Lynda Barry

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So I was reading Cruddy for the third time and marveling at it once again and I checked ILX and somehow her name only comes up briefly in a few threads and that seemed wrong, yes? I think that book has more of a visceral impact on me than anything else I've read. I read 50 pages and I feel different for hours.

Also, Drawn and Quarterly is planning on publishing her new book next year, and reprinting the entire run of Ernie Pook's Comeek, which means that I'll finally be able to find that one strip that I read in 8th grade that turned me on to her. It involved a creepy girl with a wet-the-bed smell and a lot of paper gravestones with classmates' names on them.

So, I dunno, Search/Destroy/Discuss, whatever. Yeah!

― clotpoll, Thursday, 19 April 2007 06:03 (eighteen years ago)

Cruddy is one of my top ten novels of all time. Maybe top five.

― ctrl-s, Thursday, 19 April 2007 06:04 (eighteen years ago)

sssssso classic, i didnt know they were reprinting all of ernie pook so to sum up, OMG

― A B C, Thursday, 19 April 2007 06:07 (eighteen years ago)

I'll always thank Matt Groening for the first name drop of her I ever saw. "Funk Queen of the universe? She must be good..."

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 19 April 2007 06:09 (eighteen years ago)

[a href=[Removed Illegal Link] is hanging up in our library[/url]

― impudent harlot, Thursday, 19 April 2007 06:22 (eighteen years ago)

urghhhh

http://www.sullivanclinton.com/gallery/albums/album01/Poodle_With_Mohawk.jpg

― impudent harlot, Thursday, 19 April 2007 06:22 (eighteen years ago)

Further on Cruddy: it's a shockingly violent, very funny, and unbearably sad novel about a young girl in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Reviews calling it "too relentlessly dark" and "lacking in humanity" were NOT OTM; the same applies to praise for its supposed redemptive qualities.

Lynda Barry says she composed it by writing it out by hand in cursive with an ink brush from start to finish, in a mildly trance-ish state.

― ctrl-s, Thursday, 19 April 2007 06:25 (eighteen years ago)

wow awesome

― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 19 April 2007 10:56 (eighteen years ago)

She is one of my heroes. Absolutely top-tier comic talent working today and probably ever. Her seemingly effortless ability to evoke emotional states other writer/artists won't or can't even try to hit sets her way apart.

― Oilyrags, Thursday, 19 April 2007 11:16 (eighteen years ago)

Lynda Barry attended The Evergreen State College. Aimless attended The Evergreen State College. I think we were roughly contemporaneous, but I never crossed paths with her. I think I would have liked to meet her, but not be buddies or anything like that.

I stopped reading her stuff when it became clear that she would continue to flog her obsessions forevermore although they were losing interest for me, personally. Artists can be like that.

― Aimless, Thursday, 19 April 2007 17:56 (eighteen years ago)

i can think of very few artists, if any, who aren't like that.

― lauren, Thursday, 19 April 2007 18:20 (eighteen years ago)

She bothers me, although I can't pinpoint why.

― jaymc, Thursday, 19 April 2007 18:23 (eighteen years ago)

I love Ernie Pook.

― n/a, Thursday, 19 April 2007 18:29 (eighteen years ago)

http://www.marlysmagazine.com/strips/comeekm0.gif

― n/a, Thursday, 19 April 2007 18:31 (eighteen years ago)

There was one about a year ago that was a dance lesson and I loved it because it totally reminded me of my sister as a dorky kid.

― n/a, Thursday, 19 April 2007 18:31 (eighteen years ago)

My posted comic disappeared :( It was there a second ago.

― n/a, Thursday, 19 April 2007 18:35 (eighteen years ago)

OH now it's back.

― n/a, Thursday, 19 April 2007 18:37 (eighteen years ago)

I get the red x.

But if I check properties and cut and paste the url I can see it. That one's only a few months old! I honestly think she's improving with time.

