Episode 077: Jillian Tamaki


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Oct 29 2014 43 mins   2
In amongst the throngs of costumed chaos that the Jacob K Javits Center
on the Saturday of New York Comic Con weekend, we find a reasonably
quiet corner to sit down and discuss life and art with Jillian Tamaki —
“reasonably,” of course, being a nice way of designated that rare spot
where one can talk without shouting. Maybe there’s some metaphor
to be explored there about finding oneself in amongst the pop culture
sound and fury that is the contemporary comics scene. And Tamaki has
certainly carved out a place for herself, rising to prominence in the
indie comics and YA scenes with Skim, a collaboration with her cousin,
writer Mariko, that landed the duo on all manner of year-end best of
lists.  The two Tamakis joined forces again for 2014’s This One
Summer, a teenage coming of age story that has once again landed the
cousins in critics’ good graces. We had about 40 minutes before Tamaki
had to rush off to a signing with First-Second, but we managed to cover a
lot of ground, from collaborating to teaching, to surviving the Comic
Con chaos. The questions about Adventure Time, sadly, will have to wait until next time.