You should motor on over to Comics Reporter (actually you should be reading CR every day) for a very good interview Tom Spurgeon has with the excellent Lynda Barry. It’s quite alarming to read that someone with Lynda’s reputation struggled with getting a new publishing deal – if someone like Lynda has problems in that sphere it makes me even more worried for new talent trying to get their start in the medium. Thank goodness then for publishers like Drawn & Quarterly:
“So really, there was a long period where no one wanted to print my work at all. When Drawn & Quarterly asked me, I was overjoyed, because I love making books, and I really wanted to do What it Is, and I was happy someone cared about my work enough to want to print it. And I’ve always loved the Drawn & Quarterly books, they are so beautifully done. It happened that I was half way done with What It Is when D&Q contacted me. I had just decided to do the book anyway, not knowing if it would ever be published and in a way not caring anymore. I just wanted to give the thing form. I suspect it was Chris Ware who may have spoken to D&Q about me. I think he contacted some people and helped me out. He’s been good to me and I suspect many other cartoonists in this way. I love him for it. I thought the publishing side of my career was pretty much over,” Lynda Barry talking to Tom Spurgeon on Comics Reporter.
Mon, Jun 30, 2008
Comics and cartoons, Interviews