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.}

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.

Day One

TEN years ago, I started writing a graphic novel about my teen years, growing up as a total misfit in my beloved home state of West Virginia.

After many false starts and countless rewrites, the first installment of the book, which introduces the setting, main characters, and conflicts, is complete. At least in this stage of production, seven separate installments will follow. Only six of those seven are scripted. The last installment is incomplete--the part where the heroine overcomes the struggle and is triumphant and self-realized.

Truth is: For a multitude of real and imagined reasons, I withdrew from people in my teens, but I haven't quite made it back out yet.

Suddenly I realized that: Crap! I'm in this thing. If I'm going to offer anything more than a soul-crushing message of loneliness and despair, I'd better start practicing what I preach.

And if I'm going to have any inkling of the career that I hope to have, I'm going to have to do terrifying things:

-Talk to people

-Promote myself

-Attend events (and quite possibly even have to learn how to drive a car)

I know that my anxieties are not unique, and others' stories have encouraged me immeasurably. So I'm writing this blog as the metanarrative to my book, for your and my mutual edification. Here I'll share my research on psychology and feral children, my experiences writing a graphic novel, and my personal adventure in overcoming myself.

To read the first installment of the book, visit: http://www.facebook.com/WildChildComics.

Or you can buy a copy here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/96423253/wild-child-1-fight-or-flight-comic.