Andersen, Sarah. Sarah’s Scribbles. Web. 25 January 2016.
This website is a collection of cartoons by Sarah E. Andersen, a contemporary freehand cartoonist who primarily publishes her work online. Though she is a professionally-trained painter, she is most famous for her simple pen-and-paper drawings of herself and her life experiences. Her simple comic strips will often take mundane, everyday instances and draw out the humor from her own perspective. This is a primary example of how to present simple comics that have a subtle way of eliciting humor, and I attempted to emulate her minimalist, artistic tone through the two comics in my piece. Her drawings are relatively simply and rely a lot on facial expression to elicit humor. I attempted to take this a step further by also weaving in typography to elicit specific emotions depending on the topics presented, such as the overwhelmed-and-questioning-all-life-choices, wide-eyed expression I drew for the “Choosing a Major” cartoon.
Correll, Gemma. Gemma Correll’s Daily Diaries: A Chronicle of a (Mostly) Boring Life. Web. 12 January
2016.
This webpage is a specific facet of Gemma Correll’s website that includes an archive of daily entries to her cartoon diary. Correll is a prominent cartoonist, illustrator, and graphic designer who is known for her quirky, kitsch style, which I came to realize related to the zine genre. Nearly every day, she produces a daily diary entry that is in the form of a comic, some more detailed than others. In addition to Sarah Andersen’s cartoons, Correll’s work gave me a more specific view of how to tell a more detailed story through the visual image.
Additionally. the storylines and topics of Correll’s pieces are never very serious and are always relatable, including events as mundane as being woken up by her cat in the middle of the night. Still, I realized that this is what made them funny, as it is what makes Correll endearing to an audience she’s never even met. I tried to emulate this in my piece, by incorporating broad topics that most every college student or graduate could relate to, more specifically drawing on the relatable moments that seem so small and insignificant that they aren’t even acknowledged (such as the specific biases people have about certain college majors and ridiculous internship requirements). By actually acknowledging these tiny aspects of everyday life, in the comics and in my zine in general, I attempted to generate the same type of relatable humor as Correll.
Diffee, Matthew. Hand Drawn Jokes for Smart Attractive People. 26 May 2015.
This book is a collection of mainly one-panel and grid cartoons, each focusing on a topic completely unrelated to the last. What binds the drawings together is their witty humor, presented mainly through the artist’s careful choice of captioning and social critique. I also appreciate Diffee’s attention to detail and the authenticity of actually hand-drawing each cartoon, as the title implies. He also incorporates amateur, hand-drawn typography into his cartoons, which I emulated through the comics and headers of my project. My main takeaway from this piece was the effect of hand-made, do-it-yourself projects. At the start of my project, I considered completing the magazine solely though digital editing platforms. After looking at Diffee’s slightly-messy hand-drawn cartoons and analyzing how this effect added to their humor, I decided to hand-make my project as well.
Duncombe, Stephen. Notes from Underground: Zines and the Politics of Alternative Culture. 1 September
1997
This source provided a broad history of the zine genre and also included a variety of examples from prominent zines throughout history, such as Once Upon a Distro (focusing on issues of genderqueer people and people of color) and Ben Is Dead (focusing on social critiques and general rawness). From these, I was able to introduce myself to the genre and generate content ideas from reading certain excerpts. The written content in Ben Is Dead is incredibly honest and opinionated; for example, the section “Fruitleather Weather” is very explicit and straightforward on the topic of sex, and is not afraid to take a strong, brash stance on its issues.
Something I struggled with throughout creating my zine was, essentially, being “mean” in my writing. Often I would begin to include a comment, and then second-guess its niceness or political-correctness. Though I steered clear from writing in a way that was so radical that it might exclude or target the audience, I was able to write through an edgier lens after reading the samples included in this book. After seeing the extremely edgy examples from other zines, I felt more comfortable harshly critiquing college topics with the potential to offend someone, such as when I decided to include the “Basic Sorority Girl” stereotype in the “Ten People You Meet in College” section. I second-guessed this a lot, since I thought a lot of girls I knew might resist it, but these zines inspired me to just go for it and take writing risks.
Farmer, Frank. After the Public Turn: Composition, Counterpublics, and the Citizen Bricoleur. 3 September
2013.
This book analyzes zines from a scholarly perspective, questioning how they can serve as academic resources and their place in educational environments. I mainly used this source for the detailed history of the zine genre that it provided in the section “Zines and Those Who Make Them: Introducing the Citizen Bricoleur.” The author begins to delve into the topic by explaining the topic of bricolage, or using a wide variety of different things to construct something new. This detailed explanation of the genre inspired me to think about how I could utilize bricolage in my zine, which eventually led me to incorporate pictures I took, screenshots, images from the internet, and cartoons into my piece, aside from the text.
What was also interesting to me was Farmer’s concluding chapter, “Locating the Bricoleurs Among Us.” Here, he argues that there are two different types of publics, cultural and disciplinary. By learning about the importance of cultural publics (revolutionary and non-conventional works of art and literature) in relation to creating social change, I felt more confident in my choice to use the zine genre to share a relevant message.
