Goux’s pages are constantly structured to exploit those unique properties of the form to further narrative themes and to immerse the readership in the characters’ experiences. This is very much a book that fits into that favourite category of comics for us here at Broken Frontier – comics that tell their story in ways that only comics can. One of the storytelling devices he uses to avoid undue exposition and to give us a more rounded impression of the characters is using multiple captions around them (above left) filling us in on their personal traits and also adding seemingly throwaway trivia that nevertheless fleshes them out as individuals. Baker captures the bantering speech patterns of those formative years with a naturalistic ear for authentic dialogue that never feels contrived or awkward. Through over 100 pages, split into three chapters, we watch the three as they cycle through familiar teenage rites of passage and share their moments of camaraderie, heartbreak and joy. There’s skater Vanessa “Jimmy” Trujillo, the most confident of the group, who is clandestinely seeing her ex-girlfriend Kate, her friend Megan Tran who has a doomed crush on her Teenage Switchblade bandmate Katie, and Clark Hobbs, the final part of the threesome who is currently conducting his latest relationship in a long-distance manner via Instagram with a girl he’s never met.
Originally published as a series of minicomics (there’s certainly an evolution in style apparent between chapters) F*ck Off Squad follows three central characters and their wider social scene. F*ck Off Squad is also a beautifully observed character piece that balances an appealingly in-yer-face attitude with genuine moments of true pathos. It’s described by publisher Silver Sprocket as “the greatest comic about Instagram, skating, and low-key trying to date someone while you’re still in a relationship ever made.” A catchy hook for the potential reader who’s up for coming-of-age dramas with a contemporary vibe, perhaps, but if you’re already thinking this sounds like just another angsty teen soap then please reconsider. Nicole Goux and Dave Baker’s F*ck Off Squad (or more accurately Fuck Off Squad as it’s referred to everywhere else outside the cover) follows the lives of three teenaged friends growing up in Los Angeles.
0 kommentar(er)
