Being one of the leading representatives for the new wave of Spanish comic artists, Paco Roca has made sure to remind everyone of his star power ever since 2001’s El Juego Lúgubre, a fictionalized story of surrealist Salvador Dali. Since that comic was published, Roca began creating gold with his biographical and emotional comics worldwide, and it became apparent that a respected publisher like Fantagraphics would take interest in translating his work. In this case, we’re greeted with a beautiful translation of Memorias de un Hombre en Pijama, or in English, Memoirs of a Man in Pajamas.
Memoirs of a Man in Pajamas is a unique example of autobiographical comics. Every page is filled with Roca’s beautiful artwork and also layers of self-deprecation, bizarre stories, and jokes that land perfectly. Roca’s sense of comedy is grounded in absurdity that goes hand and hand with everyday life. The book opens up with “The Selfish Gene”, a story where Paco Roca tells a comedic tale of meeting a fan who won’t stop calling him. The wonder of an opening story like “The Selfish Gene” is that Roca uses this story as a means to paint a picture of himself: he’s a coward. He can’t say “no” to people and it becomes apparent more and more throughout the book that the author is as flawed as everyone else. He expects you to read this book and feel as he does.
Fantagraphics
The simplistic comic strip style of this compared to his other work adds to that everyday feel it has. It’s a comedic set of stories about a comic book artist who is as weird and awkward as everyone is, and knowing that Memoirs began as a simple Sunday comic strip in Spain adds to that feel of waking up every day and reading your weekly comic strip with a cup of coffee.
It has the ordinary everyday feel that people find joy in as they read Garfield or Peanuts; the difference with Roca’s writing is that he does all he can to make sure adults feel connected to this as he worries about everyday struggles and challenges that children wouldn’t find themselves in. The strip’s name is even a play on that as the fictionalized Paco Roca wears pajamas 90% of the time to reflect his relaxed demeanor during work and the morning comic strip sensibility and comedy that comes with it.
Fantagraphics
Roca even charmingly rips on his own job as an artist every now and then as he rants about how he’s always “glued to his work table”, like in the short story “Existential Void” where he walks around ranting and raving like a mad man. All this said, I genuinely believe this is a book you don’t want to ignore. Memoirs is a semi-autobiographical comic strip that makes you relive the everyday stress you deal with, this time manifested into a weak and cowardly man who happens to be the book’s author. I believe that this will be a classic that many future creators will look back on for years to come, whether it’s for its sense of humor or its beautiful artwork.
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