Review: "Escape from Special" by Miss Lasko-Gross

Ever since the public library started a comics and graphic novel collection I've been discovering all kinds of wonderful new things. The best part about it is they're FREE, so it's like a no obligation test drive where you can find out whether or not you're going to enjoy a series without committing $20 to buy it! (Perfect for an unabashed cheapskate like myself!) On more than one occasion now I've hit upon something really wonderful there-- the type of book that just strikes a chord with you.

Last Friday I made one of those discoveries: "Escape from Special" by Miss Lasko-Gross.

"Escape from Special" is the first book in a trilogy of autobiographical coming-of-age comics. The format is short anecdotes, usually laugh out loud funny ones. In this first installment we meet Melissa Gross: a headstrong, curious and neurotic little girl whose strong personality often puts her at odds with those around her. This first book covers Melissa's life from her first memory as a toddler up until the end of middle school. Everywhere she goes Melissa is alienated... and that makes her "special": whether she's the lone atheist at temple, the independent thinker at school, or the outcast on the playground. Through random anecdotes we see how in pretty much every situation Melissa manages to sabotage her own attempts to "fit in".

To me, this is very reminiscent of Jeffrey Brown's comics, only from a female point of view. To find a female coming-of-age book like this is very refreshing for me; I can think of similar experiences from my own childhood.

Maybe we aren't so "special" after all.

Rendered in muted black & white with a tight, almost childlike drawing style the book perfectly captures the awkwardness of childhood and adolescence. The style lends it a freshness & sense of immediacy but at the same time we know we're looking back on those moments with adult eyes. You feel that sense of urgency that kids have -- that everything that's happening is the end of the world -- while at the same time acknowledging the ludicrousness of it all.

I read "Escape from Special" on Friday; on Saturday I bought the sequel, "A Mess of Everything". I haven't had a chance to read it yet but based on the first book my expectations are high.