Slices of Life
Comics don’t always have to be action-packed sagas that chronicle the feats of superheroes. Sometimes, all one wants is to zone out on the lives of others. Alternative comics and other forms of “slice of life” comics offer a departure from the onomatopoeic exhaustion of staying current on Spider-Man’s intrigues, exploits, allies, nemeses, crossovers and spin-offs. Before the birth of the underground comix scene in the late 1960s, newspaper strips like Krazy Kat, Peanuts, The Family Circus and Li’l Abner followed the everyday lives of beloved but ordinary characters. Many of the alternative comics that emerged following the underground comix movement arguably represent a synthesis of that movement and the “everydayness” of 20th century American comic strips. There are countless of these, many of which considered seminal works, but since this exhibit seeks to uncover diversity in comics, you’ll notice plenty that are not represented here. The best thing about slice-of-life comics is that they can be about literally anyone or anything.
Read more about alternative comics:
Sabin, Roger and Teal Triggs, eds. Below Critical Radar: Fanzines and Alternative Comics From 1976 to Now. Slab-O-Concrete, 2000. PN6714 .B45 2000
Skinn, Dez. Comix: The Underground Revolution. Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2004. PN6725 .S55 2004
In 1981, Mario, Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez, also known as Los Bros Hernandez, launched the critically acclaimed Love and Rockets. The series constitutes not only one of the first alternative comics to emerge in the 1980s, but also one of the most diverse, centering on life in Latin-American communities in Los Angeles and Palomar (a fictional village in Central America). It’s difficult to be brief about the complex web of characters and stories found in over 30 years of Love and Rockets. Generally, the Palomar stories contain melodrama and aspects of magical realism while the quirky, often humorous Los Angeles stories, or “Locas,” chronicle the lives of Maggie and Hopey, two friends (and occasionally, lovers) and their friends and associates. Women are portrayed realistically, with the exception of the surreal features of certain Palomar characters, and background and body type are as varied as the many characters, who also age as the series progresses. Love and Rockets is continually celebrated in the comics world as one of the most groundbreaking, original and influential series in the industry.
The Boondocks was a satirical comic strip about African-American culture and American politics by Aaron McGruder that ran from 1996-2006. It started on hitlist.com and ran briefly in monthly hip-hop magazine The Source before being picked up by Universal Press Syndicate and appearing in various newspapers. The two main characters, Huey Freeman (named after late Black Panther Party leader Huey P. Newton) and his younger brother, Riley, are two African-American children who are forced to move from Chicago’s west side to a white suburb of Maryland. Huey is a highly critical devotee of black radical ideology while Riley is infatuated with gangsta rap and thug life. The series explores the isolation the children feel living in a white neighborhood, as well as a larger cross-section of African-American sociopolitical currents explored through other characters. Five bound editions of the collected strips were published between 2000-2007, including Fresh for '01...You Suckas! The Boondocks also ran as an animated sitcom on Adult Swim from 2005-2014 and received critical acclaim despite frequent controversies that arose over the series’ unapologetic provocations.
Chris Ware’s Building Stories (2012) is a multi-part set of stories contained within a box, its form evocative of the three-story Chicago brownstone in which each takes place. The main character, an unnamed disabled woman, recalls her own life and interacts with other tenants in the brownstone through the fourteen printed components. Topics include abortion, suicide, loss, age, disability (the loss of the unnamed woman’s lower leg in a childhood boating accident), relationships, depression and motherhood. Chris Ware is well known for his elaborate and meticulous style, which remains of consistent caliber throughout his award-winning works including the Acme Novelty Library series and Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth. He pays significant attention to the physical format of each component, rendering his work of an artistic quality unlike many other comics.
Religious diversity and tolerance are themes that work well with slice-of-life comics due to their highly conversational nature. Craig Thompson’s Blankets and Habibi explore the author’s evolving understanding of his own spirituality, which proves decidedly non-Christian in Blankets, and that of Islam, through the necessarily awkward filtration of his Americentric views. Some other notable comics to feature Muslim life include Ms. Marvel, Persepolis (on display with memoirs), and The 99. Will Eisner’s A Contract With God and Art Spiegelman’s Maus (on display with historical comics) explore Jewish life in New York and the Holocaust, respectively.
San Diego-born Lalo Alcaraz launched La Cucaracha, one of the most politically-charged comic strips in American history, in 2002. The nationally syndicated strip which focuses on Latino culture and political commentary has been likened to The Boondocks and Doonesbury. The main character, Cuco Rocha, is an anthropomorphic cockroach/human hybrid who astutely critiques everything wrong with racial relations in the United States. La Cucaracha reclaims a racial epithet used by unenlightened Americans to describe Mexicans, Chicana/os and Latina/os. Alcaraz, a long-time activist and influential personality in the Chicano Movement, has been vocal about numerous issues including immigration, stereotypes, cultural appropriation and lately, President Donald Trump.
American Born Chinese (2006) is an award-winning graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang comprising three interconnected tales that examine Chinese identity, Asian stereotypes, and racial relations. Yang had already created several Asian-American characters during his career as a cartoonist before he took on the experience of Asian-American life. American Born Chinese was the culmination of several story lines he had developed toward this effort. The three stories, all distinct but ultimately related, weave together an individual’s need to belong while maintaining a grasp on one’s own heritage. The graphic novel is also notable for its use in K-12 curricula, in which it satisfies many Common Core concepts through Yang’s unique mode of storytelling.
Curated by Anna Culbertson