Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
‘What’s Up Beanie?’ by Alina Tysoe is a collection of cartoons which comes with the bold tagline – acutely relatable comics. It starts off with 27-year-old Beanie, the protagonist, heading to her kitchen in the middle of the night for some tea, when suddenly her younger self appears in front of her (we’re made to understand she is a time-traveler) and the two start discussing their lives. It’s a fun idea, which isn’t explored further, instead there’s a string of cartoons featuring Beanie in different stages of her life. Yes, no more further conversations between the two versions of Beanie, not until the end, where it feels like a forced after-thought.
This book would probably be best enjoyed by those who are already fans of Alina Tysoe’s artwork. I happened to get it because it was free to download on my Kindle Unlimited library subscription. And obviously this is not going to be ‘acutely relatable’ for many readers, but the artwork is really cute and some panels are adorably funny.
But quite a few of the cartoons are also repetitive. A lot of panels are just about the creator getting super-excited when she spots a dog. Although, honestly, as a dog fan, I am not complaining. Those bits are definitely going to be very relatable for anybody whose social media feed is filled with cute dog/pet videos. In-fact, one of the most hilarious scenes in the book is when little Beanie expresses disappointment with her adult self for still not getting a dog herself.
The second half of the book collect’s a sweet ‘meet cute’ between Beanie in college and her future boyfriend. They start out as strangers who become friends after working on a project together and then love blossoms between the two. In bonus content, creator Alina also squeezes in some endearing wedding memories, which could’ve used more pages.
Overall, the book tends to be generic, but is quite enjoyable. If you like simple, cutesy doodle style artwork (like Catana Chetwynd’s ‘Snug’ & ‘Love & Pajamas’), then add this to your comic-book collection.
Rating: 3 stars on 5.
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