Teen Boat!
Buy at Powell’s

Teen Boat! (2012, Clarion Books) is about a teenage boy who turns into a boat named Teen Boat (in case, you know, the title didn’t immediately tip you off to that), Originally a series of (Ignatz Award-winning) minicomics, creators Dave Roman and John Green pull in amazing amount pop culture influences (Turbo Teen is an obvious reference point, as are teen dramas like Dawson’s Creek) into something that’s still fun and original. Trust me when I tell you that Teen Boat! is really one of the best things ever.

Teen Boat is mostly a typical teenager — he has a platonic best friend, Joey, and is in love with the exchange student Niña Pinta Santa Maria. He tries to impress the cool kids and he gets into trouble. He runs for class president and gets a part-time job. And yes, quite often he turns into a boat.

Roman and Green clearly had a so much fun making this — there’s a giddiness to the writing and the goal seemed mostly to make each other laugh first. They throw in pirates just because, why not? The characters travel to Italy mostly so Teen Boat can fall in love with a gondola (and the silent montage sequence of the date between Teen Boat — in his boat form — and the gondola is probably one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen). There are explosions and mysteries and monster trucks. The writing is quick and clever and Green’s art has an animator’s eye for character design and expression. The rich primary colors do give a new dimension to the art that wasn’t present in the minis.

Despite all the references that are packed in here, Roman and Green just use those as a starting point. They provide a bit of a backdrop and texture, but the book doesn’t rely on them for its humor. If you’re too young to be familiar with them (or just don’t catch them), the book is still a delight.

I have one tiny complaint, though, but I want to emphasize it’s tiny. I don’t think the new material has quite the same energy as the material that appeared in the minicomics. I think this is probably only something you’d noticed if you’ve read the minis and that’s not to say I was at all disappointed. It’s all such great fun I just almost felt like I needed to complain about something.

Buy this book! Read it! Laugh! Tell your friends! I absolutely love that things like Teen Boat! exist in this world.

And just to link to it again, here’s Abby Denson‘s Teen Boat! song:

• Iranian-French author shares culture, Karolina Ramos, GW Hatchet
• Toronto Comic Arts Festival 2012 Questionnaire: Deanna Echanique, Mark Medley, National Post.
• I love this book: ‘Hit By Pitch’, Whitney Matheson, PopCandy.

Debuts and new issues:

• Bamn: Rob’s Adventure — free digital comic by Jay Payne (artist) and Troy-Jeffrey Allen (writer)
• Cartoon Picayune #3 — anthology edited by Josh Kramer. It is currently available online and should be in Politics & Prose and SMASH! soon.
• Starseed — ongoing webcomic that updates Tuesdays and Thursdays by Sarah P. (artist) and R.M. Rhodes (writer).

Upcoming releases:

• Team Cul de Sac: Cartoonists Draw the Line at Parkinson’s, various artists, Andrews McMeel Publishing. Benefit book for cartoonist Richard Thompson. June 5.
• Xoc: The Journey of a Great White, Matt Dembicki with colors by Evan Keeling, Oni Press. July 25.
• Mr. Big: A Tale of Pond Life, Carol and Matt Dembicki, Sky Pony Press. Sept. 1.
• District Comics: An Unconventional History of Washington, DC, various artists, Fulcrum Publishing. Sept. 11.

Events:

