Subplot: A Love Story

Photo by Aaron Walker, 2007

Friends and family of autobiographical writers know they're never safe from being written into a story (so be careful what you say to us!).

My husband, Mark, made his debut into the world of comics in White Wolf Honey Moon, a short story I printed in The Kindlin' Quarterly Issue #3. 

Happy fifth anniversary to my traveling companion through space-time and the most inspiring character in the story of my life.

{The field next to my parents' house was my playground as a kid, the site of many important personal events, and continues to serve as the reference for the color scheme in most of my work.}

A Lifelong Pursuit

Most comics people got to know me as the editor of The Kindlin' Quarterly, a quirky underground anthology on its 8th issue. What you don't know is that I've been making similar publications since I was in grade school.

The Summersville Gazette

Excerpt from Star Trek:
The Next Generation News

In addition to a few short-lived newsletter attempts, in 1994 I made The Summersville Gazette, mostly about my dog Butter and distributed to immediate family members. 

Next came Star Trek: The Next Generation News, also in 1994, which featured summaries of recent episodes of the show and swooning digressions about Commander Will Riker.

And then there was...

The Stoopid Krap News flopped into the world as the creative outlet for a lonely kid with a weird sense of humor and unlimited access to a copy machine.  On Sunday afternoons, my dad paid me to clean the office of the small engineering firm he owned, and after the toilets were scrubbed, I cut, pasted, and copied (the old-fashioned way) until my mom came to pick me up wearing her nightgown.

I cranked out sixteen Wingding-laden issues from 1995 to 1997, with no regularity in length or frequency. The Stoopid Krap News was distributed to a total of six people (my brother and five friends)  and came with a strict warning that NO parent should ever see it, lest I be shut down.  

Heavily influenced by MAD Magazine, the content varied from fake news articles about the school bully's rumored incestuous background, drawings of the math teacher's haircut, comics on college-ruled notebook paper, and my rantings about the world at large. Most of the features only made sense at the time, but some of it is relevant outside of the junior high classroom and still tickles my funny bone.

   

                           

SUPER FERRET & THE SEIZURE COUSINS COMICS!!!!!!

JACKPOT!

Sweet sassy molassy! In the bottom of the closet of my old room, I found my Circus and Hit Parader magazines from 1994-1997. I was certain they had been trashed!



To celebrate, I'm giving yall a sneak peak of what's on my little lightbox for Wild Child #2. I'm making another cup of coffee. It's going to be a long night.

Yes, I hand-drew all that text. Yes, it took over 10 hours straight.
I loved every second of it.

The Perseids

Drawings, gift to mother, 2009

Early Influences

At home in West Virginia working on Wild Child #2, I found my childhood stash of comics.

In my hometown, which had a population of approximately 2500 in the 1990s, the "comic shop" was Kroger. My options there were: 

Comics and friends.

• Archie - I bought a few issues but couldn't really relate to the tribulations of popular kids who had friends.
• Batman! - My first crush (still going).
• MAD Magazine - Against all parental-control norms, I was allowed to read MAD on a regular basis, which I can only attribute to divine intervention. 

On rare occasions, my family would drive to the closest mall 45 minutes away. Over time, I accumulated: 

• MAD About the Sixties - a big book of jokes I wasn't old enough to understand.
• A single issue of Tales From the Crypt - #9, copyright 1994 - because I watched the show on TV every Saturday night.
• The Crow by James O'Barr - after seeing the movie during my teenage goth phase.
• A prized collection of Ren & Stimpy Comics #7-18 - because my classmates talked about the show, but we didn't have cable.

New title page for the 2nd edition of
Wild Child #1. 

That's a comprehensive list. After a long hiatus, the next comic I read was Ghost World in 2002. My collection now is modest and selective, consisting mostly of books by artists I've met.

Several people have asked me recently who my influences are. 

I keep three books on the shelf next to my drawing desk:

• Garage Band by Gipi
• I Never Liked You by Chester Brown
• The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor 

But I don't open them often. Limited exposure has taught/forced me to create with minimal influence. And I like it that way.