Wonder if I’ll get any new “Hereville” readers out of it?
I’m told that the print version has an illustration (one of my self-portraits) along with the article.
By the way, in the hopes of retaining a few readers who might check Hereville out because of the Post mention, the entire Hereville archive is free this week. So if you want to reread the 20 Hereville pages so far and you’re too cheap to subscribe (just kidding!), this week is the time to do it.
If you’d like to read the whole interview (which was conducted by email), check it out below the fold. I deliberately kept my answers short (for me), since I knew the article would have a small word count. I was very, very tired when I did this, so my answers are less-than-brilliant, alas.
Here are my answers. I didn’t realize you thought that I was still doing
political cartoons – I’m mostly not. Feel free to send me different
questions or follow-up questions if you like; I’ll get back to you this
evening (I’ll be awake until at least 5am your time).
1. How old are you?
36
Portland, Oregon
When I attended Portland State University in the late 90s, I went to the
student paper and asked to do a daily gag strip for them. They said they
didn’t publish daily gag strips, but I could do political cartoons on the
op-ed page if I wanted. That’s how I started doing my weekly political
cartoon rant “Ampersand.” The idea of trying to sell them was self-evident,
since I was virtually always broke.
What you may not realize is that I’ve almost (but not quite) quit drawing
overtly political cartoons nowadays. For a while, it was very rewarding, in
creative terms if not financially. In time, I found trying to do a weekly
“I’m pissed off” gag rather sterile; it was getting harder and harder not to
become formulaic.
Nowadays, I still do a political cartoon in every issue of “Dollars &
Sense,” a left-wing economics magazine that I’m a big fan of. But other than
that, I’ve quit the political cartooning game. My main cartooning outlet is
Hereville, an online comic book about the magical adventures of an
12-year-old Hasidic girl in an extremely isolated Hasidic
town. It’s sort of an oddball middle ground between “Buffy” and Isaac
Bashevis Singer.
I’m Jewish, but also an atheist, and I was raised in a reform Jewish
household. So in many ways the extremely Orthodox Jewish culture I’m writing
and drawing about in Hereville is as exotic to me as it is to my readers
(except for my Frum Jewish readers, of course!). I’m finding drawing and
writing “Hereville” to be such an exciting challenge; after years of doing
physically tiny cartoons about politics, it’s so nice to be able to increase
my scope, both in terms of the page size and in terms of themes and
characters.
Of course, even when it’s not directly about politics, almost no art is
apolitical. Right now Mirka, my main character, is very content with the
culture she’s being raised in; just as most Hasidic Jews greatly enjoy their
life and their culture. But traditional, insular cultures can be very hard
on square pegs, and as Mirka grows older in “Hereville” the patriarchal
aspects of her culture, which seem natural and right to her now, will chafe
her more and more.
People can find Hereville on the publisher’s website, www.girlamatic.com
(the current week’s page is always free to look at). There’s also a link to
Hereville – and to “Ampersand,” my still-ongoing political cartoon – on my
website, www.amptoons.com .
Between eight and twenty hours, depending on the week. More if you include
research. (I have a day job as well – I’m a wedding coordinator).
As a kid I liked art, but I was more enthralled by math and science. Then I
hit high school biology, and that was too gross, so I became artsy instead.
I took a lot of art classes then, especially life drawing. After high school, I attended and almost immediately dropped out of Oberlin College (which is also the alma matta – sp? – of Alison Bechdel of “Dykes to Watch Out For” fame). But that was still important, because I met the people there I’m still living with communally today.
Years later, I attended and dropped out of the School of Visual Arts in New
York City, where I was privileged to take cartooning classes from Will
Eisner, one of the greatest cartoonists of all time. Then I didn’t attend
UMASS, but I hung out there for a couple of years and contributed a daily
strip to their campus newspaper, which is great experience – nothing like
being forced to draw a strip a day to improve your skills. Of course, it
helped that I was unemployed and sponging off of friends for a lot of that
time.
More recently, I attended and – for a change – actually graduated from
Portland State University. I took a lot of drawing classes there, but my
major was a design-your-own combo of economics and women’s studies.
I’d advise them to ask someone else. If I had a clue how to do it, I wouldn’t have a day job.
Right now, the comics industry is in terrible shape. Many of the most talented cartoonists out there – people like Jenn Manley Lee, www.jennworks.com – have never earned a full-time living as cartoonists. There’s no longer an infrastructure to support more than a tiny number of up-and-coming cartoonists, which is unfortunate, because the talent base out there is enormous.
suggest?
I don’t mind, but I’d rather you tell me what image you want (I’ve done a
LOT of self portraits!) and I’ll email you a print-quality copy of it – an
image taken from the web will look bad when printed on paper.