• Ongoing until June 17: “Life Unreal: Art by Evan Keeling and Scott White,” Northside Social, Arlington, Va. Artist reception is May 26 from 7 to 9 p.m.
• May 11: Jim Ottaviani and Leland Myrick, creators of Feynman appearance, 6:30 p.m. at American Institute of Physics, College Park, Md. Free and open to the public.
• May 12-13: Curls Studio (Carolyn Belefski and Joe Carabeo) at Asbury Park Comic Con, Asbury, N.J.
• May 12-13: Rafer Roberts at Asbury Park Comic Con, Asbury, N.J.
• May 12: Full Sanction (Rusty Rowley and Joe Mochove) at Winston-Salem Toy and Comic Book Show, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m, Winston-Salem, N.C. Admission is $2 and children younger than 12 are free. Presented by Ssalefish Comics.
• May 18-June 23: Christiann MacAuley (artist profile) at Artomatic, Arlington, Va.
• May 19: Super Art Fest 2012, noon to midnight, Metro Gallery, Baltimore, Md. Benefit for Ulman Cancer Fund. More information on Facebook or at Super Art Fight.
• May 24: Henry & Glenn Forever #1 release party with Ton Neely and Ed Luce, 7 p.m. at Atomic Books, Baltimore, Md.
• Beginning June 7: “Graphic Details: Confessional Comics by Jewish Women” at the Ann Loeb Bronfman Gallery, Jewish Community Center, Washington, D.C. More details to come.

Have comic news or events related to the D.C. area to share? Email me! Submit no later than Wednesday at 9 p.m. for inclusion each Thursday, but the earlier, the better! More information is here.

• Articles/blog/reviews about your work
• New releases and debuts
• Con appearances/signings (in or out of the area)
• Book/project announcements
• Kickstarter/Indiegogo campaigns
• Art shows
• Any milestone — a new chapter of your webcomic, your 100th podcast, for example
• Con/event wrapups (blog entries, links to photo galleries, podcast recaps)
• Other things you think I should know

As a general guideline, I want things to have a “date” attached. If you are a creator from outside the area making an appearance here or you’ve reviewed a book from an area creator, also contact me.

I need all submissions by 9 p.m. Wednesday night for inclusion that week. Entries publish Thursday morning at 8 a.m. I prefer nothing older than two weeks and would like to have events a month in advance, but I am absolutely flexible.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask. I can’t do this without your help!

Recent weeks:

• The D.C. Area Comics Scene for May 10

Promoting her new book, Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama, Bechdel’s presentation was delightful but much too short. She said this was not a sequel to Fun Home, even thought that was about her father and this is about her mother. Still, she said it’s about quite a bit more than just her mother — it’s also about her experiences with psychotherapy and psychology.

She gave a quick glimpse into her process of creating comics. She does a lot of sketches before drawing the final page, experimenting with angles and layouts. She also works quite a bit from reference photographs, most of which she takes of herself. She also said she’d “not be able to do what I do without Google Image Search” since she also looks up places and brands for reference. She showed several of these with the final comic image for comparison and it was really fascinating how much work she does before she even starts drawing.

She laughed about all the scenes in the book that take place in her therapist’s office — she said the abundance of these images was “inexcusable” and finding a way to make these images dynamic was “problematic” but they were necessary to the story she was telling.

After reading two segments from the book, she took questions from the audience. One asked, in reference to a Virginia Woolf quote that appears in the book, if Bechdel felt she’d “put her mother to rest.” Bechdel said she doesn’t know yet — yes, the book was an attempt to do that, but it’s still too soon to say if it worked.

Going back to her process, another question asked how much she plans her layouts before drawing. Bechdel said she writes in Illustrator and while she doesn’t draw there (except for maybe rough sketches or a few placeholder images), it helps her figure out the pacing and the rhythm of her book first. I wanted to hear her talk more about this and I hope I get to one day.

A few questions concerned her family’s reactions. She said her mother isn’t exactly pleased with the book, but can separate the content from its existence. She’s happy to support and defend Bechdel even if she’s not delighted that her daughter wrote a book about her. Bechdel did remark that her mom said “Please, I hope you’re done now.”

Bechdel said she hasn’t heard from her other family members and it’s likely they haven’t read it yet and implied that they mostly know it’s just kind of what she does at this point — tell stories about her family.

In conclusion, she did joke there’s one reaction she’s worried about. “The big thing is, I’m waiting to hear from my therapist.”

