By Dustin Cabeal
Do you have a child? Then this book is for you. Seriously, it’s the most relatable comic I have ever read because it captures what I go through on a daily basis. Truly Christopher Grady is the voice of every father in the modern era.
The gist of Lunarbaboon is that it's semi-autobiographical, but mostly just gags about being a dad, raising a kid and maintaining married life. All the tired moments, all the incredible moments, Grady manages to capture them all. There’s a healthy dose of comic book material in the story as well, with a heightened focus on Batman. Because… Batman, duh.
While most of the gags are just simple and relatable stories like grandparents buying loud and obnoxious toys for their grandchildren, there were three jokes that were absolutely hilarious to me. The first one made me laugh so hard that I stopped reading and took a long laugh break before continuing the story. The joke was amazing because it was something I never thought of doing as a parent, but now… well, knowledge is power. The next joke was funny because it captured the difficulty in being a parent in that you can find something your child does extremely funny, but you can’t let them know and have to tell them to knock it off. I fail at this regularly in case you were wondering.
The artwork by Grady is probably not a style that everyone loves, but I enjoy it. The characters have a roundness to them that gives them a cartoon look. This works quite well when the stories blend with fictional works such as Batman and Star Wars. The art is in all black and white, but there’s often a touch of color to highlight a gag or just make a panel or object stand out in the sequence.
This is probably a vaguely written review because you don’t know much about the story. Doesn’t matter, it’s a comic strip style of story so it’s all about the gags and the gags are good. Sure, they’re mostly jokes that will make you smile, but those few that make you laugh out loud are so damn good that you’ll keep reading to see if it can happen again and again. Not only did I enjoyed this collection, but I can’t wait to read further collections of Grady’s webcomic.
Score: 5/5
Lunarbaboon: The Daily Life of Parenthood
Creator: Christopher Grady
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing