🌱📚📖 COVER REVEAL 🌱📚📖 ¡Qué magnífico! We are thrilled to reveal Paola Escobar’s gorgeous cover for PLANTING STORIES: THE LIFE OF LIBRARIAN AND STORYTELLER PURA BELPRÉ by Anika Aldamuy Denise, hitting shelves January 2019! Preorder here!
Follow la vida y legado of the first Puerto Rican librarian in New York City—the groundbreaking woman who influenced generations of storytellers. This extraordinary biography and immigrant story is perfect for the pioneers in your life, both young and old.
(Fun fact: Did you know that Pura is also known as the namesake of the Pura Belpré Award, the children’s book prize presented each year to a Latinx writer and illustrator whose work reflects the Latinx cultural experience?)
They need to see themselves reflected in stories that celebrate everyday beauty.
“But if the same editors at the same publishing houses are pushing the same tales about Harriet Tubman, Dr. King, Muhammad Ali, and how black people “overcame,” often written and illustrated by white writers and artists, well, they will have missed the opportunity to really nourish our children.“
I love children’s books, but I get that not everyone does. That said, I came across two August books in the mail pile that take a critical (and, yes, more grown-up) approach to kids lit. Was The Cat In The Hat Black? by Philip Nel explores at the hidden racism behind popular children’s books, and Wild Things by Bruce Handy provides context and analysis for childhood classics like Little House on the Prairie, The Giving Tree and Goodnight Moon.
If you ARE into picture books, Chelsea Marshall and Mary Dauterman just published a satirical one for adults called What Are We Even Doing With Our Lives?
Had to include this interior image – because public radio and tote bags:
- Sydnee
Images: Oxford University Press, Simon & Schuster, Dey Street Books.
Kids who have never finished a book on their own before can pick up a graphic novel and be done in an hour and feel empowered. … They’ve never had that experience before. They finished something.
Author Raina Telgemeier
Any self-respecting comics fan cringes at the phrase “comics aren’t just for kids anymore.” But any self-respecting comics fan also has to admit there are some great kids’ comics out there — especially right now.
In fact, comics for early readers are booming; even big publishers like DC are getting in on the action.
Yes, Some Comics Are For Kids — And They’re Big Business
Forget Brooding Superheroes — the Big Money Is in Kids’ Comics
There’s a new comics connoisseur in the family, and given her appetite, she’s a consumer force to be reckoned with.
For the vast majority of my 31 years on this Earth, I was the only comics reader in my family. I’ve been picking up funnybooks — most of them, I’m slightly ashamed to say, of the superhero variety — for decades and, with the exception of some parental dabbling in NPR-approved works like Art Spiegelman’s Maus and Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, mine has been a solitary pursuit when it comes to my clan.
So when my 10-year-old half-sister and I found ourselves in a bookstore a few months ago, I thought I’d be the cool older brother and see if I could introduce her to the world of sequential art. I grabbed a copy of Raina Telgemeier’s kid-oriented, magical-realist graphic novel Ghosts, and handed it to her. “I’ve got something cool for you to read,” I told her.
She gave me that cluck of the tongue and roll of the eyes that are all too familiar to relatives of children at that age. “Ugh, I’ve already read all of Raina’s books, Abe,” she said.
Don’t infantilize. “Talk to a child as you would a friend,” says Jim Dale, 81, an actor and Grammy Award-winning audiobook narrator of more than two dozen children’s books, including “Peter Pan,” “Around the World in 80 Days” and the Harry Potter series. If a passage contains a tricky or antiquated word, encourage your listener to figure out its meaning. Allow for questions and tangents. “A story that should only last five minutes can take an hour, which is wonderful,” Dale says. Researchers call these story-time interruptions “nonimmediate talk,” and studies have found it benefits children’s language development. Think of the interaction between reader and listener as a collaboration more than a one-way transaction.
All aboard the Library Train: Subway stations offer free e-books
Ride the subway, read a book. New Yorkers do that every day. But now the MTA and the city’s public libraries are making the commute even wordier, so to speak, by offering free access to hundreds of e-books and e-book excerpts.
The six-week program called Subway Library is a partnership with the New York Public Library, the Brooklyn Public Library, and the Queens Public Library. Commuters waiting in underground subway stations can connect to free TransitWirelessWiFi on their mobile device and then click on the SubwayLibrary.com prompt.