(I know that’s not a great photo of Bechdel, but it’s the best one I was able to take — I was far enough away and there were too many heads in the way. But it was a good thing it was crowded. Bechdel absolutely deserves that.)

What you may not know is that she’s an absolute delight to hear speak, as a diverse (and, I’d like to point out, mostly female) audience at George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium last Friday found out. Satrapi, stylishly dressed with adorable wedge shoes (look, I was sitting close enough to notice, OK?) and bright lipstick, was relaxed and animated throughout.

On paper, two women sitting on a stage talking shouldn’t be this entertaining, even if the two women are Satrapi and Iranian author Azar Nafisi. But if anything, the 90-minute interview felt a bit too short. Satrapi can talk, but everything she says is charming, insightful and hilarious.

If there was one theme of the conversation, it was Satrapi’s insistence that people be true to themselves. Far from being a message of “peace and love” (Satrapi laughed about that later, saying she knew that’s what she sounded like she was advocating), her stance was presented as more of a challenge. Prompted by Nafisi, who brought up that Stephen Colbert called her “dangerous,”, Satrapi said that the truth is always subversive and she doesn’t think Persepolis is a particularly mysterious story. It was just “her voice against those voices” — of the Iranian regime, certainly, but also those who think that’s all there is to Iran.

Satrapi then launched into an entertaining rant about how so many people have abandoned pleasure. “Fear makes us stupid” she said, and she’d rather enjoy life while she’s living. So many people, she said, spend all this time taking care of themselves — not drinking, smoking, eating or having sex — when they’re going to die just the same as she is.

She recounted that when she decided to become an artist, it was because she couldn’t think of anything else she wanted to do more. She mentioned with dismay that art students ask her at what point she started making money. It was never about that for her and she doesn’t think it should be about that now.

Nafisi asked about how Persepolis got made, and Satrapi said she didn’t want to do it at first but only relented because she was given money to have a “new experience.” She did say she tried everything she could to get out of it — she wanted to be animated, in black and white, in French — and the producers, to her surprise, said yes to everything. She knew she wanted to be animated because it made it more universal. It was about her experiences growing up, yes, but animation made it more abstract and easier for everyone to related to than if it had been live-action.

Her experiences making Chicken with Plums, though, was different. She said she had trouble getting it financed and what she wanted to do was questioned, including why she wanted it in French if it took place in Iran. She brought up to these people there are plenty of movies in English where people are playing Germans or Austrians and she really didn’t see the difference. Still, she lamented the dearth of creativity of the film industry — no one has a problem making another Transformers movie but a movie like Chinatown, which is one of her favorites, would never be made today.

Asked by Nafisi about her views on the Internet got some laughs since Satrapi said she’s “technologically inept” and she can’t even type. She’s not interested in the Internet and made some good points — out of your 500 Facebook friends who “of these people would come cook you chicken soup when you’re sick?” She said she dislikes that the Internet makes the world a small village and that everyone knows what you’re doing all the time. She said she’d rather live in a “big city.”

Satrapi also joked about how only men should take women’s studies and that she was always confused that women were expected to be modest as to not tempt men. “Where’s the men modesty?” she asked.

As they typical are, the audience questions were a mixed bag, but I liked the woman who asked about the relationship between truth and creativity. Satrapi said that everyone remembers things different and truth is not reality. She also thinks it’s OK to cheat for the sake of the story, recounting that one event in Persepolis that happened when she was 14 in the book actually happened when she was 18. It worked better for the story she was trying to tell at the earlier time.

The last few questions were related, mostly about the power of individual voices. Satrapi said she doesn’t consider herself a spokesperson for Iranian immigrants because she doesn’t want that responsibility — she said it’s hard enough for her to be responsible for herself.

Satrapi said she’s not inclined to trust governments because politics aren’t going to change the world. Instead, she said “all the changes in the world was started with words.” And if there was one summary of everything she said Friday night, that having your own opinions and ideas is “not to be rebellious. It’s just to use the brain.”

