Absolutely Everything Explores the Perils of Middle School and ADHD

Life is hard enough for preteen girls without adding an ADHD diagnosis into the mix. That’s the struggle at the heart of Absolutely Everything, a heartfelt new graphic novel from writer/artist Damian Alexander and publisher Graphic Universe.

With Absolutely Everything hitting stores on Tuesday, September 9, IGN can exclusively debut a new preview of the book. Check it out in the slideshow gallery below:

Here’s the official description for Absolutely Everything:

Lately, life feels like a lot for Marcella. Sixth grade seems complicated on purpose. Marcella keeps forgetting her homework or getting distracted while she’s doing it. Plus, her bestie has new friends, and her parents even want to move apartments. She’s trying to keep track of the changes—but absolutely everything is stressing her out! Does Marcella just need to force herself to “be better”—or is there another way for her to create a path to the life she wants?

“Marcella’s favorite teacher tasks her class with writing their first long-form personal essays featuring a topic of their choosing,” Alexander says of the excerpt above. “Marcella enjoyed journaling in this class all year and loves to write… but her anxieties get her brain tangled up in choices. What if she picks the wrong topic? What if her essay is bad and she lets her teacher down? Is she even able to write an essay that long? As the rest of her class excitedly chats about their first chance to brainstorm a topic of their choosing, Marcella begins to spiral.”

Absolutely Everything will be released on September 9. You can preorder a copy on Amazon.

In other comic book news, we break down which DC Compact Comics are essential to read, and find out what Star Wars: Legacy of Vader reveals about the enigmatic Knights of Ren.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.