NYPL librarian Gwen Glazer helped pick the hundreds of e-books and short stories now available. “We realized that people on the subway often are looking for something to do and looking for something great to read,” Glazer told Fox 5’s Lidia Curanaj. “However long your commute is, however long you’re on the train, we have something for you hopefully.”
To promote the program, the MTA unveiled a Library Train that is wrapped to look like the New York Public Library’s Rose Main Reading Room on 42nd Street. The Library Train will run on the E and F lines.
“The New York Public Library’s mission is to make information and knowledge accessible to all, and this exciting partnership with the MTA is certainly right on track,” NYPL President Tony Marx said in a statement. “By making thousands of free stories easily available to subway straphangers, we are encouraging reading, learning, and curiosity.”
The available books and excerpts fall into several categories: New York Stories, New & Noteworthy, Select Shorts, Children, and Young Adult, the MTA said. These are some of the titles available: Soar by David Banks, At Balthazar by Reggie Nadelson, The Soul Is Not a Smithy by David Foster Wallace, The Graveless Doll of Eric Mutis by Karen Russell, Bayou Magic by Jewell Parker Rhodes, and Who Could That Be at This Hour? by Lemony Snicket.
I recently interviewed Kosmic, who is the creator/artist for Feast for a King. As the comic has adult themes and content (which are discussed in the interview), I’m providing a link that you can follow should you choose to read the interview. I don’t believe in censoring content because of the rating, but as most of the posts here on this blog are meant to be appropriate for all ages, I’m leaving it up my followers to decide whether they want to read or not. Personally, I think the comic explores themes that are suitable for older young adult readers (college-age and up). However, it’s not my job to push it on readers. Should you want to read the interview, it’s here: http://cooljazsheepie.tumblr.com/post/160533832933/webcomic-creator-interview-with-kosmic-of-feast
Hi all! I promised to have something up every week (and now I’ve fallen behind), so today, it’s back to manga reviews. This week, I’ll be looking at the Udon Manga Classics version of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I had the pleasure--if pleasure is the right word--of reading the original novel in college in my Brit Lit II class. It was an annotated version with critical essays in the back and my professor had the class look at the book from a social perspective (i.e. Why Elizabeth needed to secure a husband and why Darcy was the best choice).
I admit that reading the manga version went a lot faster than reading the novel version and in some ways this was good and in others, bad. More on that shortly.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with this Brit Lit staple, the summary is this:
Elizabeth Bennet is the second oldest daughter in a very large family. They are not poor per say, but all of the children are girls, and thus the estate does not stay in their name after their parents die. As such, all of the girls must find a suitable husband. A rich bachelor, named Charles Bingley, comes to rent a home nearby for the season. He is accompanied by his friend, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, and his sister, Caroline. There is a ball and Charles falls in love with Elizabeth’s older sister, Jane. They are very happy together and it is assumed that Jane will be married off. Also at the ball, Elizabeth meets Darcy and they strongly dislike each other from the very beginning. Time passes and eventually, Darcy convinces Bingley that Jane doesn’t really love him and they leave. Jane is heartbroken. Elizabeth is even angrier at Darcy and wants to set things right. But he left, so there’s not much she can do outside of encouraging her sister to write to her love. Also, during this time, Elizabeth is courted by Mr. Collins, a distant cousin of her father, who is set to inherit the estate. Elizabeth finds him boring and wants to marry for love, so she rejects him. Then, she is courted--ish? flirted with by George Wickham, a soldier. Wickham was raised by Darcy’s father and tells her a story of how Darcy cheated him out of his inheritance and cast him on the street. She feels really bad for him and this adds to her feelings of dislike for Darcy. But he is flirty with all the ladies of Elizabeth’s family and the neighborhood, so she doesn’t pursue him as a viable love interest. She goes on a trip and meets Darcy, who confesses his love for her. She rejects him because he seems to be only offering marriage as a favor in addition to ruining Jane’s happiness, and disgracing Wickham. Meanwhile, Wickham ends up eloping with Elizabeth’s youngest sister, Lydia, and they run away. At this point Elizabeth is distraught and reaches out to Darcy for help. He explains in a letter that he is sorry he offended her and misjudged Jane and that Wickham actually gambled all of his inheritance away and refused to do anything respectable with himself. Darcy ends up paying for Lydia’s marriage and encouraging Mr. Bingley to go back and marry Jane. Elizabeth realizes that she also misjudged Darcy and they fall in love. The end. I’m sure I missed some stuff, but that’s the gist of the story.