And then with characteristic playful charm, Satrapi concluded the evening with a goodbye and a claim she really needed a cigarette.

(Lisner did not allow photos so I respected that, which is why there are none. And as thanks to the people who made this possible for me, you should shop at Big Planet Comics — especially U Street and Bethesda, but shop at them all! — and read the webcomic Sam & Lilah.)

The collection of the first four issues should be out soon and Whitley was kind enough to answer a my questions via email.

Comicsgirl: Congratulations on the Eisner nominations. How much of a surprise was it? Anything you want to say about it?

Jeremy Whitley: It was a huge surprise! Action Lab has asked if I was okay with them sending it in for consideration, but I had never imagined that it was an actual possibility, especially not for the individual issue award. Obviously I believe in the book but there is a lot of great competition out there. I’m ecstatic about being nominated.

All I really have to say is thank you to those who believed in the book and please vote if you haven’t already.

CG: There’s a tendency to make action heroines nearly perfect — they’re strong and smart and without flaws. Adrienne is definitely smart and capable, but she’s also someone who doesn’t seem to quite know what she’s getting herself into. How did you make sure she was still a character to admire while still feeling real?

JW: I based her a lot on my wife and my sister-in-law (after whom she is named). She’s somebody who seized her freedom and overflows with determination, but the reality is that determination does not necessarily win the battle for you.

It’s very important to me that if she’s a character that girls are going to look up to, that they can also see themselves in her. It doesn’t do any good to have a role model if you can never live up to them.

CG: Adults have happily embraced this title, but we’re not necessarily the target audience. What has the reaction from children — girls as well as boys — been?

JW: Well, understandably not as many of them write Internet reviews and send me Facebook messages about how much they love it, but all the kids and parents I have talked to have said they loved it.

I met sci-fi author J.L. Hilton at a convention last year and sold her the first few. When she found me at another convention a few months later, she snatched up the other two issues saying “My daughters and I read the first two issues every night before bed. They love them. We NEED these other two.” I’ve actually had a couple reviews where the reviewers have mentioned handing them off to their kids or reading them with their kids. Those are some of my favorites.

CG: You touch on many social issues — race and racism, gender roles for both boys and girls — as well as media presentation of female characters. While one of my favorite scenes is Adrienne’s horrified reaction to the skimpy “armor” Bedelia initially presents to her and I think it does work in context, it’s still very self-aware in the statement its making. How do you balance the points you want to make while maintaining telling a good story?

JW: To be honest, when I wrote issue 3, I wasn’t sure that I had. I kept having people read it and asking “Is this too preachy?”

Thankfully, they mostly said that they didn’t think it was and I left it. That seems to be one of people’s favorite scenes too.

As far as race, I wanted it to be a part of the book, but in the way that it always is. As a fact that isn’t constantly talked about. Adrienne is black and that’s the way it is. Too often I think that people struggle when they spend their time pointing it out. In Adrienne’s land, however, she is one of the royal family. White girls can look at Cinderella and Belle and Sleeping Beauty and relate to them without constantly having to be reminded that they’re white. Black girls deserve that sort of comfort as well. I made a point of pointing it out in the first issue, gave her a chance to jump up and down and shout it, then I moved on.

As for the armor chapter, I wanted it to be both a bit of pointed satire and a kind of mission statement for the story. I want to tell and action story about girls that’s for girls and doesn’t feel it’s necessary to rely on some of the older tropes.

CG: Princeless: Save Yourself, which should be out soon, collects the first four issues of this series. What’s next? How much more of this story can we expect?

JW: Well, the original plan was to continue to produce mini-series until we finish the story of Adrienne saving her sisters, which should run about 25 issues.

In addition to that, we’re actually now working on a series of short comic stories about the characters and their world. These stories are being illustrated by a team of amazing female artists for a collection due out late this summer. I think fans of the book so far are really going to enjoy these.