I’d personally prefer that you use an image from Hereville – just tell me
which one, and I’ll email you a print-quality copy – but if you’d prefer one
of the self-portraits, that’s cool too.
Hope that this hasn’t been too far away from what you expected! Also, I hope
this isn’t too ridiculously long (but since you were familiar with my Ms
posts, you must have expected that!).
Barry
I *never* would have guessed you were a wedding coordinator :)
Congrats, it’s a nice profile.
By the way, it’s spelled “alma mater”. I don’t know if I can hold respect for anyone who can’t spell common latin phrases. All my dreams have been crushed.
Seriously though, congrats on the publicity. I too love the self portrait for Hereville. It kinda makes you look like a wild and crazy rabbi, which is all too appropriate.
I’m Jewish, but also an atheist
What I love about Judaism is it’s the probably the only religion where you can say this sentence and it makes perfect sense. I guess it works for Buddhism too, but oh well.
Ampersand, congratulations on the Post mention! Also thanks for the excellent pieces on fat prejudice.
I’m Jewish, but also an atheist
this works for indian catholics too. catholicism is only a cosmetic overlay. underneath … god is … red.
congrats on the wapo cite!
Congrats! I hope this does lead to more readers for your lovely comic.
Actually, I’m really interested to know if it does. Are you willing to follow up with a ballpark figure of new readers?
I’m willing, but not able – I don’t have access to board statistics of that sort. I’ll know if I get any new subscribers, but not for a couple of months, when the publisher sends me a report.
All right, Barry! Congratulations. (Bastard.)
Barry,
Nice profile and introduction to your work, but the overall message is pretty discouraging. I admire your work and hope you can eventually find a way to make the Internet pay, or lead to other work that does. Don’t give up.
Will Eisner is also a hero of mine.
Congratulations! And I’m very happy to see Copybabe is getting some of her articles in the Post!
Congratulations. I’m glad you’ll be able to share Mirka with even more fans.
good luck
Congratulations!
I.. uh… kinda wish I read Hereville, but I just already have this GraphicSmash subscription so that I can read Ursula Vernon’s Digger, and I don’t want to pay for a bunch of comic subscriptions…. grrr… I wish there were just one big ModernTales affiliates subscription. Or maybe a “pick 4 (or 8, or whatever) MT affiliate comics of your choice” thingy.
Alas, no. (Or is that Sadly, No!?)
Wow! Mazel tov, Barry, this is really exciting!
Congrats, Barry! Love the Buffy/IBS memebyte. I hope the networks pick up the option for it!
Very cool! Congratulations!
Congrats. But did you mean to leave page six off of the free samples?
Peace.
Weird. It was free.
Oh, well, I’ve fixed it – it’s free now. Thanks for pointing it out.
Barry,
You will burn in hell for all eternity if you don’t find God soon. God is the way, the truth and the light and some of the atheists who have responded to this post will face his eternal wrath.
Bryan Garland
Dial, Ga
Bryan,
It is you who is going to hell! Your God is one of hate and revenge. There ain’t no such animal. Wake up.
Doug
Wow! Free! I hadn’t noticed that! Thanks.
I found God! He was under the sofa. I don’t remember dropping him. Whew! I guess that saves me from God’s eternal wrath. And I’m so thankful that Bryan warned me – spring cleaning isn’t for months.
You’re so damn funny Jake Squid, making fun of God. A typical blue-state elitist know-it-all with no sense of reality. May God help you.
Bryan
(Actually, sir, I think you’ll find he was making fun of you.)
No, no. I was making fun of God who is so small that I could drop him under my sofa. And his ears are too big.
I’d never dream of making fun of Bryan who is, after all, just trying to save my eternal soul. Because, you know, unwelcome proselytizing is always a treat. When he collects enough souls he can trade them in for the giant bunny at the fair.
Mr Squid,
I pray for your soul and your unfortunate attitude toward our Creator and the hereafter. When the Rapture comes, it is you who will cretainly be LEFT BEHIND (readings that you would certainly benefit from).
Bryan, you shouldn’t be on a forum set-up for debate and/or arguments if you’re not willing to do either. And, since you’ve revealed your intentless, ego-drenched motives, most people probably won’t respond to you after this. Now run along, okay?
You poor souls. In spite of your hatred and denial of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, he still loves you. Please have an open mind and come to the Lord. He will accept you and you faults without question as he has accepted me. Think about it and act before its too late. Hell can be a lonely and painful place to spend an eternity.
Bryan Garland
Pingback: Notes from the Tundra
Pingback: Dreams Into Lightning
Pingback: Lean Left
Pingback: ms.musings