Al Davison The Minotaurs Tale

I liked Al Davisons first book, The Spiral Cage, very very much. I'm just not as sure about this one. Whereas the former was based on his own life overcoming disability and prejudice, this is a fictional novella concerning a deformed man, known as Banshee, who is saved from the misery of sleeping rough by kindly people who have suffered their own fair share of hardship. A black lesbian couple, Etty and Jenny, take him in and, ultimately, he goes on to find love and happiness with a doctor who is stigmatised by a large port wine birthmark that covers half her body. The story is shot through with incidents of cruelty and violence towards the "ugly" and the unfortunate. The main narrative is counterpointed with an alternative account of the life and death of the Minotaur, written as an art project at school by Etty when younger. Unfortunately the narratve has, for me, a slightly forced feel to it and doesnt ring quite true. I loved the artwork in The Spiral Cage - all shaddowy monochrome, The Minotaurs Tale, however is rendered in overdetailed coloured pencil. The style changes frequently, but for no apparent reason and it doesnt seem to aid the narrative. "500 Essential Graphic Novels" raves about the artwork, however, and puts the book in its top 10 "non fiction" (?), above Spiral Cage, so I guess its all down to personal taste.

The work certainly raises important issues in our visually obsessed culture. Questions of how deformity and disabilities are viewed, especially with regards to love and sex, but to my slightly jaded eyes it just seems a bit too preachy and uh..."PC" (ouch!). I wish i liked it more, but for me, this was a slightly disappointing follow up. I Might be wrong. what do you think?