51 pages • 1 hour read
And Then, Boom!
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Pages 1-65Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: Both the source material and this guide feature depictions of child abuse and abandonment, emotional abuse, and trauma due to extreme poverty.
Note: These pages contain the poems “Just Like Superman,” “Origin Story,” “Why the World Needs Comic Books,” “And-Thens And Booms!,” “Scratching an Itch,” “Prepare for Takeoff,” “Mom’s First Takeoff,” “Make Me Choose,” “Pop!,” “Onomatopoeia,” “Oodles of Doodles,” “Power of a Word,” “From Poor to Poorer,” “The Mess with Mom,” “Wish I Didn’t Have to Know,” “What I Know About My Dad,” “Two Halves ≠ Whole,” “Unhoused,” “The Fishbowl,” “Eating Crumbs,” “Out of Our Reach,” “Dirty,” “Ant-Man,” “It’s Amazing,” “Life Preserver,” “The Overripe Banana,” “Nick,” “Three-Finger Rundown,” “Uncle Frankie,” “Frank-Mart,” “The Quilt,” “Grandmum’s Arms,” “Key,” “By the Front Door,” and “Safe Space.”
Pages 1-65 Summary
Joey introduces himself and talks about his grandmother’s fond habit of calling him “little nut.” He admits that his mother doesn’t say or do nice things, then reveals that he was recently on the news for “flying” like Superman. Joey emphasizes that although he is not a superhero, he does have an origin story. Joey meditates on the way that comic books give readers hope for a happy ending. He believes that stories are made of “and-thens” and “booms,” and he defines these phrases as the moments in a story when something changes dramatically.
Joey remembers a time when his face swelled up after he ran through poison ivy. The worst part was trying to live with the constant itch. Joey knows the signs that his mom has “the itch” to leave her family. She looks out the window, sighs loudly, and experiences mood swings. Then she disappears for weeks or months at a time. The first time Mom left was a summer day. Joey had tried to catch a butterfly, igniting Mom’s anger. She stormed off to the car and drove away. Mom wears a butterfly scarf and considers herself free like a butterfly, but
