Although A Mess of Everything portrays Lasko-Gross's own trek through high school in the early 1990s—when kids still used pay phones to call their parents to say they'd be late coming home—teen readers will have no trouble relating to Miss's antagonistic feelings toward her parents and teachers, her incessant yet intelligent self-questioning, and her sense of being somehow markedly different from everyone else.
In some ways, Miss is different from her friends. She is quite independent, precociously politically aware, and remarkably in touch with who she is. Although she experiences a considerable amount of insecurity, she is generally honest with herself, and thus emerges from the wreckage of adolescence whole and persevering, making her an inspiring character for female teen readers.
One empowering example of Miss's independence is in the chapter entitled "Being Less Threatening." While on a date, Miss strategically exchanges her outspoken and autonomous persona with a more stereotypically feminine façade to see if the guy she's with makes a move on her. He does, but instead of taking advantage of the situation to get her hormonal needs met, Miss abandons her date and the situation. "He only likes the fake me," she realizes, and decides, "I shouldn't have to compromise my integrity."
The Benefits of Autobiographical Comics
In an interview with Daniel Robert Epstein for Newsarama, Lasko-Gross details her affinity for writing autobiographical material as opposed to fictional. She discusses the cleansing effect it has, allowing her to repossess the awkward and painful events of the past and then be able to let them go and "never have to feel bad about [them] again." By drawing such events, Lasko-Gross says, "I feel like I've taken control of [them]."
She also explains how writing autobiographical comics uniquely posits your audience so that "you get to show people how something happened entirely from your perspective." As a result, "they have no choice but to sympathize with you and to see things your way." The author says this has assisted her greatly with coming to terms with her own childhood.
Controversial Content?
In her interview with Newsarama, Lasko-Gross asserts her conviction that her work is teen friendly but mentions having come up against some resistance. In Escape from "Special," the author uses a few expletives and depicts some scenarios involving sexual content. Lasko-Gross says although such content apparently caused some fervor among "parents," "librarians," and "teachers," she feels the opposition is misplaced. "There is some nudity and certain language that people want to protect kids from even though that's really what's going on in [kids'] lives, whether they want to admit it or not," she says.
Artist Technique
In both the Newsarama interview and in another with her publisher Fantagraphics, Lasko-Gross talks about how much of her work is done 'on the fly' en route to her daily activities in Manhattan. Of her first book, she tells Newsarama, "I literally drew that book on subways . . . [and] outside in the park." As a result, she used only markers and pens but managed to give her drawings an intended watercolor look to them.
Because she works on her comics sporadically and in transit, they're actually drawn to scale as opposed to being drawn much larger and later reduced, a more common technique. Fantagraphics interviewer Valerie D'Orazio describes Lasko-Gross's originals as "delicate, meticulously drawn pieces that are slightly smaller than the 8 1/2" x 10" plastic sheets that protect them." She commends the artist on her technique, claiming it demonstrates her general "understanding" of the comics medium, since everything that is drawn is easily available to the reader, which is not always the case when an original panel is shrunk down.
A Mess of Everything (Fantagraphics, 2009), ISBN: 978-1-56097-956-2.
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