Fey, Tina. Bossypants. 5 April 2011.
Bossypants is the first autobiographical humor book that I ever read and, therefore, has had a significant impact on how I view comedy writing and interpret conventional modes within the genre. This book served as a good example of how to tell personal stories with humor intertwined. Throughout the piece, Fey’s tone is incredibly realistic; she withholds next to nothing when telling her personal stories, which sometimes creates a self-depreciating humorous aspect that builds to provide an honest broader argument about her experience as a woman in the workplace (and the world in general). I attempted to emulate this lighthearted self-depreciation in my work, especially in the section regarding party culture, and how I just wish I could go home. I had Fey in mind when writing this section in particular, as she had many stories in her memoir regarding her socially awkward tendencies.
Additionally, I was especially inspired by Fey’s tendency to use lists as a way to express humor, such as in a list where she includes everything that can be considered “wrong” about a woman’s body. I loosely replicated this in my work through many of the pieces, including “The Ten People You Meet in College.” In effect, like Fey’s lists, this piece was more accessible to the reader and flowed well from one idea to the next.
Gloeckner, Phoebe. Diary of a Teenage Girl: An Account in Words and Pictures. 1 September 2002.
Diary of a Teenage Girl is a graphic novel telling Gloeckner’s somewhat-autobiographical story of growing up as a female. There are some serious moments, but the piece does a great job of presenting humor alongside these topics through an illustrative narrative. The piece also focuses a lot on feminist issues and presents the “transition to womanhood” from an incredibly honest perspective.
There are a lot of overlapping concepts and values between Gloeckner’s work and the zine genre, as both present raw, edgy topics in alternative forms that don’t really generate mainstream traction (though Gloeckner’s piece is still pretty well-known.) In my own piece, I tried to mimic Gloeckner’s no-holds-barred attitude toward writing a realistic memoir of sorts. In the same way that she was unafraid to explain the less-glamorous aspects of growing up as a female, I honesty explained aspects of college without smoothing over the truth. Specifically, I feel like I channeled my inner-Gloeckner when I mentioned “stepping in vomit in the community bathroom at 3 a.m.,” as she was never afraid to shy away from traditionally-crude topics like this. Glockner told it like it was, and I tried to do the same.
Helitzer, Melvin. Comedy Writing Secrets. 1 October 1985.
Though this book is a little dated, its lessons still ring true. Comedy Writing Secrets was written by a current comedy writing professor with experience in television sitcom writing. It is divided into chapters, each focusing on a different type of comedy writing. One section that was especially useful was Chapter 15, which focuses on the theory visual humor and constructing jokes that are actually funny to a broader audience.
As I was beginning my project, I figured out that comedy writing was a lot more difficult than it seemed. This is what motivated me to check out this book, which helped me adopt some of the technical skills behind the craft that readers take for-granted. For example, the text explained how simple line breaks and indenting play a huge role in humor writing, and that short sentences are often best for punchlines or conclusions of jokes. This can be seen at the end of my conclusion, when I just wrote, “Let me know how it goes.” This short sentence expresses the bluntless I took away from this instructional source. Still, though this book addressed comedy writing from a technical lens, I realized that there is a human, natural element that comes along with the craft and can’t really be learned from a text.
Kaling, Mindy. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns). 1 November 2011.
Kaling’s first book perfectly exemplifies honest, personal humor by presenting moments and opinions from the author’s own life through a lighthearted, self-depreciating lens, making them interesting to all readers. She does a very good job or remaining conversational through her writing, which was a tone I imitated in my own project. Kaling is also not afraid to remain blatantly honest, and balances self-deprecating comments with just enough confidence to show that she is relatable but also competent. One section that is particularly relevant to my project is where Kaling describes what qualities make a good friend, which deviates from the norm and includes unexpected anecdotes in a style that I hoped to replicate in my own work.
At the same time, though the title and many of the headers of the book seem lighthearted, Kaling does not forget to address a larger issue, in this case womanhood and growing up in a family of immigrants. In my writing, I hoped to do the same thing; though I used comedy and lighthearted jokes, I attempted to also present the deeper, underlying issue of insecurity, self-doubt, and felling lost in college.
McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics. 22 March 1993.
Understanding Comics analyzes the theory behind comics through the medium of, what else, a comic book. He goes in-depth regarding the history and evolution of comics and their important contributions to the humor genre. Still, this book isn’t just about cartoons; it explains a lot of concepts of visual design, such as space, depth of field, close-ups, the rule-of-thirds and different varieties of typography that are used in conjunction with images to elicit certain emotions. This educational perspective helped me transpose my ideas into visual form and inspired me to look at my zine from a sort of cartoon-ish lens. For example, this motivated me to use hand-drawn images for the “Group Project” section, rather than simply looking up pictures online.
Miller, Kelly. Post Comment Below. 10 August 2014.
