If you’re in the Chicago area and want to attend a chilly morning comics class with me, I’m teaching a diary comics workshop with Artist Book House on Sunday Feb 4! There are a few spots left; sign up here, or spread the word. I’d love to do more of these, but they only run if people attend!
My kids have had 8 days of school since December 21, between a luxurious winter break and then cold weather school closures. I haven’t been drawing as many diary comics in the past few months as I would like, with commissions and freelance work bleeding into holiday prep and long days with excellent kids filling up my hours. Winter break felt like a true rest and recovery, for the first time in a long time. I have hypotheses as to why: Leo is old enough that every minute of down time isn’t spent doing body care for a baby anymore; teaching gives my pitiful ego-needs a puppy scratch, and the semester break let me off the hook of feeling like I have to ABC (Always Be Comicin’); I wasn’t traveling or hosting for the holiday, so there wasn’t performance pressure; etc etc. It was really nice, but now, hello January 19, I have the feeling of a racehorse, chest pressed against the gate ready to sprint…and now here we are again at Friday, the joyful needs of a young family forcing me to slow down my mind and be present amid the snow boots and maple syrup of it all. The sprint can wait, but not for long. I’m taking notes.
A few culture recommendations before diary comics:
I’m in a good run with books in the new year. Checkout 19 by Claire-Louise Bennet flipped me inside out. Like you know how you take the wax paper around butter and rub it on a cake tin to use up and rub around that last bit? Like that. Bennet executed the same magic trick as she did in Pond, truly feeling like my brain and inner self belonged to someone very like me but not at all myself. The deftness of her sentences!! I’m agog, and a few days after it finished sat down and cried about it all. Now I’m halfway through The Wall by Marlen Haushofer, gifted to me from a friend who knows me deeply and said I needed to read it, and she was right. Middle aged loneliness, a quiet apocalypse, self reliance, a cow. I’m trodding along with the protagonist through her days, and have no idea how it’s going to resolve. I can’t wait to see.
Also in a good run with shows recently! Newest season of Fargo, what a dark and heavy treat; Gilded Age, absolute nonsense popcorn pleasure with narratively significant gowns, beautiful gowns; Slow Horses, as good as ever, which is a very high bar to maintain (but I didn’t buy a character choice in the last ep of the newest season?); and Wonka! Saw it with my kids in the theater, and (on their request) we now listen to the soundtrack every time we’re in the car. Not sure how it’ll stand the test of time, but there are so few kids movies that I genuinely enjoy, and this one was a real pleasure! (With the notable exception for some real Early Aughts fat suit/fat-body-as-punchline running jokes that felt in very bad taste!) Well there’s chocolate, and there’s chocolate—only Wonka’s makes your confidence sky-rock-a-let!
Happy new year, friends! Excited to keep sharing comics with you.
I love your phrase ABC, always be comicing!