― Oilyrags, Thursday, 19 April 2007 19:29 (eighteen years ago)

oh I loooovve lynda barry. Although I haven't read cruddy or any of her recent stuff, I guess I'd better catch up. I was just going through some old junk of mine and found a comic I'd cut out that was the story of the girl who met the monster who said he had a prince hiding inside of him and then he ate her, that was great.

― teeny, Thursday, 19 April 2007 19:37 (eighteen years ago)

I ADORE Lynda Barry. Her new one, 100 Demons is really potent and good as per, more autobiographical than her other stuff in a really god way. One of the stories in it is about her totally shit former relationship with Ira Glass! She also has a great thing about how she learned to write/imagine stories by making up lives and backgrounds for people in the classified ads.

She understands kids so fucking well---it seems really rare; most people totally veil off the feelings & experiences of childhood. Just simple stuff, a kid playing on the street and asking his friends, "Does this look cool? Would you look at me from a car?" A kind of question an adult would neer think about. And also of course the darker parts of teenagedom and youth.

She has another REALLY GREAT novel called The Good Times Are Killing Me, which is my favorite piece of writing about music ever. About growing up in poverty, listening to 7"s in the basement, falling in and out of a very deep friendship with a neighboring black girl. there's also great illustrations she made out of painted metal and wood of different soul groups pre-Supremes.

She had a great little strip about how everyone in her family sings to themselves all the time...just the clearest and best memories of kids and their hobbies, fantasies, desires, helplessness, imagination and misunderstanding. She's so dear to my heart.

― Abbott, Thursday, 19 April 2007 22:42 (eighteen years ago)

I also like the "Life In Hell" strip where a fan asks rabbit Matt Groening "What's it like being married to Lynda Barry?" "Pretty wild." (they're not married, hence the roffles)

― Abbott, Thursday, 19 April 2007 22:42 (eighteen years ago)

that strip in 100 demons sort of ruined this american life for me when i was young and indie-curious

― A B C, Thursday, 19 April 2007 23:14 (eighteen years ago)

Haha, as well it should.

It mainly surprised me bcz I (foolishly?) thought Ira was gay, esp. after the They Might Be Giants docu, which just felt like everyone wanted to do a TMBG-centered bukkake, including S. Vowell.

― Abbott, Thursday, 19 April 2007 23:15 (eighteen years ago)

<hipper-than-thou-jerkwad>100 Demons has been out for YEARS.</hipper-than-thou-jerkwad>

It undoubtedly totally rules, though. It RULES, I say! IT RULES WITH AN IRON FIST!

― Oilyrags, Thursday, 19 April 2007 23:47 (eighteen years ago)

I have two framed lynda barry pictures in my bedroom: one marlys and one sock monkey buddha.
Cruddy is great. I wish she'd do more full length stories. She's amazingly underrated as a comic artist too.

― forksclovetofu, Friday, 20 April 2007 00:36 (eighteen years ago)

This sounds amazing.

― clotpoll, Friday, 20 April 2007 01:19 (eighteen years ago)

$200? :{

I just READ 100 Demons recently so it seemed ALL NEW to me. When i first found her books in the library 8 years ago, I read them all in one go. then I found 100 Demons abt 2 years ago and sat in the library and read it...such a great book and it totally brought back the old MAGIC I felt when I first found her stuff.

This I cannot say of "Dykes to Watch out For." :P

― Abbott, Friday, 20 April 2007 01:51 (eighteen years ago)

I WANT TO GO TO THAT CLASS! I got the time in June & teh $! FUCK IT! I'M GONNA GO! THANKS FOR THE LINK! WHEEEEEEEEEEEE

― ctrl-s, Friday, 20 April 2007 02:04 (eighteen years ago)

Can eeemail a full report if you like, Abbott.

I never do stuff like this. It just felt not only right, but necessary.

― ctrl-s, Friday, 20 April 2007 02:16 (eighteen years ago)

trip report plzzz, i'm tempted myself

― A B C, Friday, 20 April 2007 02:49 (eighteen years ago)

Dude keboard shortcut pal, I would ADORE that!

