Stuck in the Middle: Seventeen Comics from an Unpleasant Age (review)

Sixteen comic artists offer glimpses into the almost universally awkward junior-high experience in this perceptive and frank anthology. The agonies depicted cover the merely embarrassing, such as Jim Hoover's "A Relationship in Eight Pages," which highlights the fickle nature of preteen love, to the truly scarring, as with Gabrielle Bell's haunting "Hit Me," an exploration of the seeming ease with which students torment and bully one another. Although a few of the stories have an adult sensibility or nostalgic tone (Bordeaux's entry even has an aging narrator depicted, chiming in opinions about her teenaged self), most carry an immediacy, timelessness, and rawness that make them highly accessible to current teens. The clear intention of the collection is to reinforce the truth that these anxiety-laden years are finite, and that the authors (most of the stories are either directly or implicitly autobiographical) lived through them as well; those lucky few readers who currently love or once adored their junior-high years may only see themselves reflected in the backgrounds. Even within the black-and-white illustrations, there is an impressive range of styles from Schrag's own text-heavy, crisply drawn entry to Enright's minimalist contribution featuring a protagonist that remarkably resembles a Weeble. In a brilliant nod to the vulnerability of this age, almost all of the brief contributor profiles are accompanied by mostly inelegant middle-school photos of the authors. Although this collection may not have the power to change or prevent bullying, ostracism, and the small and significant humiliations of these years, it at least offers flawless dark humor, snarky observations, and even the occasional success as compensation.