I Heart Autobio Comics

My awesome hub does comics. Yep. He does. And they are cool. He hasn't always made comics. No. He hasn't. He's been an illustrator for a loooong time and has done some pretty cool things. Like bookcovers (including this series for HarperCollins), character design, editorial illustrations and band posters. He has also been a lecturer at university. BUT, all those things have been eclipsed by comics. He is obsessed and has finally found his true calling. It's awesome.

The kinds of comics I'm talking about here are not your average superhero comics but autobiographical comics. These are comics about real life. They are often just small observations about a particular event that happened during the day. A quick insight into someone's life expressed through comics. They are amongst my favourite comics to read.

One thing that often comes up in these comics is that the artist wonders if documenting seemingly insignificant observations is worthwhile. I say hell yes! I can't get enough of autobiographical comics. Not only because I am inherently nosey and like spying on people but if they are done well, autobio comics help ground you a little. They remind you we're all in this together. We all have quirks and we all have times when there's not much going on. Life is like a seesaw, sometimes it's up, sometimes it's down. So much of our lives are spent trying to impress people, to make others believe we have it all together and we're so busy with fun, amazing things all the time. I love how a good autobio comic is not afraid to remind you that the little things (like having a good dance or listening to a friend laugh) are experiences worth sharing. These kinds of comics are awesome and very much an important part of contemporary comics.

Through his blog Chris has met some super cool people doing similar stuff. Comics have been swapped and sent across the globe. We feel like we know people we've never even met! It's COOL. Most recently, we got some stuff from Sam Spina (you have GOT to check out his daily comic here). His comics, as well as his envelopes, are most awesome.






Inside one of the envelopes was Sam's latest autobio collection. Go buy it.


We even got a print from Sam's lady Samantha (underneath our Tasmanian Devil Head - not a real head folks). How cool is that?!


Here are some of my current favourite comic artists you need to have a look at -

The godfather of daily comics James Kochalka
The awesome Chris Downes (go back to 2009 for the daily comics, there are over 300)
The aforementioned Sam Spina
Cool UK chick April Nash
Lucy Knisley
Jeffrey Brown
Hope Larson

Who are your favourite comic artists right now? Leave me a comment so we can check them out!