Today on the site:
Alex Dueben interviews Zeina Abirached.
Alex Dueben: Often when I’ll do an interview I’ll ask the artist to give some background information about the setting of their book, but I know that we could be here for a day or two talking about the origins of the Lebanese civil war. You were born during the war; what is your earliest memory of it?
Zeina Abirached: I have a very striking memory of the first time I crossed the green line and went to West Beirut (It is not my earliest memory of the war, but it was an experience that helped me to become aware of a lot of things).
It was in the early nineties, at the end of the war, at the time the war was essentially in the eastern part of Beirut where I used to live. I remember we had to leave our flat in a hurry and run away in our car to a more secure place. My parents decided to go to West Beirut for a while to be safe and make plans. I remember that the first things I saw in that part of my town I didn’t know yet–I was ten years old–was people in the streets, lights, animation, and the calm Mediterranean sea.
I felt like I was in a foreign country. I just couldn’t understand I was still in Beirut! I remember the first two days I couldn’t speak Arabic or French–which are my two mother tongues–I could only use the only foreign language I knew at that time: English.
Elsewhere:
Leif Goldberg has released his 2014 calendar. You should really buy it.
A look back at an attempt to make an underground newspaper supplement.
Ken Tucker reviews a bunch of comics at the NY Times.
Lots of End of the Year lists are appearing. Here's Filth and Fabulations. And here's Michael DeForge. Sean Rogers has a good one, too.
Here's our own Jacq Cohen on Tell Me Something I Don't Know.
Oh Frank Robbins, how I love the way you slathered ink all over the page like you owned the joint.
And amazingly enough, all of The Wiggle Much is now online.
