Comix Friday: Ariel Schrag’s “Likewise” is finally here!

Be sure to check out j.'s story this week about "Rivington Street," a comic strip about Yiddish culture in New York during the Great Depression that is on display right now at the BJE Jewish Community Library in San Francisco.

~~~~~~~~~~~

I got the coolest news ever on Monday, when our publisher opened up a package that had come into the office and said, "Rachel, I think this is a book for you."

It was "Likewise" - cue a gajillion exclamation marks!

"Likewise" is Jewish comic artist - and Berkeley native - Ariel Schrag's final book in the brilliant High School Comic Chronicles series - the other books are "Awkward," "Definition" and "Potential." The series follows Ariel as she comes out as bisexual (in "Definition") and a lesbian (in "Potential"), has her first serious relationships, watches her parents' marriage fall apart, loses her virginity, goes to prom and just hangs out with her friends. Far from a navel-gazing teen melodrama, the books are deeply revealing and introspective.

They're also surprisingly mature. Each of Ariel's previous books was written while she was still in high school - "Awkward," about her freshman year at Berkeley High, was done the summer before her sophomore year, and so forth. Before attracting the attention of a real publisher, Ariel would get her comics Xeroxed at a local copy shop and hand them out around school the next fall.

But it had been years since Ariel's BHS graduation, and still no senior-year comic. In an interview with Ariel for my cover story "Comic expressions," which ran in j. in May 2008, she told me that "Likewise," the last chapter in her BHS saga, had been in the inking phase for "the past decade," and at the time she wasn't sure when it would be published.

Well, now we know: The book will be in stores April 7 (and is already available at some online retailers). I have my copy. Will you?

Even though Ariel went on to be a writer for "The L Word" and do lots of other creative, amazing (and time-consuming) stuff, I did wonder what it was about "Likewise" that made it take so long to complete. I'll wager a guess that post-high school, life simply got in the way, but the book is also GIGANTIC, as in 359 pages long gigantic - and weighs, according to Amazon, 2.3 pounds. (By comparison, "Awkward" and "Definition" make up one 144-page volume, and "Potential" is 232 pages.)

I immediately called dibs on the book and am reading it right now. I won't reveal here what I think of it so far, because I'll be reviewing it for a future issue of j.

So now that "Likewise" is out, can I make a request? Killer Films - please get started with filming Ariel's screenplay of "Potential"!

~~~~~~~~~~~

Comix Friday is published in the Art Scene blog every Friday, and focuses on Jewish comic artists and Jewish-themed comix. If you know of anything I should be blogging about in Comix Friday, let me know!

Comments

Be the first to comment!

Leave a Comment

In order to post a comment, you must first log in.
Are you looking for user registration? Or have you forgotten your password?