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April 28, 2005
Subway Reading: Centerfield
Centerfield - If you've ever played organized youth baseball and found yourself playing the dreaded "left out" position, cartoonist Nick Jeffrey's autobiographical account of his experience on the St. Helena Crusaders will strike a chord with you. His story cuts much deeper than the expected Bad News Bears-style jokes, however, as a family tragedy plays out alongside the Crusaders' trip to the regional championship game.
The world of autobiographical comics is littered with boring, myopic, insight-impaired efforts. Relating uncomfortable misfit childhoods is a well-traveled road, but Jeffrey avoids the usual pitfalls of the genre by virtue of his endearingly ugly art and a sense of restraint that allows him to imply his ideas rather than spoon-feed them to the reader. The contrast between Nick's father and the overbearing father of the team superstar, for example, makes the eventual tragedy that much more powerful. This contrast is further examined in the epilogue-ish glimpses of Nick and the aforementioned star player. That's a nice touch that adds a lot of dimension to the story and its themes.
Visually, the characters in this book are ghoulish and creepy; these are some of the ugliest children you'll ever see. Jeffrey certainly doesn't spare himself, either. Nick's weak chin, puffy lower lip, and awkward coordination go a long way in defining his character. There is a lack of consistently believable 3-D space and a need for more economy and variation in the inking, but this book was apparently created 6 years ago while the artist was still in school. It's entirely possible that he has improved in these areas. Actually, the knowledge that this was essentially student work makes it that much more impressive.
This book was published by Alternative Comics thanks to a grant from the Xeric Foundation. If you can track it down, I recommend picking it up. I suppose that if you're a crusty old cynic, you might roll their eyes at the mildly sentimental tone. But I thought Jeffrey combined the humorous and tragic elements of his story in an effective and moving way. I look forward to seeing more work by him in the future. 4 stars.
Posted by jdonelson_nyc at April 28, 2005 01:06 PM
Comments
J-
I picked this up as well at Midtown just because I too, was an awkward baseball player at the same age and yeah, it is a great read and would like to see more from him in the future.
Also, the 3 panels you picked to show were the most brutal in the book as far as reliving my childhood memories.
Gary
P.S. I usually sit within the last 3 cars of the F train on my way back to Bklyn. Hope to see you one day!
Posted by: Gary at April 28, 2005 03:07 PM