Now, on to the manga. It is very stylized in terms of art. If your idea of romance is a fluffy shoujo, this is it. Everyone has giant eyes and is beautiful--even the men (except Mr. Collins). I love my fair share of shoujo, but sometimes this is off putting. The emphasis is placed on keeping the characters pretty and nuances and expressions are sometimes lost in favor of a doe-eyed glazed expression. In the actual book, Jane is supposed to be the most beautiful of the sisters and Elizabeth, beautiful in a very plain way. In the manga, you really can’t tell. Also, rather than be a proactive heroine, Elizabeth is sort of just reduced to being a typical love interest. In manga adaptations like Twilight this works. For this, it doesn’t. At least for me, because Elizabeth wanted things outside of finding a man to marry her. In the book, she had character growth. In the manga, she experiences a lateral progression.
If you read shoujo manga for the hot love interests (I’mma be honest, sometimes I do), Pride and Prejudice has you covered. Darcy, Bingley, and Wickham are stylized as extremely attractive men by shoujo stanards. Mr. Collins, however, is not and it stands out. It was a bit strange to see the art style “broken” in favor of a more comedic approach to developing Mr. Collins as a character. He even pops out of a teapot at one point. As a reader, it made me question why I suddenly had to suspend my disbelief for this sort of thing. Darcy is also sort of reduced to a brooding shoujo love interest, but it kind of works. Kind of.
I mention that reading this went fast for me. While I can read a lot of standard-sized manga volumes in about an hour or so without a problem, the speed at which I read this was sort of a problem because I was tuning out and even with re-reading, I felt like I was glazing over things--or the story was doing it for me. This is not something that you really want to do with a story that does not have future consecutive volumes. But that’s me. Maybe you’ll find it more engaging. If you like all your books to read fast, this is a good choice.
Overall, if you’re looking for a compilation comparison piece or you really like Brit Lit enough to have manga versions of your favorite stories on hand, this book is a pretty good read. You can get the basic, fluffy version of the story without having to worry about the language or the fine details of the plot.
If you’re interested in your own copy (and your library or bookstore doesn’t have it), you can find it on Amazon. (I linked my copy that I ordered, but there are cheaper versions available.)
Have you read Pride and Prejudice? Do you have any thoughts you want to share? Leave a comment or send me a note or an ask! See you soon!
Hello! As y’all know, I’ve been talking to various webcomic creators about their individual comics. Earlier this week, however, I got to talk to Kristina about her creative process and how she brings her webcomics to life. Check it after the cut!
Me: Do you start with a set idea for a story or does it come gradually?
Kristina: I usually start out with a feeling i want to convey or a problem i want to explore, for example with 14 Nights the problem was "Can you have a relationship without sex?" and then I try to find the answer to my question through the story.
Me: Has working on any one comic proved harder than the other?
Kristina: Hm. Well, at the beginning it was very difficult in general, just because I only had a few skills, and over the years it's gotten easier as I accumulate more. But actually, yes, I’ll say it's been hardest to work on the short anthology comics. I just don't ever feel satisfied with them because they're so short. If I'm not satisfied with the comic then it's very hard.
Kristina: The one I did for Monster Anthology: Demon Edition was the hardest because I don't think I ever really said what i wanted to say.
Me: What would you consider the "perfect" comic length to be?
Kristina: Well, it depends on the story, but I'd say the minimum length for a complete story is probably 50 pages. I can't think of a comic that's less than 50 pages that I've read and had a very strong reaction to. The maximum length could be thousands of pages, ideally. The more pages, the better.
Me: When you create comics, what do you focus on the most to tell your story: setting, characters, or symbolism? Symbolism meaning an underlying theme or a special object or something like that.
Kristina: When you put it that way, I have to say symbolism, more specifically, the underlying meaning. The reason I write comics is to give me a platform to express my beliefs, so I'm very focused on whether I accurately represented my own POV. The characters and the setting are tools to accomplish that goal. But, of course, the characters must be treated with compassion, otherwise you end up creating pawns to do your bidding.
Me: Do you find it harder to draw for anthologies?
Kristina: Yeah, definitely. It's hard to make a decent comic story in 10-25 pages. And all the while knowing you can't really go any further with it, if you like it.
Me: Is there a story that you've done that you really connected with?
Kristina: I'd say that if I put in the effort to finish something,I connect with it 100%. I wouldn't waste my time otherwise; I mean drawing comics is way too much work for less.
