Ivan Brunetti Revisits Misery, Comedy
This story originally appeared in PW Comics Week on February 20, 2007 Sign up now!
by Ian Brill, PW Comics Week -- Publishers Weekly, 2/20/2007
Not until Ivan Brunetti decided to make the comics he wanted, exploring his own personal demons, did he start getting major attention. "I decided to draw comics for myself," Brunetti said, explaining how he created the contents of Schizo, his debut comic. "I wasn't holding anything back." Schizo deals with Brunetti's battles with depression, feelings of nihilism and the end of his marriage. Long selections of the book feature Brunetti trying to make sense of incredibly dark emotions, all in varying art styles and approaches. Now the first three issues of Schizo, from the 1990s, are being reprinted in the book Misery Loves Comedy, to be published by Fantagraphics in May.
Brunetti has a particular reaction to this past work: "They're pretty horrifying. It's pretty much impossible for me to look at them." Brunetti said he is glad that he created those comics when he did, describing them as a document of a man's state of mind at the moment. He also believes it would be impossible for him to create comics about that time now, as they had to be done when he was feeling those emotions.
The decision to collect Schizo 1-3 was a mutual one between Brunetti and Fantagraphics. The book collects the entire contents of all three comics, including the letters pages. "I tried to make the whole thing look like a used book," said Brunetti. "Like a library binding edition of bound magazines." The book also includes material Brunetti provided for other comics produced around the same time.
In the letter column of the second issue there are responses to Schizo 1 by many accomplished cartoonists, including Robert Crumb, Daniel Clowes and Chris Ware. All make note of how bleak Brunetti's subject matter is and how relentless that bleakness is. Brunetti was surprised. He expected commentary on the artwork, rather than his writing. The writing just came naturally to him. "There was no grand plan. I was more compelled to do it."
All the comics alternate between long autobiographical stories and pages of short strips of the blackest humor. Put together, the three issues tell the story of a day in the life of Brunetti. The first issue has Brunetti searching for a good reason to get out of bed and face the day. In the second Brunetti is in the shower and his constant contemplation of life leads him to a conversation with Jesus Christ. The third issue features Brunetti at work in the office and his interactions with others. Misanthropic sentiments are repeated throughout, and the stories are often intense with text. "The second issue was the lowest point in my life," Brunetti said. "I wasn't even trying to make it readable. With the third issue I was a little more stable."
Brunetti said that he is definitely in a better place than when he was doing these comics. Feelings of depression still arrive, but they don't last long. Brunetti claims that being busy with work has helped him. Some of Brunetti's work includes curating "The Cartoonist's Eye" exhibit at the A+D Gallery of Columbia College Chicago as well as editing the recent bestseller An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons and True Stories, published by Yale University Press.
Brunetti said he does see these comics as a sort of psychological help. His therapist actually provides the book's introduction, which seemed a better idea than having Brunetti address these comics himself. "I'm not going to explain things to readers," he said. "I don't know if I can explain them to myself."
