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A review by mrsthrift
The Underwater Welder by Jeff Lemire
3.0
i picked this up because i am semi-obsessed with lemire's Sweet Tooth and i'm trying to take the edge off the long wait for my library to deliver the next volume. The story is about a workaholic underwater welder who works on a deep sea rig. His wife is very pregnant and he seems unready to become a father. On one deep dive, something goes wrong and his world becomes very different. Everyone says it, but it's pretty "twilight zone"-y.
The story is weird, and not like "wacky" but like unsettling. It's also a ghost story, as Lemire introduces and explores Jack Joseph's relationship with his dead dad, which, of course, explains a lot about Jack's own reservations about becoming a dad. I don't often read stuff about dudes who are nervous about becoming dads, so that was interesting. The story didn't go to the emotional depths I'd hoped for, considering how the set-up fascinated me and the themes of grief and loss were so heavy.
Lemire's dreamy, deceptively simple art really appeals to me. I love the way he uses perspective and shading. I really liked the scene where Jack drives out of town over and over. It's was creepy!
The story is weird, and not like "wacky" but like unsettling. It's also a ghost story, as Lemire introduces and explores Jack Joseph's relationship with his dead dad, which, of course, explains a lot about Jack's own reservations about becoming a dad. I don't often read stuff about dudes who are nervous about becoming dads, so that was interesting. The story didn't go to the emotional depths I'd hoped for, considering how the set-up fascinated me and the themes of grief and loss were so heavy.
Lemire's dreamy, deceptively simple art really appeals to me. I love the way he uses perspective and shading. I really liked the scene where Jack drives out of town over and over. It's was creepy!