Kristina: Well, no that's not completely accurate because I just said the anthology comics don't meet that standard.
Kristina: So all my personal comics, Yasha Lizard, 14 Nights, and Alethia,I connect with 100%.
Me: Since your comics are bilingual, do you ever worry that things get lost in translation?
Kristina: Nah, not really. At least, not yet! Maybe in the future, but so far I think it sounds basically the same in both languages. Although, sometimes little things don't really bother me. For example, there's a character in Yasha Lizard named Anastasia Anole, and the translator used the word for 'chameleon' instead.(变色龙 in case you're wondering.) But I’ve never seen an anole in China and I don't think Chinese readers will know what an anole is, so I’m fine with the change.
Me: Do you prefer working in color or black and white?
Kristina: I think I prefer black and white. I like the way it looks when it's done. B&w comics are, to me, aesthetically superior to color comics. However, knowing that I feel that way, I felt I had to challenge myself to come up with a color comics art style that I would like just as much as I like b&w comics. I'm not there yet.
Me: Do you have certain color families you stick to? Or just whatever matches the tone?
Kristina: Yeah, definitely! Right now I can't seem to get away from teal and magenta. I love blue-greens in general and always want to use them. I need to branch out more.
Me: How do your readers react to your work? Do you seem to draw a specific type of reader?
Kristina: One thing I've noticed is that people only tend to say positive things about it. If they don't like my work, they keep it to themselves. There must exist people who hate my comics, but for some reason, they don't say so publicly. I wonder why? As for type of reader, I seem to have a variety. But they are probably all liberal-leaning. I don't think a very socially conservative reader could get much out of my work.
Me: How do you feel about the webcomic medium and the print comic medium?
Kristina: I love webcomics as a medium. I like digital everything. I'm kind of a technophile that way. I read all my prose books on a screen, too. I only print comics in order to have something to sell at the conventions. If it wasn't for that, I'd never print anything. As a reader, I don't like having a lot of physical things sitting around. I move almost every 2 years.
Me: Do you find that you get more interest in your work after cons?
Kristina: Oh yeah, absolutely. And the cons in china are enormous, so I meet hundreds of people each day at them.
Me: Do you only sell books or do you sell other related merch?
Kristina: I sell prints of my stand-alone illustrations and stickers of cats and guinea pigs. Everyone loves cat stickers. It's how you guarantee you'll make back at least the table cost.
Me: I saw your guinea pig! So cute! Tell me about being a female comic artist in China.
Kristina: *laughs* I don't even know any male comic artists here. I mean, I know they exist but I never see them. All my comic friends are women. Next month I'm going to share a table with some friends, two women. The majority of the attendees are female as well.
Me: Have you collaborated on works outside of anthologies?
Kristina: I haven't collaborated on anything, ever, to be honest. The anthology stories were also my art + writing. I've never done a comic with someone else, although I've been offered money to try it.
Me: Is there anything you want to share about your experience with comics?
Kristina: My experience with comics has been...It doesn't pay money. It's a masochistic career choice.
Me: Any advice for people getting into comics?
Kristina: *laughs* Well it depends on what their goals are. Other people likely have very different goals than me. I don't ever intend to work for a major publisher, if I can help it.
Kristina: Ok, but, my advice to female cartoonists is: Use a comic to say the thing you are absolutely the most terrified to say. Dig down deep and find that thing you think you'd be kicked off planet earth for saying, and say it. Put it under a pseudonym if you have to. but once you do it, you'll experience a freedom you never knew was possible.
You can check out Krisitna’s portfolio work and all of her comics at her main site. Don’t to forget to check out my earlier interview with Finnish artist Niina Eveliina.
If you want to share your own thoughts on the creative process or want to be interviewed, feel free to comment on this post or send an ask or a message.
This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Niina Eveliina, creator of the webcomic Numb. Check it out after the cut.
Me: Can you share a little about yourself as an artist?
Niina: I see myself as a storyteller more than anything. Art is a perfect way to bring those images to life. I truly enjoy the eternal process of learning art and seeing the improvement. Comics have always been a major part of my self expression, but I'm also sucker for just drawing and painting sole illustrations. Mostly traditional stuff even though I'm slowly trying to take over digital as well.
Me: Could you give a brief summary of Numb?
