Eddie is just an everyday, ordinary dude with a not-so-exciting lifestyle that mostly involves him watching werewolf movies and pining over his ex-girlfriend. On his first day of his week-off from work, he is told by some suits that he has involuntarily signed up to have a convicted murderer live in a makeshift jail cell in his living room.
Eddie’s Week is an extremely unpredictable graphic novel that takes place in a mundane yet very surreal universe. As titular Eddie’s titular week progresses, he loses a convict, joins a club where men dress as bears, is spied on by a transient detective, and accidentally kills several people. The story tricks you with all kinds left turns with almost sitcom-like situations going off the rails. You get hints of it early on when Eddie is speaking to a friend and passively mentions that their mayor turned out to be a mythical creature.
It’s a black and white comic with no amounts of grey in-between. The artwork is pretty sketch-like with a lot of dark, ink-filled shading. It’s a bit messy but a good aesthetic. The fact that I can’t compare Dean’s style to anybody should be commended. There is something oddly adorable about Eddies comically big nose and eyebrows.
As the storyline gets stranger and starts to include magic and more murders, it ends with Eddie and his newly acquired pals (one pocket sized) riding off into the unknown. Our ordinary dude has just accepted all the weird shit that’s thrown at him and takes it with stride.
The same could be said about the author Patrick Dean. After this book was completed, he was diagnosed with ALS. His muscles became weak but he kept drawing to his best ability. And when he couldn’t draw with his arms anymore, he started drawing pieces with eye-gaze technology up until his death on May 13, 2021. We should all be thankful this book came out before Dean left this earth. And it’s a bummer that such a creative weirdo is gone before he could make more fine products like Eddie’s Week. –Rick V. (Birdcage Bottom Books, 324-A W. 71st St., NY, NY 10023, birdcagebottombooks.com)