Meanwhile, Volume 2 is well under construction and should be available this winter. I’ll be posting a lot of the progress on both the second volume and the short stories online at princelesscomic.tumblr.com and on my (@jrome58) and the Action Lab‘s Twitter accounts.

Whitley will be signing copies of the Princeless: Save Yourself that collects the first four issues (copies should be in stores soon) May 5 (Free Comic Book Day!) at Big Planet Comics in Vienna from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and at the College Park store from 3 to 5 p.m. Jorge Aguirre, writer of Giants Beware! from First Second will also be signing copies of his book.

And yes, I know that the Vienna signing conflicts with watching The Legend of Korra (although these signings were scheduled before the airdate for Korra had been set so it’s forgivable), but I’ll just have to catch it later.

Hit by Pitch
Buy at Powell’s

I am pretty indifferent when it comes to baseball, but Molly Lawless‘ Hit By Pitch (2012, McFarland & Company) was one of the comics I was looking forward to most this year.

In her book, Lawless tells the story of the fastball, thrown by pitcher Carl Mays, that killed shortshop Ray Chapman in 1920. But that one incident isn’t the whole picture — it’s also about two men — the charming Chapman and the dour Mays — and the culture and history that surrounded them. It’s less about the annotation in a box score and more about the people involved.

Lawless’ art is, as always, delightful, and is definitely this book’s strength. There’s a playfulness about it, as characters have vibrant expressions and slightly oversized heads. But her open page layouts and complex backgrounds give it a surprising formality. Much of the good stuff is in the little details — the way a character suspiciously eyes another, to the subtleties of period fashions. With her gorgeous crosshatching and distinctive lines, Lawless’ art doesn’t look quite like anyone else’s.

As far as the story goes, readers know what they’re getting into (the subtitle of “Ray Chapman, Carl Mays and the Fatal Fastball” gives it away!) but what happens isn’t quite the point. Lawless tries to humanize both these men. Chapman was clearly well-loved by everyone who knew him — Lawless recounts stories of how he charmed and married society girl Kathleen Daly along with his willingness to participate in his friend’s prank as passing him off as a famed Irish tenor. Mays, on the other hand, was uptight and unlikeable, for the most part, chastising fellow players for their drinking and deserting his team. Lawless injects humor and affection into her portrayal of both men (although if I were to guess, she’s clearly more of a Chapman fan — but how could you not be?).

Like most tales of history, there are no clear answers and the episodic nature can sometimes feel a bit choppy, but Lawless does a great job of organizing the story into coherent chapters. Still, some of the best parts are the asides that split from the main narrative, like when “Wamby” tells the tale of fight that three players got into before Chapman’s funeral. These pieces give more color and texture to the story than the straight historical facts ever could.

Hit By Pitch is a lovingly-told story of a piece of sports history most of us don’t know about. As you enjoy the beginning of baseball season, it’s worth knowing what’s happened before. Or, even if you’re like me, this may inspire you to think again about what baseball is all about.

I absolutely understand what it feels like to have all these things you’ve spent years trying to tell people about and being ignored at best or made fun of at worst for them. And then all the sudden all these other people decide all these things are awesome and you feel a little pushed by the wayside. Trust me, I get it.

But I also think there’s room for all of us.

Does it make me less of a gamer because I’m more likely to buy Bejeweled 3 than Mass Effect 3? (My two favorite video games are Tetris — for the original GameBoy — and Street Fighter II, by the way.)

Does it mean I’m less of a comic book reader because I get more excited about Mara than I do Avengers vs. X-Men? Or does it make me less of a fan of film because I prefer Wong Kar-Wai over Steven Spielberg?

All of these things are personal preferences. And I absolutely think finding common ground in your interests and tastes with other people is important — it definitely is. But I don’t think that’s all there is. And to me, the more the merrier.

