Review: Troop 142 by Mike Dawson

Troop 142 - Mike Dawson (w/a)
Secret Acres, $20, ISBN: 978-0979960994

There are two distinct voices at work in Troop 142 — Mike Dawson’s latest graphic novel about, of all things, a Boy Scout camp.  There is the authorial voice of Alan, father of two of the scouts, and awkward chaperone of the camp. For him, the experience is uncomfortable, seemingly casting him back to his own adolescence and much of his narration deals with his social insecurity.  His is a view of the Scouts through cynical, questioning eyes (even though his actual eyes are often  obscured, Sacco-like, by his glasses) and whether the positive experiences offered at the camp are worth the frequent moral lectures and religious bullying.

Then, of course, there are the boys themselves. Through Alan’s eyes, the boys are good-natured teens cast into the outdoors, but when the focus shifts to let us see the boys in their own world, away from adult eyes, a more multi-faceted and altogether less naïve picture of adolescence is revealed.  From experimenting with drugs, to dealing with their own insecurities and burgeoning sexuality, it’s a familiar milieu that we can all relate to.

In fact, the book often makes us wonder just how removed we actually are from adolescence.  There’s a very telling moment when one of the scouts’ tent is vandalized with the word “FAG” in giant letters.  Although the boys are quick to decide who it’s directed at — and take their frustrations out through scuffling and squabbling — Alan’s first thought is that it may be directed at him.  He feels all too distinctly the awkwardness of being at close quarters with a group of young boys, and how he’s viewed by them.

Sometimes, though, this uneasiness is translated into brilliant humour.  One such episode sees Alan using the very open latrine for the first time — finding time while the boys are out at activities to have a quiet dump by himself.  Of course, he’s joined at the next stall by the one scout left behind, and in one panel, Dawson manages to wrangle so much pathos and uncomfortable laughter that you can practically hear the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme playing in the background.

More than just being skilled with his writing, Dawson also has tremendous artistic chops to support it. Even though his characters’ faces are very simplistic — with sparingly used lines and mere dots for eyes — he manages to extract a wealth of nuanced emotions from them.  Moreover, though, is he a master of grey tone.  The whole book uses one shade of grey to offset the black and white, but it is used to spectacular effect.  The scenes around the campfire are particularly moody and bring real depth to the page in a way that’s elegant and unobtrusive.

Indeed, those qualities — elegant, unobtrusive — could be applied to Dawson’s work in general.  He’s never flashy or overly didactic with his purpose, but through fun and entertaining storylines, he lets us quietly reflect on some very big ideas.  Even if you were never a scout (or a boy) there’s still a lot to ponder in Troop 142.

-- Gavin Lees

Posted in: Gavin Lees,Review