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Autobiographical Conversations

It’s probably best to start this one off with a “warning” of sorts: this is a comic between the writer/artist and a professor about the nature of autobiographical stories, specifically comics. That’s right, an autobio comic about autobio, so if those aren’t your types of comics generally, this is most likely a comic that you should avoid. Unless the intense focus on the subject matter (and the lack of much in the way of personal details about the author) flips it back around to being interesting again to you. What do I know, I’m not in your brain. Anyway, it’s right up my alley, and also impossible to review in any coherent form without giving away some of their conclusions and/or making this a 3000 word review about my own thoughts on the subject. But my thought come from years of reading such comics, while theirs come from years of schooling and, as such, their thoughts are the better ones to follow. Anyway! The vast majority of this comic is a conversation between Ryan and a professor on his campus. They discuss the merits of showing autobio stories from the perspective of the author versus only focused on the author, emotional truth versus literal truth, and how your perception of yourself is most likely different from how other people see you, and whether or not it’s possible to tell that truth if you’re also including your own perceptions of other people. It’s heady, fascinating stuff, or at least it will be if you like autobio comics. I think it would be anyway, purely for anybody out there who spends too much time in their own head. If that sounds like you, give this a shot! Ryan has been a favorite of mine since the early days of this website (2001), and it’s always nice to see those guys and ladies still making great comics. $12