horror novels and longing to join a garage metal band, all while shrouded in a dark hoodie that makes him resemble “a big, black, sad kangaroo,” according to his mother, Sue. Any sign of life is a welcome surprise to single-mom Sue, who watches her son transform under her equally lonesome gaze. “You seem in a good mood!” she chirps, after Daniel engages in the rare act of coming out to dinner for her birthday—“No I don’t,” he replies. In “Driving Short Distances,” depressed dreamer Sam takes a job navigating in circles around his hometown with Keith, a friendless and humorless older delivery man. Winterhart’s blue and brown brush strokes depict the richness of mundane minutiae: the carpet-like quality of Keith’s nosehair, the tender wrinkles around Sam’s mother’s eyes. Neither Sam nor Daniel plunge fearlessly into life, but as days stretch into weeks, they slowly take baby-bird steps toward their dormant ambitions. Throughout, Winterhart manages to illustrate the banal without ever becoming boring. (Sept.)