Middlewest, Book Two

Author Skottie Young and Jorge Corona explore anger and chaos set within a complicated and beautiful fantasy world in the second volume of the Middlewest series. It is has everything a coming of age tale needs. It includes a young and confused protagonist escaping a dark past and a possibly darker future. A beautiful and sometimes dangerous landscape full of colorful characters and a talking and snarky fox that, that at times is the best character in the story.

Abel, the young protagonist of the story, has escaped his father in the first edition of Middlewest Vol. 1. His father often is fueled by a wave of anger so intense that he transforms into a monster comprised of swirling anger. Chaos and violence are powerful forces in the world. They swirl around us, flow through us, and occasionally someone can become so angry that they lose all ability to see past it. In Middlewest, this is both a statement of truth and an actual reality of Abel's father and as we come to find out - Abel himself.

Abel finds he is cursed with the same abilities as his father to disastrous results and finds himself on the road again amid a sea of wreckage with Fox, his faithful friend.

Young and Corona speak volumes on the dynamics of father-son relationships, the nature of family, and on the painful journey of discovery that sometimes people need to undertake to find themselves. The worldbuilding is more intense, the dialog is stronger, and Abel's needs that can drive a young character like him towards the truth or tear himself apart, looking for answers is more substantial. It is heartbreaking at points and immensely poignant at others. Childhood can be rough, and sometimes one must walk through proverbial fire to find answers, and we are learning that Abel might have to do just that to find the peace he needs and quiet his inner storm.

I continue to have very mixed feelings about this series. The art has really grown on me - especially the emotive qualities that the small facial gestures of the fox are able to express - and it is very evocative of a future rural fantasyscape that's directly based in our current reality. The story is interesting; the framing of trauma and violence as an illness and abuse as all-consuming of not just the abuser and their victim(s) but also the community is a very interesting and real, valid posit. I'm waiting for Book 3 to reassess on the whole from issue 1.