A young boy all-grown-up, implied to be an Author Avatar for Neil Gaiman, recounts the weeks he spent with his grandparents while his parents were having a baby. He was contagious with chickenpox, so he could not be near the infant. During this time, he spent his days at the carnival his grandfather managed, viewing the mermaid and eyeing the various Mr. Punch shows on the beach.
Neil hasn't confirmed which parts of the story are true, only that it confused people that did know the real story of his grandparents. Compare with the poem "Queen of Knives" where he writes about his grandmother disappearing, not his grandfather
Tropes for this comic book include:
- An Aesop: It's better to remember the past than to hide it when telling children stories. When those stories get lost, the people die with them as well.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Mr. Punch always emerges victorious from his various misdeeds. No matter the puppet show, he gets away with all his crimes. That is what makes Mr. Punch effectively immortal.
- Deceased Parents Are the Best: Subverted. When the narrator recounts his grandfather, he says the man was obviously flawed given the whole "Committed for attacking his wife". Uncle Morton is a pretty decent guy but he is Shrouded in Myth owing to the fact that none of the narrator's relatives would answer his questions about Uncle Morton as a kid.
- Everyone Has Standards: When the mermaid goes to talk with the grandfather about him impregnating her, Uncle Morton goes with her to argue on her behalf. When the grandfather tries beating her up, Uncle Morton pulled him off and gave the grandfather a What the Hell, Hero?.
- Evil Cripple: Subverted; Uncle Morton is actually one of the most morally upstanding adults in the story, hunchback and all. When another relative describes him as bitter, the narrator is surprised because he remembers Uncle Morton as a Friend to All Children who wouldn't lie to spare your feelings.
- Karma Houdini: The narrator says that Mr. Punch is fascinating to kids because he never pays for his crimes. He tosses his baby out a window, murders his wife and the policeman that comes to investigate, and executes the hangman. Some versions of the puppet show have him kill the Devil and dance over his corpse gleefully. Kids obviously love this, and some of the Mr. Punch "professors" discuss how Mr. Punch is fascinating. The narrator conflates his grandfather with Mr. Punch.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: The Mr. Punch puppets; the bottlers and "professors" which handle him treat Mr. Punch with care, because of what he represents. After being told that becoming Mr. Punch will bring him to life if you put him on your hand, the narrator is scared of testing that theory.
- Multiple-Choice Past: No one in the narrator's family knows exactly how Uncle Morton got a crooked back. The grandfather says that it was polio, while another relative says that he was tossed out the window as a baby and his parents didn't get him to the hospital in time.
- Really Gets Around: It's revealed that the grandfather has a reputation for this and it has gotten him into trouble before. The narrator notes that his grandmother seems unaware of it.
- The Reveal: It's not exactly said, but the grandfather seduces the mermaid actress and impregnates her. He has apparently done this many times before with different women, according to Uncle Morton. When she and Uncle Morton went to confront the grandfather about it, he responded by trying to beat her up. The boy thinks that he may have seen her swim all the way past the pier but he's not sure.
- Thematic Series:
Word of God says it's the middle part of a trilogy with the first part being Gaiman's graphic novel, Violent Cases and the third being The Ocean at the End of the Lane. - Unreliable Expositor: The grandfather, you can't trust anything he says. Even one of his sons, the narrator's uncle, recounts that the grandfather was a "romancer" and a Consummate Liar.
- Unreliable Narrator: The narrator is frustrated that he doesn't know the exact truth because as a child he was ordered to not ask questions, and as an adult most relatives that could clarify are dead.
