I have a fondness for the autobiographical genre, and yet too often the form is used for mopey, self-indulgent stories that are a chore to read rather than a pleasure. That makes it doubly delightful when someone gets it right, and it's clear that Diana Schutz's Autobiographix anthology is a labor of love that has benefited from the time and care spent on putting it together. One could guess at the quality within just by sampling some of the names involved in the book, which includes work from a variety of Dark Horse mainstays like Frank Miller, Stan Sakai, Sergio Aragones and Paul Chadwick, as well as autobiographical comics master Eddie Campbell and relative newcomers like Farel Dalrymple and Paul Hornschemeier. While not every story in this anthology is to my taste, I think it's fair to say that there's not a bad story in the bunch, and on top of the stories being revelatory glimpses into the lives of comics pros, they tend to be very entertaining and funny as well.
By far my favorite stories in this volume are the ones that made me laugh, and the ones that were completely true and grounded in the real but which had a surreal element. Sergio Aragones tale of meeting Richard Nixon was a blast, not just because he writes it like he's telling a story directly to the reader but because it's such an odd encounter, a cartoonist who had a run-in with a pop cultural figure who engages the imagination. Rather than playing up the obvious gag of having an innocuous run-in with a controversial figure, Aragones touches on the little details of the people around him or the conversation he had, and makes it something anyone can relate to. Paul Chadwick's "The Building That Didn't Explode" has a slightly more reflective tone, but is still kind of funny in that "wow, that's weird" kind of way, and he also goes into all the important details about the people and settings of the story so that the reader can really feel like they were there.
Stan Sakai's story of his trip to France has the same weird, off-kilter reality feel to it. It was a surprisingly dark little tale, but so odd that you couldn't help but be amused, and it was entertaining enough that I found myself wishing Sakai would take a sabbatical from Usagi Yojimbo and expand into a little more autobiographical work. Given the many years he's been in the industry, I'm sure he has plenty of tales. Matt Wagner's story doesn't really fit into any category, being basically an illustrated recipe for chicken parmigiana, but it's very entertaining, and like Sakai's story, had me wishing for more in this vein, thinking how cool an illustrated cookbook by comics pros would be.
Frank Miller's "Man with Pen in Head" is a satirical story that pokes fun at Miller's own image, a goof on his cameo in the Daredevil movie done in Sin City style that had me laughing all the way through. Short, but sweet. The same description could be applied to Will Eisner's tale, which can be read as either an "in your face" to the guys who turned him down in the early days or (more likely) an encouraging note to artists currently dealing with their rejection phase on their way to success. Short but sweet also describes the three-page Diana Schutz/Arnold Pander "Tuesday Night at the Jazz Club" which gives a feeling for a night out at the club in just a few pages.
Bill Morrison and Linda Medley both turn in sort of casual looks back at their younger days, with Morrison's tales of young Bat-mania coming to a satisfying full circle as he helps his nephew out with his young fandom and Medley's tale of a day out at the playground a very effective paean to the joys and pains of nostalgia. And William Stout's tale of a tough choice as an artist was full of a surprising amount of suspense for such a short story.
Even with that rundown, there are five other stories that go unmentioned, by familiar indie names like Metaphrog and Eddie Campbell. This is a fantastic book, a tribute to the possibilities of the autobiographical format and a collection of great art and story from some of the masters of the field. I'd love it if we could see another volume with different creators somewhere down the line.
