He did have a serious alcohol problem and had a very hard life, but when he became paralyzed and in a wheelchair, he poured out his pain in his comics. I suppose my life is like this as I am working now on a comic that is actually a collection of 20 of my diaries in comic form where I put "Budgie" through her fat woman paces. In my comics Budgie does everything like getting married and puking her guts out. With his comic of the person outside the stairs, even though I am not wheelchair bound, I am walker bound. I have lived that. My husband had to bring dinner out to me at one place where they had stairs I could not go up or down. His comics were irreverent but this was a guy living on the very hard side of life, he wasn't going to sugar coat things. His comics were funny!
People often want everyone to blow sunshine up their ass and get upset when someone reveals the dark side of life, even when they do it in a humorous fashion. I certainly don't advocate the kind of edginess that translates to rudeness, but I'm always stunned when people read a blog by someone who is, for instance, struggling with depression, and then tell them to "lighten up."
ReplyDeleteA fellow counselor (I'm an LCSW) once said "this ain't the Disneyland planet," and he was right.
I always advocate people expressing their truth through creativity. I wish you luck with your comic!
I agree. In our world some just want the sunshine and unicorns and they choose to live in delusion and get mad when someone even talks about reality even with humor. I think this is why Callahan made so many so mad. I have seen people with depression told to lighten up which is the worse thing you can say to a depressed person! I agree about this not being a Disneyland Planet! Thanks regarding the comic. :)
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