Autobio comics love
It took me more than 35 years to discover autobio graphic novels. I was in the library in Los Angeles, and stumbled upon Vanessa Davis’ book Make Me a Woman. I loved how raw it was, the stories itself as well as how she drew it. She doesn’t seem too bothered by perfectionism, the pencil lines aren’t even entirely erased. It felt so personal.
And then I found Marbles by Ellen Forney in which she talks about her mania and depression. I went on to read the whole library section: Alison Bechdel, Lucy Knisley, Jeffrey Brown, Roz Chast… Then found my way to the comic book store to discover Erika Moen, Emi Lennox, David Small, Craig Thompson and many others.
I told myself that it’s an American thing to make comics about yourself, that’s why I didn’t know about it. Then I discovered that’s not true at all; Barbara Stok has been making comics about herself since the nineties and a lot of that plays out in the town where I grew up!
The great thing about all this, is that NOW I get to enjoy all this goodness. Autobio comics are such a gentle AND powerful way to share a different perspective, I think we desperately need that now the we all seem to live in our own bubbles.
As I’m closing up shop for the summer break, I thought I’d share the work of some amazing artists I’ve gotten to know. We passed around this one drawing and each artist added a piece. Some have a newsletter here on Substack, you can click on their names to subscribe, we all have Instagram. So as you’re hanging out at the beach, check out their work and enjoy!
I hope you discovered someone you didn’t know! Is there an auto bio comics artist you love that I didn’t mention? Please share in the comments!
I’ll be out for a couple of weeks, see you in September!
With love,
