Amherst
This is a comic I made ages ago (i.e. last semester). I was afraid to put it up for a long time because it is, verbatim, a conversation that took place in the Graphic Novels class I took at Amherst College (the main speaker is the professor). I was afraid one of the students from the class might stumble upon it and take offense. But by now enough time has passed that they have probably long forgotten me. Right? I hope so.
Wondering whether or not I’ve crossed a line in my endeavors to create interesting and truthful autobiographical comics is something I struggle with pretty much on a daily basis (and it’s gotten way, way more intense as I’ve worked on Burn Book). When does truth-telling do the world a service? When is it just petty and mean? I am never sure. I know that when I make comics that make my friends seem attractive and funny, everybody’s happy. Including me–I love making comics like that.
But sometimes I also like to make comics like this one. And I’m still not sure if that’s a good thing. Wouldn’t it have been nobler, and more helpful, if I had added my own voice to the above conversation, rather than just scribbling down the words in my sketchbook so that I could make this comic later? But then, I’m sure you can all relate to the experience of wishing you’d said something (when someone said something prejudiced, or even just when you couldn’t come up with a good comeback to an insult) when you didn’t. Often my comics are just a way of getting to blurt out that perfect comeback, days or weeks or months after the fact.
There’s a panel coming up at Hampshire for Div IIIs who make political art. I have no idea if my work applies to that panel. So many students here do work that is Social Justice-orientated. Everything I make is social…something. Social commentary? Social criticism? I’m not sure if that counts as political. What’s really important and significant about geeks and hipsters?
All I know is, they’re important and significant to me. And so is the kind of situation taking place in the above comic. And whether it’s political, or petty, or somewhere in between, I’m gonna keep doing it. So for now I’ll just keep my head down and my comics free on an internet blog where they belong.
April 5th, 2010 at 2:40 pm
The personal is political? Anyone? It probably comes down to whether you want to talk about that aspect of your work. If you WANT to participate in the panel, I’m sure you could pull it off more than some could. I for one would champion choosing the feminist highlights.
April 8th, 2010 at 8:54 am
There’s a French expression for that, thinking of a clever comeback or witticism to say when it’s already too late: Esprit d’escalier. (Staircase wit.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27esprit_de_l%27escalier
I like it.. (The expression; not when it happens to me.)
Also, great scene. (People are annoying.)
April 19th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
Oh, you two! You are both my intellectual soulmates! Tabitha, I thought of the Personal is Political when I was posting this. Ian, I had not heard of “Esprit d’escalier” but now I will think of it all the time, after each of my too-late witticisms.
Also…my whining about this turned out to be very silly, because the next day, I received an email informing me that I’d been nominated by a faculty member (probably my chair) to have my work shown as part of that panel. There are a lot of nominees, so who knows if I’ll make the final cut, but the point is, somebody at Hampshire thought my work was politically meaningful!