Niina: Numb is a peculiar tale of different people who all yearn for connection, in some form or another. Levi and Susan are lifelong friends who seem to have drifted apart since those long summer days. One thing that specially rubs them the wrong way is the mysterious case around their friend Tim, who's not around anymore. Then there's Nikita, mischievous ghost who only Levi is able to see for reasons yet known. However, all of them are equally unaware of an otherworldly being, a sinister one, that's lurking closer and closer.
Me: Who is your favorite character--and why?
Niina: Levi! He has that childlike wonder in him that really hasn't had a chance to shine yet in the comic, but wait and see! He's a total sweetheart.
Me: Who is your least favorite character--and why?
Niina: Oh man...I know this is corny, but I cannot pick one. I really do love them all. I don't think I'd be able to write a character and continue having them around if there'd be even a tiny hint of dislike in my heart for them. And by this I don't mean they're all such a good people and deserve all the hugs. But I do love them as characters; they're all very interesting and fun for me to work with.
Me: What is your favorite part of the creative process? The least favorite part?
Niina: Favourite parts are definitely storyboarding, drawing the expressions and coloring (I used to hate it now it gives me life). Least favourite: Lettering and editing.
Me: Is it harder or easier to do your comic traditionally?
Niina: Easier. I find it way harder to make good looking digital art.
Me: How have readers reacted to your characters and story thus far? Are there any challenges that you’ve had to overcome when working on Numb?
Niina: So far based of what I've heard, Amy, Susan, Levi and Nikita are someone's favorite. It makes me happy to see so many of them are being liked. It makes me feel I've succeeded on making them all their own person. As for the current happenings on the story, there has been few upsets, but understanding ones. The story goes where it's gotta go. Challenges would be grammar and doing dialogue. I'm not a native speaker so it can come off as awkward sometimes, but I have helpful commenters who point out the mistakes so I can fix them fast! Other struggle is always with the art. It's improving, but I still have long way to go.
Me: Do you translate into English from Finnish when working on your comic? Or do you write directly in English?
Niina: Directly in English. It's easier that way since the languages are so different.
Me: What do you want readers to take away from your story?
Niina: Whatever they get from it, really. I like it when people come up with their own interpretations so I avoid making too on-point story just to make speculating more interesting. I feel best stories are those that leave you guessing a bit.
Me: What made you decide to pursue webcomics as a medium to tell your story?
Niina: Well I felt it was the fastest way to get the story out there, I was dying for getting to tell it! Also I know the story is a bit.. weird. So I'm not sure if I would have change with a publisher. Maybe I will try it once I've made enough pages.
Niina: Another thing is that I think this is excellent way to build your audience and get readers that are easy to interact with. That's my favourite part of webcomics.
Me: Who is your “intended” audience?
Niina: Hmmm.. fans of a bit weirder stories I'd say!
Me: Do you have any advice you want to share with other artists and writers?
Niina: Produce quality content and be on schedule with it. Also patience, some things take time.
Me: What tools do you use to create your comic?
Niina: Pencils and watercolors with A3 paper. After scanning I do the final adjustments and lettering in Photoshop.
Me: When does Numb update?
Niina: Every Monday and Wednesday.
You can read Numb at its main site, Tapastic, SmackJeeves, and Web Toon. Follow Niina at her social media sites: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or Tumblr. You can also check out her portfolio site here!
This post has been adapted from a Twitter interview. Check out my previous interview with Merriam Hayden and if you’re interested in sharing your thoughts or having your own interview, be sure to get in touch!
Hello! I was lucky enough to have more interest in webcomic features than I thought. Today’s interview is with Merriam Hayden. Read it after the cut!
Me: Hello! Would you share a little bit about yourself as a creator?
Merriam: Sure! My name is Merriam Hayden. I went to college to study animation and did comics during that time because making a comic by myself was more feasible than pumping out animated shorts by myself.
Merriam: I'm a Lesbian in the Midwest as well.
Me: Could you give a short summary of Wrong Hand?
Merriam: Wrong Hand is the story of Lefty, who in a world where your Soulmate is determined by woman having marks on their left hand and men have matching marks on their right hands, has his own hand mark on the "wrong" hand. After meeting his Soulmate, Miles Write, Lefty learns more about "wrong handedness" and how there's many different ways of being "wrong" handed. The Wrong Hand is also the name of the bar where Miles works.
Me: Could you introduce the readers to your characters?
Merriam: Lionel "Lefty" Rogers is the main character. He's a soon-to-be college grad who majored in accounting. He likes to play the Ukulele, but has no interest in pursuing music as a career.
