Anfield Road Review

 

Writer, Artist, Colorist, Letterer & Cover Artist: Chris Shepherd

Editor: Calum Collins

Designer: Donna Askem

Publisher: Titan Comics

Hardcover Price: $24.99

Release Date: October 30, 2024

 

Conor Sterling carries a sketchbook wherever he goes. His art teacher loves his drawings. He adores a fellow student. But what kind of future can Conor look forward to? Will he end up stuck in a dead-end job in Liverpool? Or will Conor get a chance to pursue his dreams? Let's grab our drawing pads, leap into Anfield Road, and see!

 

Story

Conor lives with his grandmother next to Liverpool FC. Most people in town would relish living next to the premier football club. But Conor dislikes the footie. So, he sits by his gran’s screwed-down windows and sketches the Ian Rush wannabees as they shout, drink, and hurl their empty bottles into the trash-ridden streets. Aside from watching football, there’s nowhere to go except nearby pubs (and Colin’s underage). So, his grandmother takes him on field trips. They visit his grandfather's grave and the Indian restaurant where his mother ran off with a waiter.

 

Mary raised him after his mother abandoned him and his father went to prison. While she loves him, his grandmother also curtails his activities. Mary distrusts others and claims Conor ruined her life. But they belong to each other, even if she dominates his existence on Anfield Road. Conor’s art teacher gives him a reason to hope for a better life. She is sending a letter of recommendation to the London College of Painting. The fact that she is also recommending Maureen gives Conor a chance to bond with her. When Maureen learns he also likes a local music group, that’s another point in Conor’s favor.

 

But fate throws an obstacle in Conor’s path when Mary grows ill. A doctor at the hospital delivers a dire diagnosis. His grandmother may be controlling and abusive, but she loves him. Conor wants to repay her devotion by caring for her during this crisis. Besides, there is no one else. Mary has pushed everyone else away. Mary may claim Conor ruined her life, but she built her world around him. A man of Indian heritage took her daughter away, so Mary distrusts anyone who isn't English and white. Conor loves Maureen too much to curtail her future or make her put up with his grandma’s ranting. So, staying in Liverpool means giving up Maureen, a promising career, and any chance at happiness.

 

Art

Chris Shepherd composes each page as if it belongs in Conor's sketchbook. Conor embellishes people with quirks while rendering highly detailed street scenes on Anfield Road. He compares the football fans to Magnum PI clones (lacking Thomas Magnum’s sex appeal and boyish charm), while he draws a realistic portrait of Mary for his art class. But when depression strikes, images of Mary reaching for the bottle of Port in the kitchen collide with Captain Kirk demanding Saurian Brandy from Doctor McCoy. After his grandmother pursues him up the stairs, hurling abuse as Conor enters his tiny bedroom cluttered with cardboard boxes, Mary towers above the rowhouses lining the street like an Attack Of The 50 Ft Ogre, wielding a battle axe and clad in scraps of cloth. The BFG she is not.

 

Chris Shepherd lavishes one or two colors on his art. Then, like a football scally with an empty bottle, Shepherd hurls an accent color onto the page to highlight an important feature. Evenings and home interiors get brown. Purple shines upon his art class, while green casts a pall over hospital scenes. But blue is usually the color of daylight, making it more poignant when a fellow student disparagingly dubs him Picasso in Anfield Road.

 

Chris Shepherd fills dialogue balloons and narrative boxes with generously sized uppercase letters. Thoughts appear in cloudy balloons. Words embolden for inflection and enlarge for raised voices or Mary's operatic singing. Amid the rare sound effects and the giant block print denoting time and place, a handwritten letter gives Conor a reason to hope and fear the changes destined to rock his world. Thanks to Titan Comics for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

Abandoned by dysfunctional parents and smothered by his grandmother’s love, Conor’s sole escape is a school that resembles a prison and his burgeoning relationship with a fellow art student. But when calamity strikes on Anfield Road, Conor's dreams of a better life could get lost amid a landscape of tragedy as Liverpool FC relentlessly marches toward Sheffield’s Hillsborough stadium.

 

Rating 9.6/10

 

To preview interior art see my preview at The Dragon's Cache.

 

Congratulations to Chris Shepherd and Titan Comics on receiving the Graphic Novel Of The Month recommendation by the United Kingdom's national newspaper The Observer!

For another reader's perspective, check out the Guardian's review of Anfield Road.