New Life by Xavier Betaucort and Yannick Marchat

Usually, creators of non-fiction works try to present themselves in the best light possible. None of us are saints, but, in our own heads, we're absolutely sure we're right, and what we did was the correct thing to do.

There are exceptions, of course - what we might call "poor-me" memoirs, for example, that are all about wallowing in the horrible things the creator did. Even there, it's firmly past-tense, with the focus firmly on "look how brave and honest I am to tell you the horrible things I did; I'm clearly a really good person now."

New Life doesn't venture that far, but writer and main character Xavier Betaucort is remarkably comfortable depicting himself as deeply self-centered and grumpy. (The art is by Yannick Marchat, who draws Betaucort subtly differently from other characters - he has a shock of white hair, which is thematically important, and Tintin-esque oval eyes, deep wells of light blue, unlike the more realistic eyes of other characters.)

It starts with a mid-life crisis. Betaucort isn't quite this blunt, but the version of him in the book is unhappy in his marriage and unhappy in his job. So he quits the job for the freelance life, and quits the marriage to start playing the field. The ex-wife gets barely any dialogue and no name, and the break-up, as presented, is all on his side - he's sick of it, he moves out, and it's done.

Soon afterward, forty-eight-year-old Betaucort - one major running thread throughout the book is his age; he has a brother who just died and he's feeling the "less life ahead than behind" so common in late middle age - meets Lea, and starts a new relationship. (She seems to be a fan; he meets her during a signing - this would be a potential red flag in a more serious, comprehensive book.)

Lea is slightly younger - just forty - and the two start building a life together, slightly hampered by the fact that Betaucort lives a couple of hours away from Lea, and apparently (being a freelancer now) can't just move to where she is. Lea has no children, and has been told by her gynecologist that she can't have children; she's accepting of that.

And Betaucort thinks of that part of his life as done, and is happy that way: he had one kid, the kid is now grown-up, mission accomplished.

But New Life is about an "oops." Lea does get pregnant, it is a healthy viable fetus, and this is the story of the nine months of turmoil and change, mostly about Betaucort acting out all of his mixed emotions until, finally, at the very end, the baby is born.

Again, Betaucort comes across as somewhat of a jerk. During the "late but not confirmed" early section, he muses how they've talked about children, but it's "a complicated issue, given my age."

Let me reiterate that Lea is forty. If anyone's age is an issue in a pregnancy, it would be hers. I can't tell if Betaucort never thought about that (or cared) in his actual life, or if he's presenting himself that way because the book is entirely about his ambivalence, but the character of Betaucort has some pretty major blinders on, and this is not the story of how he takes them off. Lea never pushes back much against Betaucort's neurotic worries and passive-aggressive attacks - she comes across as the perfect supportive spouse, magically fertile and endlessly patient while this guy figures out what he wants.

I did find this Betaucort to be a bit of a jerk, and I hope the real-world Betaucort actually loves his new girlfriend more than he shows his semi-fictional avatar to do. But it makes a better story this way, so whatever qualms I may have about him as a human being, he more than makes up for as a comics creator. Since I'm very unlikely to ever meet him in person, cynical and self-centered me is happy that he prioritizes the things that make his books better, and I entirely approve.