Our list of self published zines, books, stickers, buttons, patches, t-shirts, posters, postcards, talkies, etc on the website but featured on stapled pieces of paper! Stop spending all day on the internet! Get a paper copy! If you would be interested in receiving a stack of catalogs to distribute around your town just drop a line and we'll send a stack. Illustrations by Liz Baillie!
Liz created a series of an ongoing tales rendered through beautiful artwork with strong characters, while clearly demonstrating her storytelling ability.
In this issue, we meet Kate and Joey, two teenage best friends, both into punk rock and living in New York City. Shy Kate worries that she might have a crush on a girl after a game of spin the bottle, while flamboyant Joey confronts his homophobic father with unexpected results.
Her characters are easy to identify with, regardless of your gender or sexual preference.
Kate is shocked by the conditions Joey is living in after running away from home and she tries to convince him to make up with his dad. His dad tries to make amends with Joey in an unusual way. Kate's crush on Verona fizzles after Verona displays some unattractive behavior.
In comic form, Kate meets a new girl, Desi, at a school club meeting and they hit it off by planning a flier campaign to shake up their high school. Joey must make a difficult decision when he finds out from his dad that he got into a reputable Catholic school - he must be "straight" to attend. Joey's meeting with the principal ends in sudden tragedy.
In comic form, two queer punk kids, Kate and her new girlfriend, plaster their high school's halls with a flier campaign to allow same-sex couples at prom. Joey, stuck in the hospital bed after a skinhead beating, is unconscious. Joey's father is interrogated because of the signs of history of apparent history of abuse they found in Joey's x-rays. Kate calls a faculty member a “sub-human asshole” to his face and storms off campus.
Her characters are easy to identify with, regardless of your gender or sexual preference. (Alan Lastufka)
In comic form, Kate's argument with her mom takes an odd turn. She grudgingly retracts her decision to quit school, where she is confronted on her first day back by one of the skinheads who beat Joey into a coma. Kate visits Joey in the hospital, and her non-praying seems to work. Her characters are easy to identify with, regardless of your own lifestyle, gender, or sexual preference.
Listen to a 90 min podcast interview with Liz about all things comical!
The sixth installment in the My Brain Hurts series! Joey's still in the hospital, struggling with memory loss and family issues, while Kate and Desi's relationship is on the rocks. Desi's really religious, and Kate's really not, and they struggle to find a middle ground. Kate's also convinced her mom to let her drop out of school, but has agreed to an internship at the Lavender Alliance as a compromise. Even that seems to be going badly. Will teenage romance succeed? Will Kate find her place in the world? Will Joey get his memory back? My Brain Hurts #6 raises a lot of questions for our characters.
In issue #7! Desi's religious conviction confuses Kate. Seeking solace, Kate spends an afternoon confiding in Verona about her relationship woes....which soon turns hot and heavy. Joey's out of his coma, and back at school, surprisingly acing every question in class. When Joey's classmate Marcus begins to question Joey's sexually, Joey becomes defensive. Joey reveals he still has no memory of how he ended up hospitalized, believing his father put him there. Kate's internship is going better, until it's revealed that the volunteer she's been assigned to work with - is a perpetrator of a hate crime. Could it be...?
Finally issue #8! Joey's out of his coma and doing well in school, until the principal catches he and Marcus smoking, and, uh...hanging out in the boys' room. Nate, the skinhead on community service, attempts to bond with Kate, sort of, and Joey learns the truth about his dad. Such a soap opera!
Okay, issue #9, here we go! After finding out the truth about his dad, Joey and his father get into a terrible fight after which Joey storms out. Luckily he's befriended by some strangers under an overpass. Kate goes to a counter protest and has an awkward encounter with Desi, who catches her about to pull a prank involving condoms.
A group of teenage queer punks get in perpetual trouble with the police when they aren't flirting over loud music or postering their high school with flyers to allow same sex couples at prom. It's like they were your actual high school peers - pissing off the administration and taking care of each other when they get beat up by skinheads. Liz Baillie has a real talent for dialogue, characters, storytelling, and capturing New York - especially those moments that we all live, awkwardly making out, pulling pranks, and drinking beer. This graphic novel collects the first five (out of 10) issues of the comic My Brain Hurts. Listen to a 90 min podcast interview with Liz about all things comical! ISBN 978-1-934620-03-8
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