Merriam: Miles Write is his Soulmate. He works nights at the Wrong Hand bar and days at the coffee shop called the Sun Dollar. Unlike Lefty, he's much more outgoing and open about his "wrong" handedness (even though he passes as "right" handed) .
Merriam: Sunni Syde is Miles' coworker at the Sun Dollar and a photographer. She dated guys in her early college days, but found the experience unsatisfying. She started dating women instead and found it much better. She's known to hang out at another bar called the Blue Cherry.
Merriam: Aura Easy is Sunni's soulmate and a detective. She had previously dated a girl when she was a teen, but they had a falling out. Aura is the one with the "correct" hand mark on her hand, but is much more butch than Sunni.
Merriam: Melanie Blanc is a blank handed woman who runs the Wrong Hand. She's not interested in dating or sex herself, but is always supportive of other Wrong Handed people who dream of meeting their Soulmates.
Merriam: Teresa Slater (deadname Theodore Slater) is a transwoman who realized she was trans much later in life and is roommates with Melanie.
Merriam: Sam Uno is a nonbinary comedian who always wears gloves and treats everything like a joke.
Merriam: Those are the main recurring characters.
Me: Who is your favorite character—and why?
Merriam: Ah man picking a favorite of my own characters is like picking my favorite child. if I have to choose I think I'll choose Sunni. She's very cute and very passionate about what she wants to do with her life, which is to be a photographer even if she has to work half between a coffee shop and sometimes weekends at her father's restaurant (Eggbert's, it's a breakfast place).
Me: Who is your least favorite character—and why?
Merriam: Chad Prickson. This character is not the most evil villain in the world or anything, but he's engineered to be an absolute jerk to everyone. He's Miles' previous ex, rich and self-centered, who treats people like garbage.
Me: Can you offer insight into how you’ve developed your story and your creative process over the years?
Merriam: Okay. Wrong Hand actually started off as a thing I vaguely kicked around in college a few years ago. A good friend of mine were talking about the concept of Soulmate stories and how'd we do them. She took a more fantasy/serious route with it and I wanted to go for a more lighthearted comedic thing. However, I didn't give it too much thought beyond three characters: Lefty, Miles, and Ms. Blanc. Miles originally worked at the Wrong Hand and ran a hot dog stand. However, my senior year of college I did an independent study. So, I decided to revisit this idea as an animated short. My teacher at the time suggested I change the hot dog stand to a coffee shop and of course I had to come up with more characters to flesh out the world. Sunni and Teresa and Sam wouldn't exist in this world without the short being made. It's not the best in the world, but it took me a year and I had to do it by myself. And I kicked the idea around with a good friend of mine (different one) and he helped me beef up the characters and come up with backstory. We even decided to have the setting be a fictional version of Minneapolis with Lefty growing up in Duluth. Having someone I can bounce ideas off of actually helps me a lot, too.
Me: What is your favorite part of the creative process? The least favorite part?
Merriam: Honestly, I really love planning and world building and writing stories--dialogue especially because I am really funny so I'm great at coming up with dialogue. My least favorite is thumbnailing because it's very tedious and slow and sometimes I can breeze through a page and know exactly how to lay it out and sometimes I get stumped by things. I do depend on thumbnailing because I would be lost while making pages without them, but making them can feel like a chore sometimes
Me: The idea of soulmates being determined by their hand marks is really intriguing. Are you going to go into the concept in more detail? Or are you going to focus more on the “slice of life” experiences?
Merriam: Slice of Life is the main focus of Wrong Hand, but I do also want to explore the idea in detail. Love and Free Will are major themes in a lot of the stories too because it's not like people haven't been falling in love or marrying people who aren't their Soulmate. And sometimes people actively do seek out their Soulmate and sometimes they don't.
Me: Is there a significance to each of the character’s colors?
Merriam: Not particularly, no. I just decided that if this was going to be a mundane world I wanted to give it a visual style that stood out. Part of me wishes I had put more thought into it, but not really. Lefty and Miles are blue and red. Sunni and her family are pink. There are two characters, Jacques Trooper and Zelda Worm, who are blue and pink and are kinda the token straight couple who are friends with Lefty, but other than that I didn't put much thought into the characters being a particular color.
Me: How have readers reacted to your characters and story thus far? Are there any challenges that you’ve had to overcome when working on Wrong Hand?
