Jay's Days volume 3
Rise and Fall of the Pasta Shop Lothario

Landwaster Books
Writer: Jason Marcy
Pencils: Jason Marcy
Inks: Joe Meyer and Jeremy Kaposy

BW, 156 pgs
$10.99 US

Autobiographical achievement
by Dana Tillusz

There was a time when many aspiring cartoonists started out using themselves as a starring character in their own comic books-- some moved on to other storytelling devices after realizing how boring and repetitive their daily life was, while others just disappeared. Today, you'll be hard pressed to find a handful of decent comics documenting someone's day-to-day life. James Kochalka has his Sketchbook Diaries, but it's really hard to count his online strip as a comic book due to its daily four-panel format. Joe Matt has something new every few years; Chester Brown's moved on to bigger things; and others are overrated.

The autobiographical work I want to read needs meat and potatoes: a healthy dose of good with the bad, and the stories most people keep hidden from others, all shaped in a longer body of work, detailing a significant event in the author's life. That's what I like to see when in comes down to it. And that is exactly what Jason Marcy does in Rise and Fall of the Pasta Shop Lothario.

Jay's Days 3 starts off with "The Kathleen Konundrum". For some reason, Jay decided to email an old co-worker and tell her how much he cares for her. He writes a spontaneous and absurd letter about how he loves her, not that he's going to leave his wife or anything; Jay just wanted to let Kathleen know what a special person she is. Of course, she takes it completely the wrong way. To make matters worse, Jay tells his wife Kristine about the misunderstanding. Now she's pissed at Jay for mentally cheating on her. This opening story really sets the mood for the collection-- not only does the reader learn almost instantaneous what kind of person Jay is, but they also see how Jay is a constant victim of his own openness when sharing his emotions and feelings.

Rise and Fall of the Pasta Shop Lothario covers a paramount period in Jason Marcy's life. The central story follows Jay and Kristine's through a long and difficult pregnancy. The doctors suspect the Marcy's baby might be born with Down's Syndrome. It's an arduous time for the parents to be. There are constant threats to the baby's survival, with frequent visits to a Toronto hospital during the city's infamous SARS epidemic. There are even complications the day Kristine finally goes into labour.

Marcy is able to keep the reader on the edge of their seat throughout this book. It is a crazy rollercoaster ride of events that happen furiously one after another, and like an expert storyteller, Marcy keeps the balance and pacing in perfect alignment. The story has a great mix of humour to lighten the often tense and hysteric moments.

Jay spends a fair amount of time flirting with his current female co-workers, and they in return, flirt back. This makes for some fun and interesting reading. Jay calls himself a "Dirty Old Man" and a pervert because he can't stop hitting on these young, teenage girls. The real trouble begins when they start flashing him, rubbing up against him while he's working, and when the candid conversations about their teenage "hotness" ensue. Of course, like an idiot, Jay tells his wife everything.

The art throughout Rise and Fall of the Pasta Shop Lothario is pretty much consistent. Marcy has his own caricature down pat with his big bulging eyes, which often pop out of his head. His art really draws one into the story--never failing on character exaggeration or empathy. The biggest problem of Marcy is his laziness--there were a number of pages that were hard to read due to unerased pencil marks left on the finished art. This really disrupted the flow of the story at those points and felt unprofessional. I know I'm not the first, nor will I be the last, to point that out.

Rise and Fall of the Pasta Shop Lothario is a definite hit. It's a strong personal story that surprises, entertains and it really makes the reader feel like they are a part of the story. You will get drawn into Marcy's life and you won't want to leave. You'll cry with him, and laugh along side him, and you'll feel like you're apart of his family.

4 of 5