― Abbott, Friday, 20 April 2007 02:52 (eighteen years ago)

I would have Lynda Barry writing workshops with all this white girls.

― Oilyrags, Friday, 20 April 2007 03:00 (eighteen years ago)

And Filipinas, too.

― Oilyrags, Friday, 20 April 2007 03:00 (eighteen years ago)

From the eBay listing:

You don't have to be cool! Your clothes can be stupid! You don't have to be talk to anyone if you don't want to! You don't even have to make eye contact!

This is probably what decided it for me (along with the fact that the class will be taught by the author of one of my all-time favorite books, which yes I know does not guarantee anything, but still). In fact I'd probably never take any writing class unless its blurb included this exact disclaimer. My city has a "literary center" -- "A Place for Writers!" -- but judging from its website, its printed promotional material, and the little writing I've seen that has come out of it, it looks like the kind of place that would give me hives, and it is not cheap either.

Lynda teaches a specific way of working she learned from her teacher, Marilyn Frasca, in the late 1970's and has used ever since. She says it will work for anyone who has any kind of curiosity about writing or remembering, especially people who have always wanted to write but have no idea how to begin.

EXCITED. Will post a report here & e-mail further detail to any who wish. But y'all should scrape up the $ and come too. Four spots left.

― ctrl-s, Friday, 20 April 2007 03:28 (eighteen years ago)

i have a friend who took her class and said it's hella fun.

― forksclovetofu, Friday, 20 April 2007 04:01 (eighteen years ago)

I so totally wish I could but I'm west of the Rockies & have to save my weekly pennies for p-nut butter. But I am excited to live through you vicariously!

― Abbott, Friday, 20 April 2007 05:21 (eighteen years ago)

I loce CRUDDY, I love Berry; I treasure 100 Demons.

― i, grey, Friday, 20 April 2007 06:20 (eighteen years ago)

The Freddy Stories is really good - probably the best (certainly the most intense) of the Ernie Pook anthologies (I think I've seen them all?). I remember when that story was taking place week to week...

― Tim Ellison, Friday, 20 April 2007 07:59 (eighteen years ago)

Is Drawn and Quarterly really publishing the entire run of the strip? Because it's been going for a long time, obviously! I've always wanted to read the series about the summer when Maybonne ran away from home again.

― Tim Ellison, Friday, 20 April 2007 08:00 (eighteen years ago)

> Is Drawn and Quarterly really publishing the entire run of the strip?

If they do, those bastards are probably getting my money.

― Oilyrags, Friday, 20 April 2007 13:51 (eighteen years ago)

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6405731.html?nid=2789

"D&Q will also republish her five-volume backlist of comic strip collections in newly redesigned editions."

"...followed later in 2008 by the first of five redesigned volumes (one each year) collecting the entire run of Ernie Pook's Comeek. Each volume will cover five years of the strip."

― koogs, Friday, 20 April 2007 14:13 (eighteen years ago)

i signed up!!!

lynda barry is one of my all-time heroes

― maura, Saturday, 21 April 2007 04:26 (eighteen years ago)

two months pass...

Hey, so how was the workshop, lucky folks who went?

― clotpoll, Thursday, 19 July 2007 09:17 (seventeen years ago)

eleven months pass...

I haven't taken the workshop, but she has transformed it into a book, which a certain ILXor with the initials D.W. reviewed (and raved about) at Salon a few weeks ago. I'll buy it as soon as I am able.

― Oilyrags, Thursday, 17 July 2008 21:18 (sixteen years ago)

I'm not crazy about 'what it is' as a story, but it's a great artbook.
Just read a great interview with her recently; astonished at how little she's getting paid for syndication.
http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/index/cr_sunday_interview_lynda_barry/

― forksclovetofu, Thursday, 17 July 2008 21:23 (sixteen years ago)

That looks like a terrific interview - I just skimmed it to see what you were talking about re: money, and DAMN, that is just shocking.

