Guy Delisle continues his funny stories about the difficulty of being a parent with this fourth volume of the Guide du mauvais père published by Delcourt on June 6.
The hidden side of Delisle
Guy Delisle has become known to the general public through travel stories in dictatorships – Pyongyang – or on countries in tension – Chronicles of Jerusalem – but he also has another facet. In his Bad Father Guides, he humorously recounts his life with his daughter and son. We recognize his graphic style that mixes the clear line and the tradition of cartoon. We also find the autobiographical part – a journey for comic book conventions – but the invention through humor is more present – in a story, feeling alone, he wants to join his children who do not care because they continue their lives.
Hard, hard to be a dad
The author does not spare himself – he is so absorbed in the search for work tools that he forgets his daughter in the paper mill. He finds himself telling horrors to his children without realizing it – he becomes a hooligan to support his swimming son. The father also feels in competition with his children – on a school trip he wants to answer before the students. This moment is even funnier with the mistress's nervousness.
Delisle shows a modern face of fatherhood. He is a tender or even lax father while, in front of other parents, he wants to show his seriousness.He even goes so far as to defend in front of his son the role of drawing in concentration in chemistry class but while being much less assured in front of the teacher. We often smile at paternal educational mistakes. On the other hand, the more severe mother is strangely absent from this volume.
Long-term humour
Delisle does not opt for jokes on one page but builds humorous short stories of several pages. The reader discovers a long-term comedy where he smiles more and more as the story progresses – The game where Delisle needs his son's help with a video game and becomes more and more painful as his son wants to study. The episode on The Guests works on the same principle – the father manipulates his children to keep meat but over the pages the other adults make fun of the children who do not eat.
Funny but not only…
This small volume by size is a real good idea of Delcourt because, at an affordable price, it allows to discover a cartoonist always funny but can be very moving. The father sometimes feels overwhelmed by his growing children – the daughter no longer believes in the little mouse but wants money. This book closes beautifully with a very nostalgic tone – a reminder of the beautiful hours spent between father and children and the fear of seeing them grow up too fast.
Guy Delisle proves with this series that he is a major author playing on multiple registers of emotions building and drawing very beautiful stories of humor. This volume is a very beautiful building block in the Shampoo collection such as Les Petits riens de Trondheim and Le Cil vert. Shampoo becomes a major collection centered on everyday humor and autobiography.
