Teenland

After dinner at Ryoji, I wandered over to Revival Bar for a book launch. Recent Toronto transplant Jillian Tamaki was releasing SuperMutant Magic Academy. This was originally a long-running web comic on tumblr. Previously, she had drawn two award-winning graphic novels with her cousin.

Before her interview with Anna Fitzpatrick, a writer for Rookie Mag and other on-line publications, Tamaki did a short presentation. Sketches, inspired by tweets from teenagers, were shown while she read the tweets. They were greeted with hilarity because people can't help but shake their head over how intense everything seems at this age including boycotting overpriced cafeteria cookies, pining after crushes, and the myriad injustices in the world. The "feels" as the kids may say ... or not.

Though it might seemed like a good segue, Tamaki admitted that the comic wasn't really about the teenage experiences of its cast of characters because she was decades removed from that scene. She accidentally proved that point when her 90s references in her answers, such as the 1992 Degrassi movie School's Out, got no recognition from the crowd of 20-somethings.

The strip was a way for Tamaki to spontaneously work through some recent or past issue. Yet she noticed that once the strips were gathered in book form, themes did emerge. The rougher, "simpler" style also allowed her freedom from the meticulous and detailed work of not only her previous graphic novels but also her job as a commercial illustrator.

Tamaki was an engaging and honest interviewee. She got a lot of laughter from her anecdotes and asides, especially her on-going buttered tart quest with a fellow comic artist.