Making it successfully through numerous AA-type treatment and therapy programs after years of drinking, Wertz (Tenements, Towers & Trash) had coupled up with an eager but irresponsible suitor in a seemingly idyllic relationship until he dumped her on her birthday during their vacation. Surviving in an illegal Brooklyn basement apartment far from her California family, she painfully manages the long transition from self-centered binge drinking to a richer life with friends, fellow AA survivors, and a variety of adventures. Her favorite pastime is urban exploring: sneaking into weird, abandoned buildings with an enthusiastic collaborator. She draws her characters simply, herself as a waifish naïf constantly surprised by the twists and turns of her life, while other humans look more realistic. But her backgrounds abound beguilingly in realistic and oddball details, especially her studio and the New York cityscapes that she explores. VERDICT Wertz’s immersive and sometimes very funny tale hardly fits the “completely average” subtitle, yet nearly everyone can see themselves somewhere in her story, cheer her on, and enjoy the surprise ending.