Autobio Comics

This year’s Black Comic Book Festival held in Harlem drew swarms of fans obsessed with Luke Cage, Sherlock and Holmes, and other superhero faire. Whit Taylor‘s tiny booth of mostly autobio comics quickly caught my eye, and I left with a copy of her comic Ghost expecting it to be a light-hearted, philosophical look at society.

Boy, was I wrong.

Instead I was left with an unparalleled experience that shocked me with its raw honesty. And yes, it’s a “twist,” but it’s a good kind of twist. The kind that doesn’t cheapen itself or dumb itself down, but actually elevates itself into another realm. I could bore you with a quick summary, but Ghost is the type of comic that’s more powerful if you go in blind with no expectations. Equal parts funny, inspiring, and heartbreaking, Ghost is a comic that’s not easily forgotten.

Although illustrator and cartoonist Lillie Carré has a breadth of comics and books in her roster, this animated comic created for The New York Times‘ “Private Lives” series is the first time she gets autobiographical. Asked to confront the theme of “memory and identity,” she tells a story about a time she and her friend shared an innocuous memory involving feet…and blood. The twist, however, is that both friends remember the incident differently, which opens up the intriguing notion of false memories and our identities within those memories.

In the gallery we only included images and excerpts from the comic, but you can read the whole thing here. Carré also has an entire Tumblr of animated illustrations if you want to see more.