Midville High: Comic Caper Collection

Matt Blair has been producing Midville High mini-comics since the late 1990s and collects eleven of them here. It has all the energy and enthusiasm you'd expect from a passion project but also many of the shortcomings of an amateurish work: spelling errors (see "Contents" listing below), production mistakes (a couple of pages are printed twice), simplistic art, and corny jokes.

The stories aspire to Archie-level high school humor with a cast of anthropomorphic students and teachers. Unfortunately, without an Archie comics editor to catch him up, Blair slips in a couple of homophobic jokes that rely on a variant of the F-slur, so this isn't something I'd recommend for an audience of children.

The more recently produced stories did show show more some improvement, or at least they were focused on things I'm more interested in, with tributes to Star Trek, William Shatner's Twilight Zone episode about gremlins ("Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"), and Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns.

Alan Moore allegedly contributes an introduction, but a couple of pages before, there is also a notice that this book is a "Winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature," so I'm not sure if Moore's participation isn't just another joke/prank. It's certainly oddly written.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the author through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.

FOR REFERENCE:

Contains material originally published in single magazine form as Midville High #3-7, 9-14.

Contents: Introduction / Alan Moore -- Foreward [sic] -- Guidance Counseller [sic, Issue #3] -- Band Debautchery [sic, Issue #4] -- Poe Money, Poe Problems [Issue #5] -- The Breakfast Bunch [Issue #6] -- Bunyan Onion [Issue #7] -- Historical Hysteria [Issue #9] -- Detention Dilemma [Issue #10] -- Canned Imposter [Issue #11] -- Tangible Manifestation [Issue #12] -- Hairy Situation [Issue #13] -- Snow Day Release [Issue #14] -- Puzzles & Games show less

Apparently Mr Blair started making these comics about high school when he was in high school and continues to make them now as a teacher himself. (The characters stay in the 1990s.)

This near-300pp collection has plenty of hijinks with bits of satire and parody. He's publishing them himself so some things like line-darkness aren't what you'd expect if, say, Fantagraphics had done the release, but the reading is fun and what more do you want? At times, it's excellent. There are moments where I was surprised he didn't get picked up by a syndicate or something. And he has the skill to produce a more high-schooly version of, like, Big Nate or something. I imagine he prefers control and is satisfied with the indie life but he has the chops to show more go big were that the goal.

But I don't know that a contract with Random House or something would be an improvement. Sure, the blacks would be blacker and a good editor could push him to higher states of excellence but there's a lot of pleasure in this handmade labor of love, and the purity might be lost in a shinier version. show less

Comics | Humor | School Life

Thank you to Matt Blair for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Midville High: Comic Caper Collection presents a series of stories told in a style that feels similar to watching an animated cartoon, only experienced through newspaper-style comic strips. Rather than following a single continuous narrative, the collection emphasizes episodic moments and character-driven humor.

The artwork is primarily black-and-white line art. For the most part, the comics are readable, though there are moments where the text and visuals can be challenging to follow. The pages appear to be scanned from marker drawings on paper, which gives the collection a handmade, old-school feel, but occasionally impacts clarity.

One show more story that stood out to me most features a bird character discussing Edgar Allan Poe. The student is supposed to write a paper about Poe, though he clearly has little interest in doing so. Earlier, the bird recommends focusing on Poe’s poetry as a way to approach the assignment rather than strictly researching the author himself.

Later, the bird becomes more critical, belittling the student and claiming he isn’t “cut out” to write about Poe. What made this moment memorable was the underlying message, that you don’t necessarily need to fully understand an author’s life to connect with or interpret their work. The interaction blends humor with an unexpectedly thoughtful perspective on literature and interpretation. I also enjoyed the segment with the butterfly and the characters thoughts on chaos theory.

Overall, Midville High: Comic Caper Collection offers a quirky, reading experience that will appeal to readers who enjoy newspaper-style comics and school-themed humor. While some sections may be difficult to read visually, the creative ideas and standout moments make the collection unique. show less

Midville High: Comic Caper Collection is exactly what it sounds like -- a collection of comic capers! It focuses on three teens - June, Barry, and Kyle - and their adventures in school. I loved the humor, the sidebar jokes, the school antics, and the library love! I also really like that the book has plenty of story, character, and humor, but doesn't resort to gross-out jokes or sexual humor. Just good, clean fun that had me giggling all the way through.

* This book doesn't feel ready for mass publication yet. There were a few duplicate pages, typos, and the illustrations ranged from detailed to almost draft.

I loved this collection. The author and illustrator, Matt Blair, wrote in his biography that he is actually a school teacher during the day, which inspired him to create these comics. I work with kids myself, and I really loved reading his comics and being able to feel how much he loves and appreciates his career. I also got a sense of nostalgia while looking at the illustrations. Though the comics are much different than Big Nate, I realized I had the same sense of joy I would have while reading the Big Nate series when I was in grade school. There is just always something comforting about reading about other school settings, and realizing you are not always alone in niche situations.

Very witty and clever book of primitive looking comics about a group of high school friends (portrayed as dogs). While the artists renderings are a bit difficult to get used to, due to somewhat amateurish appearance, after a bit they appear rather amusing in spots. Witty dialogue between teens and adults, some typical teenage content, some a bit offbeat. I originally got this for a 10 year old nephew, but I think it's better suited older pre-teens and above. Funny and original!

I absolutely loved this comic collection, and I look forward to sharing it with the teens at the public library where I work. The only negative was that my package arrived in the rain, and my book was water damaged. Other than that, it was a wonderful comic collection that took me back to my childhood with the many references to the 1990s and early 2000s.