Escape from “Special”

    (Fantagraphics, 2006)
™ and © 2006 Miss Lasko-Gross

From the Publisher:
Miss Lasko-Gross’ debut graphic novel is the semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story of Melissa, who, by turns willful, funny, and perceptive, unsentimentally questions adolescent ritual and the arbitrary imposition of adult edicts. Subjected to the whims of her bemused parents and, as the years pass, rejected by her peers, the opionated Melissa copes by watching horror movies, psychosomatically vomiting to get out of temple, and making comics.

Escape from “Special” unfolds in a series of brief annecdotes, impressionistically dredged as if from memory, without the self-righteous revisionism or nostalgic haze that characterizes so many artists’ depictions of childhood and adolescence. Drawn in a muted full-color palette, Lasko-Gross’ art, with its detailed backrounds and expressive, clean-line character drawing, exquisitely conveys the volatile mix of confusion, uncertainty, and defiance that define the interior life of a young girl, growing up absured.
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December, 2006
Cover Price: $16.95
1 copy available for $13.50 		Miss Lasko-GrossMiss Lasko-Gross