This is a comic book created by collaboration of 54 artists/storytellers. Yet it is one story impacted by their own experiences and contributions. It works because later contributors add to the twists, events written by their predecessors.

So it is one story but drawn in different styles, colours and font - yet all bound by same story. Characters are built very well built - Nelson and Tabby, Jim and Rita, the school teacher, Leslie, Chris etc etc.

Looking across 54 different comic styles, I felt it is also possible to differentiate between male and female designers, based on the style and colours they choose. Tho themes also give away sometimes, but I believe that kind of is no longer gender-centric. But style still is.

There are some eminent contributors - there is Woodrow Phoenix of Rumble Strip fame and Simone Lia who wrote Fluffy. Usually such ideas (credited to Rob Wilsom and Woodrow Phoenix) turn out to be gimmicks, but this one works.
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First of all, this looks gorgeous. I have the special-order hardback edition; it's a handsome thick-but-not-overwhelming book, the title text and image standing out nicely. It feels substantial and keepable; and thankfully, first appearances are not deceiving.

This is a composite graphic novel written and drawn by 54 different creators in the same overall way an exquisite corpse storytelling game works, but with slightly tighter control by editors Davis and Phoenix. The result is a story that works on its own terms, while surprising and enchanting you to boot. It follows one main protagonist through her life from her birth in 1968 through to the present day; though as with most of us, she has people who are more or less constant in her life and who form a dramatis personae we come to know pretty well. Again as with most of us, her life has its ups and downs; I went to sleep last night having put down the book at the stage where she was in the doldrums of the late 90s/early 00s, in her arid 30s, everything looking pretty bleak. Nothing suspiciously contrived happened to get her out of those doldrums, but by the end of the book the outlook, her outlook, is much more settled, more cheerful, and dare I say it more mature.

The range of comics creators was always going to make this a success in one way or another - there are lots of contributors whose work I would buy an anthology for without further questions asked. Many of the great and the good of UK independent and alternative comics are included (I note also in passing that there is no worry about gender-parity in the contributors). The only person that I really missed from the line-up was Terry Wiley, who would have fitted in brilliantly (though perhaps I'm thinking that because his character Verity Fair is also an over-imaginative woman who at times has fucked up her life). A particular standout was Jamie Smart's spot-on very silly two pages with Nel as a 3 year old, but if I try to list any more creators I will go on far too long.

There are some difficulties that must intrinsically arise from the cat-herding nature of such a project. The clarity of the story-telling varies from segment to segment and sometimes I had to backtrack to figure out where or when something that was referred to had actually happened. Likewise because the visual depiction of the characters is not always totally consistent it can be a bit hard to decide what is actually happening - I particularly felt that in the John MacNaught 1993 section, beautiful though it was in itself. Other segments make it clear again, though, and overall this is not an issue once you have assimilated one or two such small hiccups. (Apart from Simone Lia's 1984 section with its teen pregnancy bombshell never referred to again - imaginative myth-making on the protagonist's part or a slip of the storytelling game because no-one wanted to pick up on that point?) Nevertheless, by the end of the book I felt like Nel was someone I knew, someone like me or my friends; someone real. ( )

Interesting collaborative work by 54 comic creators generating a graphic novel that tells the story of Nel. Each comic creator creates a day in her 54 years.

It makes for a very readable work, and gives us a window into the style of each artist as they provide an annual snapshot of Nel and the socio-political movements of the times she lived in, the music, the trends, and her relationship with her family and friends. ( )

An enticing premise: for every year, take 1 day in the life of an ordinary person and get a different comic artist and writer to create it. Starting in 1968 until the present day there is a breathtaking amount of work here and I just had to see how they did and I admit I was surprised (and hugely impressed) by how damn good this book actual is.

Davis and Woodrow (adding their own tales) have kept judicious, tight editorial control but still managed to let the story twist and grow in unforseen ways and end up with one of the most natural life stories I have seen. It never turn out likes you expect does it? The eras of the 70s/80s are brilliantly captured, the angst of youth, the fears of middle age are all there and it's fascinating and gripping and still coherant even though each soupcon of a tale only a few pages long. That's even before we get to the amazing showcase of British talent on display, I can only think of 1 dud tale. The artwork is varied, some of it's simply too beautiful, the writing is funny, sad but amazingly none of it out of character. Some artists of course stand out like Kate Brown tragically funny tale of drunken epiphany or Alice Duke's stunning, beuatiful and sharp take of one of lifes hard decisions.

I can't imagine this working well in any other medium yet I can't believe someone managed to pull this off. Highly recommend to everyone, even comic newbies. ( )