NOT OLD YET - GABRIELLE BELL

[MattBrady]

by Daniel Robert Epstein

At this point in her career Gabrielle Bell has probably only done three or four interviews including this one. So it was very interesting to talk to someone that doesn’t know all the tricks to tell their interviewer. Some stuff other people might have a set answer for, she doesn’t have, she won’t blow off any question because she assumes that she has to answer it. Nor is she all about promoting her book, website or herself. She never sounds like an infomercial.

Bell is one of those women that are funny because she doesn’t know that she’s funny. We all know that cool girl in high school that reads comics, Fyodor Dostoevsky and was really easy to talk to. There was usually only one person like that in each high school and Bell was it.

She first started stapling mini-comics together and giving them out at conventions. That eventually caught the eye of Jeff Mason at Alternative Comics who released a collection of those mini-comics called When I'm Old And Other Stories. Her stories are much different than other cartoonists who started out like her such as Mary Fleener, Ariel Schrag and Phoebe Gloeckner. Her stories are much less body and relationship oriented than any other autobiographical comic creator I’ve ever read. Her comics seem to work on much higher plane somehow. It’s very hard for anyone to explain, even Bell had trouble. She is definitely a soft-spoken intellectual.

Newsarama: Where’d you grow up?

Gabrielle Bell: Mendocino. It’s about four hours north of San Francisco.

NRAMA: When did you first get into reading comics?

GB: My parents had some comics so at age 5 I was reading The Fabulous Freak Brothers and MAD Magazine. I was more into Fat Freddy’s Cat than Fat Freddy himself. I also read Tintin so I think I’ve been reading comics for as long as I could read.

NRAMA: Were your parents hippie comic collectors?

GB: Yes but they weren’t serious comic book collectors. They just had them around the house. I remember seeing some strange comics from that era but I can’t remember which ones. As a matter of fact I remember one particular comic in an anthology that I can’t find anywhere. It was really lowbrow but it would be interesting to see now.

NRAMA: What did you think of those books when you read them at such a young age?

GB: I found a lot of it really shocking. It was all very strange to me.

NRAMA: What were your parents like?

GB: We lived in the mountains and it was very isolated. We didn’t see a lot of people for the most part. My stepfather was sort of an ex-hippie. My mother read a lot of literature like Tolstoy, and even Aleister Crowley. I inherited a love of books from her.

NRAMA: Where is your birth father?

GB: My real father lives in Amsterdam. He works for the government or something I don’t know exactly what.

NRAMA: What kind of student were you in school?

GB: I wasn’t such a good student but I was good at English, art and drama and not very good at math or science.

NRAMA: Have you always drawn?

GB: Yes I’ve been drawing since I was able to.

NRAMA: When did you figure out that comics were something you wanted to do?

GB: When I was a very small child I really idolized Peanuts like many cartoonists. I was very frustrated because I couldn’t draw like Charles Schulz. I always thought I would be a cartoonist then eventually become a real artist.

NRAMA: So at the time you didn’t consider comics a real art form?

GB: Yeah and I think I was about 10 or 13 when I decided to become a cartoonist. Then when I was in my teens I wanted to be in a rock band or something.

NRAMA: Did you play music?

GB: Not really. I tried playing guitar but I wanted to paint, write stories and I wanted to do more fine art. But then I left high school a little early and rediscovered underground comics from Fantagraphics and Drawn & Quarterly.

NRAMA: Why’d you leave high school early?

GB: I graduated early.

NRAMA: So you’re a genius?

GB: I took all AP courses in the stuff I was good at. But I did independent study courses.

NRAMA: What did you do your independent study course in?

GB: I just read a lot of books. It was kind of a joke really. I think I did a comic about it.

NRAMA: When did you put pen to paper and start doing your comics?

GB: When I was in high school I did some comics for a history class. I did some Greek myths like Perseus, that was a lot of fun. Then for Shakespeare class I did a comic about A Midsummer Nights Dream. Also there was a contest in a local newspaper which I won by doing this comic about being a vegetarian. But it was small town and there was only one other person in town who drew comics and we both entered the contest. So it wasn’t exactly competitive.

NRAMA: So you did a lot of adaptations.

GB: I didn’t make those connections of it being an adaptation. But there is something exciting about taking some literature and trying to express it in comics.

NRAMA: In When I'm Old you have the DH Lawrence adaptation…

GB: Yeah I see pictures in my head while I’m reading. I like to try to get it across to people. I used to like to do book reports because I would read a book and I would be so excited about it that I would want to tell people what I’ve learned from it. Or I would read a book and tell somebody the plot because I was so excited. So adaptations are my way of sharing my excitement about stories with other people.

NRAMA: A lot of times I find that female comic book creators might have had a rough life.

GB: Most comic book writers probably did. Why female cartoonists?

NRAMA: That’s what I’m asking you.

GB: I think childhoods tend to be rough anyway. I think that being a child is traumatic enough.

