The Waiting Place

Sean Kelley McKeever/Slave Labor Graphics

     THE WAITING PLACE  is one of the finest independent comicbooks being published today.  In the vein of the late and very lamented television classic FREAKS AND GEEKS, THE WAITING PLACE offers a thoroughly realistic representation of American high school life.  McKeever refuses to pander to conventional stereotypes in his work.  Truly, he remembers all too well the pain, confusion, fear, and bad choices that dog us during the teenage years, and the consequences they bring for years to come. 

     Nevertheless, this book isn’t one big, melodramatic sob story a’la the confessional tone of THE BREAKFAST CLUB (an 80s classic nonetheless; who can forget Anthony Michael Hall’s thespian turn as a young genius emotionally shattered because his wood shop elephant light wouldn’t engage?).  High school is often a world of vicious Darwinism, with so many developing personalities struggling to define themselves, often at the expense of others.  Most teenagers are too guarded and insecure to run down the halls screaming their pain to the universe, let alone take a stand for convictions they struggle with or have yet to define.  McKeever skillfully develops his ensemble cast as complicated teenagers, rather than as the easily accessible archetypes of popular culture.  There is no Dawson in THE WAITING PLACE (although any TV show featuring “15” year olds speaking as if they were 30 is worth viewing for the hoot factor alone).  Nor does McKeever neglect the fact that high school can be a silly circus, with great potential for humor. 

     This comic is the real deal, and a sterling example of how there’s far more to the medium than Marvel and DC.  

     Volumes 1 and 2 are both out in  tradepaperbacks now from Slave Labor Graphics.

For more on McKeever and 'The Waiting Place' check out:

www.seanmckeever.com/thewaitingplace