Merriam: Mostly I had more challenges with technical stuff while working on the short. Though as far as content is concerned the overall response has been super positive and people relate to Lefty and get a lot of the little snap shot comics that revolve around him having problems with his identity as a "wrong" handed male because his hand mark is on the "girl" hand. I haven't gotten into a lot of other characters backstories or hangups yet though, so we'll see how people respond in the future.
Me: What do you want readers to take away from your story?
Merriam: I want them to take away that love may be complicated and life may complicate love, but it's definitely something worth seeking out and cultivating. Not just romantic or sexual pursuits, but friendships and familial relationships as well.
Me: You mention being lesbian. How has your sexual identity influenced your story?
Merriam: Well Wrong Hand is basically a not-so-subtle metaphor for being some kind of queer. some wrong handed characters are gay, some bi, some trans, some nonbinary. All my work has some kind of LGBT slant to it because so much media made about or for people like me is either super obscure or really depressing and I want to create hopeful and happy stories even if I do touch about the less savory aspects of things (have plans to touch upon things like how conversion therapy and things like that work in this world, but I do want people to come away from my work feeling good about themselves).
Me: Who is your “intended” audience?
Merriam: My intended audience is anyone who wants to find LGBT content that's hopeful.
Me: Do you plan to pursue other mediums for your story (like print or podcast)?
Merriam: I hadn't considered a podcast. I would love to print a physical copy of the comics someday and, of course, something animated. Like a feature film or even a series! I think an animated series would be awesome.
Me: Do you have any advice you want to share with other artists and writers?
Merriam: Lists are useful for planning a script and having a specific notebook/journal with comic stuff is a good idea.
Me: What are your tools of the trade? Any special software?
Merriam: I mostly use Clip Studio Paint because I can animate with it as well as do illustration. I don't have a specific kind of pen or paper I use for roughing out pages though. I usually draw the pages out traditionally first and then scan the pages to pretty up in Clip Studio Paint.
Me: When does Wrong Hand update?
Merriam: I like to update it at least twice a month, but right now my current day job makes updating on the regular hard. I've worked out getting a more regular schedule though so I'm hopeful that I'll get back to updating more frequently.
Me: Where can readers access your comic?
Merriam: Tapastic and Comic Fury. I have a longer story planned that I'm currently working on and I'll probably start posting the single pages on Comic Fury before Tapastic.
Me: Anything else you want to share? Shout outs?
Merriam: I love my friends and I love all the people who read my comic.
Follow Merriam for more art and life updates on her Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram. She’ll also be attending Planet ComicCon, Smallville ComicCon, and TopCon. Merriam may also be at Kansas City Comic Con, but is not sure yet.
Be sure to also check out yesterday’s interview with Micah, webcomic artist for Roommate from Hell, if you haven’t already! And if you’re interested in being interviewed or sharing your thoughts on comics or related media, be sure to comment on this post, send an ask, or send me a message!
Hi, all! It’s time for another webcomic feature! This week I interviewed Micah, creator of The Roommate from Hell! Read the full interview after the cut!
Me: Would you share a little bit about yourself as a creator?
Micah: Sure! So currently I'm a student at University of Wisconsin Stout, in a program called Entertainment Design - Comics and Sequential Art. So it's basically a comics major. I've been drawing and creating things as long as I remember, and I started taking it seriously around middle school. Put out my first webcomic in high school. Creating comics is basically my life, I spend all my free time on it.
Me: Could you give a short summary of The Roommate From Hell ?
Micah: Up 'til this point it's been about a college student named Mary who moves in with a new roommate she met online. He's really suspicious and she starts investigating. Eventually she convinces herself that he's actually a superhero. He's not a superhero, but he's not exactly normal, either. If you like stories with supernatural elements that are occasionally high action but often focus more on the characters and their interactions, and how these supernatural elements affect their lives, you will like the comic.
Me: Could you introduce the readers to your characters?
Micah: Alright. So there's Mary. She's rather high energy, I designed her to be rather relateable as she's very interested in anime, internet culture, etc. Very friendly and enthusiastic about life. Then there's Hugh, her new roommate. Short, shy, and really awkward. He is weirdly paranoid about everything and is obviously hiding some kind of secret.
Me: Who is your favorite character—and why?
Micah: So I really like Hugh, he's super fun to draw and temperament wise very similar to me. Way further out I'll be introducing a character named Samur who is probably my second favorite. He's super deadpan and plays off the other characters in funny ways.
Me: Who is your least favorite character—and why?
