Elliot Eisner quotes “Art is literacy of the heart.” The same can be said for graphic art as well, or in this case, the graphic novel The P.L.A.I.N. Janes. Written and drawn by Cecil Castelluci (Boy Proof, The Queen of Cool, and Beige) and Jim Rugg (Street Angel), this YA from DC COMIC’s Minx (Young Adult, irritating and correct, no matter what way you say it) is a touching Bildungsroman that puts the art in heart, corny I know, but true. The story follows Jane Doe, a teen survivor from an urban bombing whose parents move halfway across the country to what she fears is a hellish suburbia called Kent Waters. Yet, Jane discovers an unexpected camaraderie of other young women liker herself, strange, independent thinking outcasts called the Janes: Jayne (Brain Jane), Jane (Theater Jane), and Polly Jane (Sports Jane). Discovering her “tribe”, Jane forms a suburban art gang with her follow Janes, called P.L.A.I.N. (People Loving Art in Neighborhoods)
I personally found myself falling in love with strong Jane, as she strikingly conceives ways to make the world beautiful again after a 9/11 reminiscent attack, and become the female epitome of Rebel With A Cause.
Winner of the Joe Shuster Award in the category of "Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Writer, Castelluci creates a piece of art that challenges the notion that graphic novels are not real novels, with realistically touching characters who challenge your conventional definition of art and beauty, and a plot about a girl who finds her tribe and herself. “The main thing is to be moved, to love, to hope, to tremble, to live.” ~Auguste Rodin” Be happy you are PLAIN.