For instance, I would never tell my mom she wasn’t a comic reader. She doesn’t read a lot of comics, but she’s expressed interest in several of titles I’ve mentioned (and she was curious about R. Crumb’s The Book of Genesis before I brought it up). My mom may not be the sort who goes to the comic book store every Wednesday, but I think my mom is as valid of a comic book reader as someone who does.

Those girls who pick up the Twilight manga because they loved the novels? They’re reading comics, too. At best, maybe they’ll decide the like the medium and decide to seek out more comics. At worst, that’s all they’ll read. I don’t have a problem with that either way. Both are completely valid.

I get I’m absolutely lucky in that I get to hang out with knowledgeable comic retailers and creators. But for as many gaps in my knowledge that I admittedly have, none of these people have ever once made me feel stupid. They’ve maybe handed me books and said I needed to read them, but they’ve never made me feel inferior for not having done so already.

So all you geek girls that are maybe just starting out and are maybe dabbling in all these thing: I absolutely welcome you. I have plenty of comics and movies and games I am more than happy recommend. If you decide this isn’t your thing, that’s cool, too. I just hope you did get to meet some great people in the meantime, because ultimately, that’s what this is about.

(Image is Jill Thompson’s art for Graphittie Designs’ Sandman/Death/Delirium T-shirt, which I may or may not be wearing right now and may have or may not have since I was 16 … anyway, it’s appropriate enough.)

Uglies: Shay’s Story
Buy at Powell’s

I absolutely love Scott Westerfeld‘s Uglies trilogy. It is actually one of my favorite dystopian stories, actually. The general premise works — who, as an awkward adolescent, wouldn’t want to be turned gorgeous and get to party all the time?

While Westerfeld’s ideas aren’t necessarily the most innovative, he had a fresh and relevant take on them, and ultimately, the books are a beautiful metaphor for growing up and finding (and accepting) your own power.

While I basically knew a comics adaptation of them was inevitable, like any beloved material, I approached the announcement of it with some skepticism. Two things, though, reassured me — that Devin Grayson would be leading the adaptation and that it was going to be told from Shay’s perspective (who was the best friend/rival of the main character, Tally). That it wasn’t going to be a straight retelling made it more intriguing to me.

The manga-esque art by Steven Cummings did not, though. I don’t think manga-style art was a bad choice for this story — in a lot of ways I think it suits it — but the early images I saw just felt a little generic.

I’m giving all of this as background to say: I went into reading this with quite a lot of baggage. Uglies: Shay’s Story (Del Rey, 2012) had a lot to live up to and a lot to prove.

And it did both things. Mostly.

If the title didn’t tip you off, without a doubt, this is Shay’s story. I like that this adaptation shows things that were only mentioned in the novel. Shay’s motivations are much clearer, and at least this early in the story, she’s much bolder and more savvy than Tally. Even though much is made about Shay not wanting to get the surgery that will turn her “pretty,” it feels in character. Shay is thoughtful and willing to face life, even if it means hardship. She took a while to get there, but her willingness to not take things at face-value makes her intriguing.

While I was never anti-Shay — she is nearly as important to the trilogy as Tally is — I think I’m going to like seeing her journey and her perspective on these events.

Grayson and Westerfeld do justice to Shay’ story while still making it a compatible companion to the Uglies novel. I was happy that this didn’t feel at all redundant.

All those things are great. But I do have complaints.

I enjoy the early scenes with Shay, certainly, as she and her friends play tricks on the Pretties and learn about the people who’ve set up their own society outside the cities. I also like that the sinister Special Circumstances is much more present from the very beginning. However, these parts take up the bulk of the graphic novel and I feel like Shay’s experiences out in the Smoke are kind of shortchanged. The conflict between her and Tally also feels rushed toward the end, almost as if the page count was quickly approaching and the story needed to be wrapped up.

While Cummings’ art grew on me and he certainly has a dynamic eye for page layouts and action — the hoverboard scenes are fun and full of movement — I feel like the character design suffered. No one really looked distinctive to me and I don’t think there was enough differentiation between the pre-operation characters and the post-operation characters. Yes, I get that the “uglies” aren’t necessarily ugly, but everyone in this book was just a little too good-looking for it to work. With a story that’s so much about appearances, this was distracting.