Miller’s zine Post Comment Below explores the stories of unknown subjects solely through their email exchanges. The reader can’t tell whether the emails are real or fiction, which serves as part of the intrigue and mystery. This piece is a good example of the “modern zine” that merges computer-generated images and layouts with a handmade feel through stamping and linocut printmaking. I was inspired by the layout of the zine, as many of the text boxes and images were overlapping and appeared to have been haphazardly thrown on the page. Still, when there was a group of text that needed to be read, it was clear and legible. I emulated this in my piece by portraying a messy feel through torn edges and slanted text boxes, but still used a pretty clear font and matted the important text boxes. One element of my piece that was directly inspired by this zine was the email screenshot in the “Group Project” section, which mirrored the presentation of many of the email exchanges in Post Comment Below.
Moran, Caitlin. How to Be a Woman. 16 June 2011.
Moran’s piece utilizes quick-witted, honest humor to present personal vignettes and stories on the surface, and serious feminist issues on a deeper level. The piece is a memoir, but more-importantly explains the topic of sexism in general through various life experiences and a unique perspective that allows readers to connect with the author through shared experiences. I was inspired by Moran’s ability to utilize humor as a tool to present a story that needs to be told.
Though my theme of addressing insecurity and embracing individuality in college may not be as serious as the institutional sexism about which Moran wrote, I hoped to emulate her ability to address a broader, important topic through seemingly-lighthearted humor, such as her description of growing up overweight. Reading her piece, I felt like I was enjoying a light, easy-read. As I continued, however, I noticed myself thinking differently about deeper aspects of the world around me and questioning societal norms. In my zine, I hoped to motivate readers to think differently and critique the world around them, specifically in regards to the institution of college and how it may strip its students of individuality in search of a profit.
Perry, Mark. Sniffin’ Glue (Issues 1 - 3). 13 July 1976.
This piece is a highly-influential fanzine that arguably kicked off the alternative publishing movement in the late 1970s, which would last through the 1990s (and is experiencing a revival today). Mark Perry was not a professional writer, designer, or drawer, yet produced the fanzine with a simple black marker and paper out of passion for the punk genre. He wrote to fill a void in the music publishing business, as many magazines tended to neglect the punk genre because of its underground roots. Perry’s zine reflects this neglect of mainstream culture; the layout is random and seemingly-unbalanced, grammar is off, and curse words litter the page.
After looking through pages from various issues of Sniffin’ Glue, I was able to better-understand the grassroots nature of the zine genre, specifically regarding its early publications. Though my zine is not quite as raw as Perry’s, I tried to mimic the aesthetic of the punk counterculture (to the best of my abilities) by often utilizing a black, white, and red color palette, literally tearing edges of paper, and alluding to vintage alternative works through the Courier typeface (the typewriter font). Overall, Perry’s work inspired me to be edgy to attempt to care less about what other people would think (while still remembering my audience).
“The Pros and Cons of Attending College.” The Onion. 7 April 2016.
This article posted on the satirical news site The Onion is fairly short, but helped me get my ideas flowing when developing my sarcastic tone. It uses a list of short, hyper-detailed sentences that express comedy whilst getting at deeper issues. For example, one of the “pros” of going to college they listed is, “Able to engage with a diverse new group of people from all over southwestern Ohio.” This joke gets at the deeper issue of the lack of diversity at collegiate institutions by using a hyper-focused lens (southwestern Ohio) as part of the humor.
In my own work, I attempted to implement similar dry quips that hinted at a broader issue through sarcasm and satire. A lot of this mirroring shines through in my mock-admissions letter section. When I wrote the line, “You’re clearly a spunky and creative person, and we are truly excited to see more of your full potential,” I tried to mimic the heavily-sarcastic tone of The Onion. The publication often lays on their sarcasm pretty thick to ensure that audiences will understand the humor and be able to connect to the jokes, which is exactly what I attempted to emulate.
Rushfield, Richard. Don't Follow Me, I'm Lost: A Memoir of Hampshire College at the Twilight of the '80s.
29 October 2009.
This memoir digs into the experience of a student at a liberal, New Hampshire college in the 1980s from the perspective of a new freshman hoping to bury his previously-nerdy persona. Each chapter builds upon the last to chronicle the author’s personal experience, which are hyper-specific and tailored to his own unique experiences. Many of the topics presented in the memoir were sources of inspiration for my zine, such as questioning one’s “true identity,” students attempting to “find themselves,” and the zany characters that almost seem purposefully typecast into their specific cliques and roles.
As I read through selected chapters of this book including the introduction and conclusion, I appreciated the hyper-specificity of the author’s writing. He mentions certain facets of student life that only apply to his New Hampshire school, such as how the roommate system worked and what bars and clubs were nearby. Still, though I wasn’t familiar with his school or the New Hampshire area in general, I was able to connect to and appreciate the piece. This revealed the potential benefit of writing from a very specific lens, and writing what you know overall. Previously, I had been questioning whether I should include specific University of Michigan references that outsiders may not completely get. After reading parts of this piece and still being able to appreciate the humor as an “outsider,” I decided to write what I am familiar with and profile my personal experiences specific to the University of Michigan.