― Oilyrags, Thursday, 17 July 2008 22:00 (sixteen years ago)

great interview - will have to get through the whole thing later. I loves her.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 17 July 2008 22:24 (sixteen years ago)

No kidding! $15 a week??

xpost

I used to have a friend who sent me her strips with every letter he sent me. I thought it was a strange thing to do, but that's how I first saw her work and it was cool.

― Bimble, Thursday, 17 July 2008 22:31 (sixteen years ago)

two years pass...

In development: <a href="http://www.belladonnacommercials.com/features/development/5/";>Cruddy</a> film.

― ernestp, Saturday, 31 July 2010 15:32 (fourteen years ago)

Oops. Let me try again.

In development: Cruddy film.

http://www.belladonnacommercials.com/features/development/5/

― ernestp, Saturday, 31 July 2010 15:33 (fourteen years ago)

Oh man I saw a link that had Belladonna to a "movie" on the internet and I was terrified for a moment that a different Belladonna had signed on for this.

I'm not sure a movie of Cruddy would work. I think her other novel The Good Times Are Killing Me might adapt easier.

― strong women who were willing to remember a mom? (Abbott), Sunday, 1 August 2010 04:57 (fourteen years ago)

I haven't read/heard of Cruddy, only read One! Hundred! Demons!. Is Cruddy worth seeking out?

― Lexaprotend (Stevie D), Sunday, 1 August 2010 17:15 (fourteen years ago)

Cruddy is a regular ol' prose novel. It is as big a meltdown as a day stuck in the desert sun. It's very dark and very worth it.

― spanikopitcon (Abbott), Monday, 2 August 2010 02:14 (fourteen years ago)

one year passes...

Great big huge NYT Magazine story on her current work/writing workshops:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/magazine/cartoonist-lynda-barry-will-make-you-believe-in-yourself.html

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 27 October 2011 20:23 (thirteen years ago)

I met her and Harry Shearer in a bar in New Orleans. She was really nice.

― Blue Doggie Sweater (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 27 October 2011 20:28 (thirteen years ago)

10 book retrospective? cool

― koogs, Thursday, 27 October 2011 20:48 (thirteen years ago)

five months pass...

The Freddie Stories...so brutal.

― and i don't even care, similar to how a badass would respond (Abbbottt), Sunday, 8 April 2012 23:03 (thirteen years ago)

oh god, yeah

― JoeStork, Sunday, 8 April 2012 23:09 (thirteen years ago)

Anyone picked up the first volume of her ***COMPLETE*** ***AMAZING*** ***WORKS***?

― and i don't even care, similar to how a badass would respond (Abbbottt), Sunday, 8 April 2012 23:56 (thirteen years ago)

Freddie Stories is my favorite Lynda thing. I should read it again soon.

Cruddy I literally read in one uninterrupted session, as if I were 10 years old again or something. It possessed me.

― tales from endoscopic oceans (Jon Lewis), Monday, 9 April 2012 03:00 (thirteen years ago)

two years pass...

Lynda Barry has created the best syllabus of all time

http://cdn8.openculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Barry-1.jpg

― never say goodbye before leaving chat room (Crabbits), Tuesday, 2 December 2014 01:51 (ten years ago)

syllabus is a+ awesome

― a stupid red mute juggalo (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 2 December 2014 09:06 (ten years ago)

two years pass...

https://mobile.twitter.com/shallowbrigade/status/869773247885299712

― JoeStork, Wednesday, 31 May 2017 17:37 (eight years ago)

lol @ final line

― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 31 May 2017 22:07 (eight years ago)

two years pass...

2019 Macarthur Genius Grant recipient!

― WmC, Wednesday, 25 September 2019 12:27 (five years ago)

Oh how awesome for her! I saw this revive and was worried she was dead.

― ☮ (peace, man), Wednesday, 25 September 2019 13:17 (five years ago)

Good move, this is the kind of person MacArthur should be choosing

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Wednesday, 25 September 2019 13:50 (five years ago)

Fuck yeah!

― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Wednesday, 25 September 2019 14:27 (five years ago)

four months pass...

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2020/01/30/comics-as-poetry/

― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 31 January 2020 15:26 (five years ago)

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