It’s the early ‘90s and Noah Van Sciver is a kid living in New Jersey with his Mormon family. The kids in the town he lives in are all obsessed with superhero comics, including Noah and his siblings, and this is the time of the great comics boom when everyone thought comics were great investments and creators like Todd McFarlane were becoming millionaires. Spawn #5 is the hot new comic - it’s sold out everywhere but luckily Noah’s brother Ethan has a copy. But oh no - in his perpetual nervousness, Noah’s accidentally torn and ruined it! How will he replace it without getting caught?!
Maple Terrace is a fun short memoir about a time that seems incongruous now - comics as cultural hotrods - but I also felt that the story was a bit thin and would’ve liked some more substance.
The book is essentially about Noah being bullied - either by siblings, bad kids at school, or even his dad - but it never feels sad or self-pitying. The comic is a romp, with Noah comedically pinballing around town trying to find the right comics to make good, but you sense the sadness around the edges - not just the overt violent threats, but the grinding poverty and the social stigma that follows this.
It’s part-origin story too as we see Noah fail other subjects at school except art where he excels. That and his obsession with comics shows you how he came to be such a great cartoonist as an adult (his older brother Ethan is also a successful artist at DC).
Maple Terrace is a fine comic - it’s just too short and the narrative wasn’t enough to sustain an entire book. Still enjoyable, Maple Terrace is a good addition to Noah’s other childhood memoir, One Dirty Tree, and fans of this creator will definitely get something out of this one.
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