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A comiXologist Recommends:
Harris Smith recommends Expecting To Fly

On of the greatest things about comiXology Submit, aside from seeing work by artists I already know and admire like Chuck Forsman (snakeoily) and Nick Drnaso (nickdrnaso) get wider attention outside of the mini-comics realm, is discovering comics by creators I’d never heard of before.  One of those creators is John Allison (scarygoround) , who previously impressed me with the book Giant Days, a lighthearted yet emotionally honest story about college life.  Allison’s latest is Expecting to Fly, which takes a step back from college to high school and depicts similarly relatable characters in believable situations. 

Set in small-town England in 1996, Expecting to Fly tells the story of the friendship between Ryan and Becky.  Ryan is a shaggy-haired slacker whose drunken dad only shows up to drag him along to the pub.  Becky is a good student but has become withdrawn since a traumatic family event, revealed late in the issue, which she is grappling to find an explanation for.  The two bond over cigarettes and shared musical tastes, as teenagers do, but soon find a deeper sense of connection in their struggles to make sense of a world that is often tragically nonsensical.  Unlike many similar stories, Expecting to Fly focuses primarily on the two characters’ friendship, and not a budding romance.  Though it wouldn’t be surprising, or unwelcome, to see Ryan and Becky hook up in the next issue, I appreciated the story’s exploration of a different kind of connection than the most obvious one between its male and female protagonists.

Though the story his own, the feelings Allison evokes are universal.  Particularly, Expecting to Fly captures the sense of not knowing that permeates adolescence, the continual mystery provided by the opposite sex, the adult world and, ultimately, the changes going on within oneself, not just the urges of puberty, but the gradual understanding of ones role in the larger world, and the impact one has on others, that comes with emotional maturation.  This creates a bit of a wistful vibe, but even with this heavy backdrop,  Expecting to Fly is hardly a downer.  It’s bright and often funny, and the characters are not just sympathetic but likeable.  This is a great example of the kind of rich, rewarding material you can find when you veer just a bit off-center of comics’ mainstream.

[Read Expecting To Fly on comiXology]

Harris Smith is a Brooklyn-based comics and media professional. In addition to his role as a Senior Production Coordinator at comiXology, he edits several comics anthologies, including Jeans and Felony Comics, under the banner of Negative Pleasure Publications. He’s also the host of the weekly radio show Negative Pleasure on Newtown Radio.

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