Still, I’d like to continue following Shay through the next two books. And I realize I’m due to read the Uglies trilogy again.

Interior art taken from Scott Westerfeld’s blog.

Comicsgirl: Bizarro Heroes is a collection of your cartoons skewering superheroes. Are you (or were you) a superhero comics fan? What appeals to you about the subject?

Dan Piraro: Though I am a regular reader of various kinds of literature now, I hated to read as a kid, so my interest in comic books was entirely about the art. I bought tons of them but only followed the stories by looking at the pictures. I still had the same fantasies of super powers that attracts most people to super heroes, of course. I think the contrast between those childhood fantasies and the reality of an adult world are what amuse me about the topic now, and many of the comics in this new book deal with that aspect of fantasy world meets real life.

CG: Why comics? What is your creative process when it comes to creating them?

DP: Good question, I wish I had an answer. I’ve always loved comics, especially single-panel ones like I used to see in magazines when I was growing up. Back then, all magazines were peppered with cartoons, not just The New Yorker. As an adult, I was inexplicably drawn to creating them and still am. It’s just a creative urge that has remained constant all these years. I suppose it is the way I am wired.

My process when creating them is frequently to surf the web for other people’s comics. Looking at good comics makes me want to create ones of my own. I find the same thing to be true of fine art; when I go to a museum or gallery, I want to rush home to paint.

CG: Most of your comics are one-panel comics. Do you find it hard to express a joke clearly given those constraints? Do you ever have ambitions to do longer-form work?

DP: Single-panel comics have always been my favorite because the story is not spelled out for the reader. You have to put it together in your head –– what just happened before this picture and/or what is going to happen after? –– and that little feat of mental gymnastics is what makes you chuckle. I sometimes think of long-form comics and use them in my Sunday panel, where there is room to expand. But for the most part, my brain works in the single-panel form and I have no trouble getting my idea across that way.

CG: You also do standup comedy (as you are at the Riot Act Comedy Theater on Sunday). How do you approach performing standup differently than creating comics?

DP: Stand-up comedy is entirely different. What is funny in speech is not always funny in print and vice versa. I’ve tried, however, to combine elements of both in my comedy shows. I don’t do strictly stand-up, I also show images of cartoons and other things that bring visual humor to the show.

I learned to do live comedy by trial and error, just like everyone else. You start by tossing out one-liners in school as a kid and if you can make people laugh, you just build on that skill over the years until you have the courage to try it in front of a roomful of strangers in a comedy club. There is no quick way to learn it, you just have to gut it out, fail, and build on the few things that work. Eventually, you learn to make people laugh one way or the other and your performances are relatively successful most of the time. If you have the basic talent and you practice enough, you can actually get to a place where you never fail in front of an audience.

The bottom line is that you become addicted to the adrenaline. Stand-up comedy is one of the scariest things you can do and it feels like dying when you fail. But when you succeed, it is exhilarating!

CG: You are very openly vegan (which is awesome) and I admire your activism there. Your comics dealing with animal rights are both funny and thought-provoking. What advice do you have for someone who’s interested in becoming vegan?

DP: Thanks, glad you like my activism cartoons. I’d say if someone is interested in veganism, they should comb the web. There are so many great resources out there now: how to begin, how to shop, recipes, how to stay healthy, how it benefits your body, mind, and the environment, how animals are treated in the food industry, etc. There is no one way to do it, but if the idea appeals to you, you should have no trouble finding plenty of info. For practical info, I’d start with Nutritionfacts.org.

Piraro will be signing copies of Bizarro Heroes at the Big Planet Comics U Street location (1520 U St. NW) on March 11 from 6 to 7 p.m. He then will be performing at The Riot Act Comedy Theater at 8 p.m.