A dysfunctional family lives in the shadow of a world famous comic
strip and its tyrannical creator
Caleb is a middle-aged painter with a non-starter career. He also
happens to be the only child of one of the world's most famous
cartoonists, Jimmi Wyatt. Known for the internationally beloved father
and son comic Sonny Side Up, Jimmi made millions drawing saccharine
family stories while neglecting his own son.
Now sober, Caleb is haunted by his wasted past and struggling to take
responsibility for his present before it's too late. His always patient
boyfriend, James, is reaching the end of his rope. When Caleb gets the
chance to step out from his father's shadow and shape the most public
aspect of the family business, he makes every bad decision and watches
his life fall apart. Is it too late to repair the harm? Are we forever
doomed to make the same mistakes our parents did?
Joe Ollmann is a master at portraying inner torment. His characters
vacillate and sob and rage. His furrow-browed and deeply-lined
cartooning has never been more expressive than in Fictional Father.
Caleb storms around and slumps in equal measure as he tries to figure
out who he is beyond the neglected son of a famous man. In addition to
being a devastating portrait of the Wyatt family, Fictional Father is
a hilariously sardonic interrogation of art-making and cartooning in
particular.
