Why Don’t You Love Me?
Paul B. Rainey
Each page of this graphic novel is formatted like a Sunday comic strip: landscape orientation, with the title appearing in the first panel, followed by three rows of illustrations. It follows the mishaps of a suburban family, kind of like For Better or For Worse or Adam@home, where the kids get into trouble and the parents get flustered. Isn’t it hilarious how the father keeps forgetting the kid’s name? Or how the mom is always sleeping in too late? Some strips have a punchline, but other times, it relies on awkwardness and cringe comedy.
But then, a darker story arc develops beyond the individual jokes. It becomes clear that the mother is suffering from depression and alcoholism, and that the father’s bumbling absent-mindedness is not just a lovable quirk: he’s genuinely disoriented and confused about the world around him.
I’ll discuss spoilers further down, but before I do, I’ll just say that I recommend reading this book. Something strange is going with this family, and the mystery box opens gradually and has a fun solution. It also gives the characters a satisfying emotional arc. Once you find out what happens, you can’t blame them for their earlier flaws.
Spoilers below… it’s too interesting for me not to write down.
It turns out that the two main characters are being transported through the multiverse. When we see them as a family with kids, they had just come from another world where they didn’t even know each other. After another jump, they end up as strangers again, but they find each other, and bond over the fact that they seem to be the only ones who remember the change. Even though they struggled through their life together, they come to miss the kids that they had, and to appreciate each other as partners. It’s a poignant reflection on the power of family, even one which you never planned to have.