NRAMA: You have a lot of autobiographical stories in your books. Are they strictly true?

GB: I think it is fairly true and fairly based on reality.

NRAMA: You look at yourself in future time periods in your life. That’s not something artists often do. What makes you want to look ahead?

GB: Because I think as an artist you have to start with something. I’m not a very good cartoonist really. But I think using one’s own life as a starting point is important. I also think that real life is just really fascinating.

NRAMA: How so?

GB: That it’s happening to everybody.

NRAMA: Many of your stories almost feel dreamlike at times. Is that what they are?

GB: I think some of them are dreams. The one that was a dream has me living in Mexico and having a baby.

NRAMA: Other stories are about people pouring their heart out to you. That happens a few times in different stories like the guy in the bar and your grandmother.

GB: That true. I’m this open vessel for other people. I do seem to get that a lot. It’s important for an artist to listen and pay attention.

NRAMA: Recently Harvey Pekar has been doing stories that aren’t his life but are other people’s stories. What is it you find in these other people’s stories that makes you want to illustrate them?

GB: Empathy I guess. Like I said life is happening to all of us and the stuff that these people say, I could be saying the same things. Its not so much what they are saying as what I hear them saying. I pick out the things that are interesting to me therefore it is also autobiography.

NRAMA: With your drawing style in When I’m Old its hard to tell if you are changing your style to suit the story or if you are just getting better at your craft.

GB: It changes a lot. The stories are kind of in chronological order but not quite. I have tried all different kinds of styles but like I said I am a beginner and I haven’t really established a consistent style. I think it’s good to try different styles as well. I don’t want to see the same thing all the time.

NRAMA: What was it like self-publishing your first mini comics?

GB: It was fun and satisfying a lot because it was arduous. It was miserable a lot too. I got a lot of good feedback and encouragement so I could keep on doing it. I probably lost a great deal of money. I found I was improving in leaps and bounds. Each story seemed to be better than the last. It was satisfying making these little books with the colorful colors, going to conventions and trading with people.

NRAMA: How did you hook up with Alternative Comics?

GB: I was crashing in his hotel room with Ariel Schrag. I showed him my comics and a year later he called me and asked me if I wanted to do a book. I wasn’t very aggressive in shopping my book around. I didn’t really think they were publishable. I’m glad that they are though because it’s nice to have them all in one book.

NRAMA: How has the experience of putting out When I’m Old been?

GB: It’s been fine. It hasn’t been wildly successful or anything. I’ve been selling books here and there but I’m not sure what the sales are. I think most people that know my work have most of the mini-comics. So the book is nice to see but it hasn’t been flying off the shelves.

NRAMA: In When I’m Old there aren’t a lot of stories about relationships and sex. I just found that unusual in an autobiographical book…

GB: Perhaps it’s because I grew up on 19th Century literature. There’s not any sex in Crime and Punishment.

NRAMA: Is it embarrassing for you?

GB: Well no because I’ve done a lot of comics that are extremely embarrassing to me. I am not interested in telling a story that is shocking or to make myself out to be an exhibitionist.

NRAMA: What stories have embraced you?

GB: The one about my grandmother. Actually all of my stories [laughs].

NRAMA: Do you censor yourself at all?

GB: Yes I think I do. I don’t exactly have an editor. I guess I don’t want to put down things that aren’t interesting or are not part of a story.

NRAMA: What’s coming up next?

GB: I’m putting out more comics through Alternative Comics called Lucky. It’s autobiographical short stories. The second issue has come out already and Alternative Comics is going to put out the trade paperback in January.

Check out Alternative Comics’ website for Gabrielle Bell at:
http://www.indyworld.com/bell/

[Robot H Brian]

This sounds cool - my first thought when I saw the cover was "Palookaville", which is a good thing. However, I couldn't find any examples of interior art on the Alternative Comics site. I'd love to take a look inside before I have my shop grab one for me.

-B

[upstart]

What a coincidence, I just got this last week (but was thinking of picking it up long before, along with Sara Varon's Sweaterweather). Haven't gotten around to reading it yet, but the art looks good and the production values of the book are terrific; seems more like a Drawn & Quarterly book than an Alternative one in that regard.

[Michael C Lorah]

Nice interview. Maybe it's because I just finished Blankets a few days ago, but I'm in a mood to read some more good autobio comics.

I'll definitely keep an eye out for this book.

[Barry]

Great interview Dan! I interviewed Gabrielle a few weeks back for Grayhaven (http://www.ghmonline.com) and I'm really thrilled to see her getting more and more attention. She's definitely a talent to watch out for.

To all the rest of you: go buy her book!

[United Comics]

When United Comics did our first San Diego Con a few years back, we sat next to Gabrielle, who was selling her mini-comics and I thought "this is something, I would like to publish". Alternative Comics beat us to it, but I'm glad she has her day in the sun.

I highly recommend this book (it sits on my shelf next to the mini comics I bought from her at that show).