Micah: I'm not sure I have a least favorite, although there's a few characters that are harder to draw than the others. Or characters that are hard to write for. There's a group of characters coming in a bit later, Zane, Shatiq, Lael, and Gabe, who are relatively new and will be a bit of work to keep consistent and interesting in their dialogue. Shatiq is super fun to draw, though.
Me: Can you offer insight into how you’ve developed your story and your creative process so far?
Micah: So, many of my story ideas, including Roomie, come from random dreams I've had. So I can't speak much on the ideation process. After that I start coming up with scenes and situations that would be interesting to see these characters in. Once I have that starting point, I try to string them together. Usually over-arching themes will develop and I’ll organize a story around those messages I want to convey. My primary goal is always to be entertaining and make the readers feel for the characters.
Me: What is your favorite part of the creative process? The least favorite part?
Micah: Creating and developing characters is probably the best part. I do a lot of role playing with these characters with my friends and end up developing them far past the scope of their stories. My least favorite part of the process is stringing together plot points that I want to include but can’t figure out how to make it happen. Discovering plot holes and trying to fix them, and editing stories to try to maximize clarity for the readers, is also a difficult but necessary step.
Me: You mention on Roomie’s site that the comic is going to get spooky. What made you decide on a supernatural story?
Micah: It was the subject matter of the dream. It's not actually going to be that spooky, just, the subject is something generally considered part of the horror genre.
Me: How have readers reacted to your characters and story thus far? Are there any challenges that you’ve had to overcome when working on Roomie?
Micah: So I haven't gotten a ton of feedback. Site stats say my site isn't entirely dead, but people don't seem to like to comment a lot. People have enjoyed it, though, especially my friends who know the larger plot and role play with me. There's this one guy who comments a lot who has actually been around since my older webcomic, Operation Reboot. Generally their comments are constructive criticism, which some people might find disheartening, but I think they enjoy the comic and I appreciate the opportunity to improve my work.
Me: What do you want readers to take away from your story?
Micah: Really I just want my readers to be entertained and have something to look forward to. I try to write interesting diverse characters, so if they can identify with them, especially if the characters are of an underrepresented group, then that's a bonus.
Me: Who is your “intended” audience?
Micah: Probably [readers in their] late teens to late twenties. The nerdier crowd, and members of the LGBTQ+ community, mostly.
Me: Do you plan to pursue other mediums for your story ?
Micah: I'd like to print it eventually? And actually I'm planning to expand the universe out into a different website I'm designing. It'll be fictional and about the supernatural element of the story, but made out as if it were real. It will feel like the website of a hospital or charity sort of thing. It's a bit hard to explain. I'm hoping to figure out a plot for it eventually and make into an ARG sort of thing? It won't launch for a year or two so it's up in the air.
Me: What drew you to the webcomic genre? What made you say, “This is how I want to share my story?”
Micah: I'm not really sure. I've been doing this for years and I kind of forgot why I decided webcomics were best. Probably because it’s free and accessible to people? And rather uncomplicated on my end, just have to pay for hosting and learn WordPress.
Me: Do you have any advice you want to share with other artists and writers?
Micah: Write for yourself. That's probably my best tip. If you write for yourself, motivation will be easier to find. And if you like your story, it's very likely other people will too. Even if it's a story appealing to one in a million, there's 7 billion people on the planet so that's still a ton of people.
Micah: Also, prioritize life drawing. Even if it's just SenshiStock. Your characters will improve immediately.
Me: What are your tools of the trade? Any special software?
Micah: I use a monoprice tablet and GIMP. It can bug out sometimes but I make it work. Roomie is inked on paper and colored on computer but I also do full digital and full traditional work on occasion. I am poor and cheap.
Me: When does Roomie update?
Micah: Monday/Wednesday/Friday. Soon there will be a side comic, exclusive to Patreon and voting rewards on TopWebcomics, which updates on T/Th/S/Su. So there will be something every day :) The side comic will be free and archives for the current issue free, but previous issues will be avaliable as Patreon rewards.
You can read The Roommate from Hell on its main site and keep an eye out for future updates on mirror comic sites. Roomie takes a hiatus every May and December, so if you are interested in sending in a guest comic, Micah will be posting more details on their site in April.
Be sure to check out last week’s interview with webcomic artist J.M. Henry.
If you want me to interview you about your webcomic or you just want to share some input on the creative process, comment on this post, send a note, or submit an ask.
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