Review: Middlewest Book One

Quick Summary

Pros: The main storyline details an exciting journey filled with magic and wonder. The main storyline also has a deep personal element to it that explores some meaningful themes. The book has a few intriguing mysteries that leave the reader wanting more. The artwork looks great and is a wonderful complement to the story.

Cons: Some of the book’s action feels out of place. The writing has a few contradictions within it.

Overall: This is an incredible book packed with entertainment and meaning. It whisks readers away on a journey through a world that looks gorgeous and constantly feels alive with magic and adventure. This physical journey also coincides with a mental journey, one that digs into how trauma can have a deep and lasting impact on a child’s life. The end result is something wonderful that nearly anyone can enjoy.

Story

Middlewest Book One, by Skottie Young, is the first volume in a series that combines fun childhood adventurism with heartfelt and deeply personal allegory. In this way, the comic is able to appeal to readers on multiple levels. In some places, readers experience a sprawling adventure through a world filled with magic and ripe with potential. In other places, readers witness one child’s emotional quest to address the trauma and abuse that have plagued his childhood. In both places, this volume is highly successful and rarely makes significant storytelling mistakes. This helps create an opening volume that is great on its own and helps instill potential in the series as a whole.

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On the surface, Middlewest Book One is a comic about a boy forced to run away from home after a demon-like creature infects his father with magically-destructive levels of rage and then goes on to infect him as well. This surface level story has a satisfying combination of fun and carefree moments and tense and exciting moments. It combines adventurous elements from stories like Adventures of Huckleberry Finn with a magical twist that injects additional drama into the entire affair. Though some of the conflict in this adventure feels a bit random and out of place, like the confrontation with the troll, most of it works out well. The entire trip also has a ton of charm to it, as Able and Fox’s journey feels like an endearing hike across the American heartland.

Beneath the surface, Middlewest Book One is a metaphorical journey about a boy running away from his abusive father and slowly coming to terms with the reality of his broken home life. The demon-like entity infecting Able’s father is a metaphorical representation for the destructive power present in his father’s abuse. It frightens Able and, as his father’s son, makes him believe that this same potential for abuse is present within himself. The narrative sees Able struggle with the trauma derived from his childhood and start to realize that his parent’s deep-seated issues are not his fault. The venture bounces between extreme tragedy and emotional redemption in a way that makes the entire reading experience better.

Both levels of interpretation behind this book work well and end up leaving the reader wanting more. The narrative here does not explain the origin behind Able and his father’s magical affliction. In fact, it only barely digs into the past surrounding Able’s parents, leaving the questions surrounding his father’s abuse and his mother’s disappearance unanswered. The existence of these mysteries positions the series for some exciting reveals and gives readers even more reasons to return to this comic.

Though the writing here is mostly positive, there are a few contradictions that exist between chapters. Able sneaks away from Jeb after finding a clue about the circus, yet, later on, makes statements indicating that Jeb instructed him to go there. In addition, one chapter has Fox struggling to convince Able to steal just enough food to eat, yet, later on, both characters are perfectly fine with stealing money in order to eat dessert. These contradictions don’t have a huge impact on the quality of this book but are a bit annoying to see pop up.

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Art

The artwork in Middlewest Book One is great and has a beautiful style to it. Jorge Corona’s work throughout this book is distinct and feels different from many other comic books out there. It also looks sharp and allows characters and backgrounds to stand out well on nearly every page. All of this is then enhanced by colors from Jean-Francois Beaulieu, which help develop the mood in each panel.

The artwork here is also highly creative in a way that suits the narrative well. Jorge Corona’s depiction of Middlewest immediately invokes a sense of nostalgia and wonder. All of the locations shown here resemble something vaguely familiar; the towns feel like places you’ve passed by on long road trips and the wilderness looks like it came right out of a guide to state parks. However, everything also has a twist to it that allows the book to define itself as something unfamiliar; buildings have a sense of chaos to them that would not be practical in the real world and strange tanks of purple liquid can be seen everywhere, alluding to a strange power source fueling Middlewest. In a comic book centered around archetypical boyhood adventures mixed with mysterious magic, this blend of visual styles is downright perfect.

Continuity

Middlewest Book One is the first volume in a brand new comic series and has no connections to previously existing comics.

The story here will continue in Middlewest Book Two.