We like comics. We like memoirs. We like comic memoirs. And we especially like comic memoirs told in comics. On Friday night, a variety of fine folks who share these enthusiasms packed Brooklyn’s Rocketship for booze, meat on sticks, and readings from Stuck in the Middle: 17 Comics from an Unpleasant Age. Is there any personal storytelling more visceral than honest dispatches from junior high? This charming anthology covers summer camp, first periods, boyfriend-stealing, name-calling, and Doogie Howser, MD.

Before the party, I had the good fortune to share fluorescent cocktails with cartoonists Vanessa Davis, Trevor Alixopulos, and Aaron Renier, PW “The Beat” Comics blogger Heidi MacDonald, Heeb Magazine publisher Josh Neuman, and comics proselytizer (and SMITH and Heeb comics editor) Jeff Newelt. It was an insanely smart and talented crowd, even if conversation veered towards 90210, braces, and Judy Blume novels. Turns out our eighth-grade traumas are pretty funny now, so don’t forget to tell your stories—or draw them.