Kelso, Megan 1968-

PERSONAL:

Born 1968, in Seattle, WA; married. Education: Evergreen State College, B.A., 1991; also attended art school in Chicago, IL.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Brooklyn, NY. Home and office—209 Greene Ave., Apt. 5, Brooklyn, NY 11238. E-mail—megan@girlhero.com.

CAREER:

Full-time comic book artist and writer, 1993—; has also worked for the City of Bellevue, WA, and the Seattle airport.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Xeric grant, 1993.

WRITINGS:

COMICS

Queen of the Black Black (comic collection), Highwater Books (Cambridge, MA), 1998.

(Editor, with Charles Burns, Chris Ware, Adrian Tomine, Ivan Brunetti, and James Kochalka) Expo 2000, Oni Press, 2000.

(Illustrator) Hey Kidz! Buy This Book: A Radical Primer on Corporate and Governmental Propaganda and Artistic Activism for Short People, Soft Skull Press (Brooklyn, NY), 2004.

(Editor) Scheherazade: Comics about Love, Treachery, Mothers & Monsters, Soft Skull Press (Brooklyn, NY), 2004.

The Squirrel Mother (stories), Fantagraphics (Seattle, WA), 2006.

Also author and artist, Artichoke Tales, Highwater Books online. Creator, author, and artist of comic book series "Girlhero," 1993-97; contributor to numerous anthologies.

SIDELIGHTS:

Megan Kelso was the first woman to receive a Xeric grant, and she used the money from 1993 until 1997 to self-publish six issues of her first comic series, "Girlhero." Episodic in nature, "Girlhero" includes a science fiction plot line as well as "slice of life" pieces on topical issues. These shorter pieces are collected in Queen of the Black Black, Kelso's first comic collection, and are populated by, among other characters, the artichoke elves, who Kelso spent years developing, and who appear in her later works as well. Peter Aaron Rose, in a review for Art Bomb.net, called Queen of the Black Black "one of the most charming, thoughtful, and provocative collections I've read in quite awhile."

Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, Kelso moved to New York City in 2001, and has been working from there on further graphic novels and comics. She still identifies herself as a Seattle native, however, and is proud of her connections to the city—a pride that seems to be returned, as the Seattle Tacoma airport has shown her work as part of their support of local artists. In an interview with a Silver Bullet Comics, contributor, Kelso said that cartooning does not come easily for her, but the work is "more of a soulful thing." She added: "There's nothing I do that makes me feel more alive and happy, like I'm a good person and doing something important than when I'm doing comics." Ironically, Kelso's interest in comics was late in developing, and she believes herself to be more heavily influenced by her favorite authors than by artists. "I wasn't into comics as a kid. I read a few. I was introduced to some alternative comics in college, things my friends were into. I remember feeling like ‘I could do that.’ I'd always been torn between liking to draw and liking to write. I had never resolved that. Was I going to be a writer or was I going to be a visual artist? That had been a conflict in my life for a long time. Comics seemed like the perfect solution."

In The Squirrel Mother, a collection of short stories, Kelso depicts families in brief, yet emotional situations, and also grounds some of her work in history. The result is a varied collection that still blends together into a unified book. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly remarked that she "marries words and images, telling stories of longing and casual cruelty with a mastery perfectly suited to the comics medium." Sue Corbett, in a review for People, felt that Kelso "shows her impressive range" in the collection, while Andrew D. Arnold, in a contribution for Time, found that Kelso's offerings "invite contemplation."

In addition to her own work, Kelso served as editor for Scheherazade: Comics about Love, Treachery, Mothers & Monsters, an anthology of work by outstanding young cartoonists inspired by the title storyteller.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, June 1, 2006, Ray Olson, review of The Squirrel Mother, p. 52.

People, August 28, 2006, Sue Corbett, review of The Squirrel Mother, p. 47.

Publishers Weekly, June 12, 2006, review of The Squirrel Mother, p. 37.

School Library Journal, March, 2005, Christine C. Menefee, review of Scheherazade: Comics about Love, Treachery, Mothers & Monsters, p. 240.

Time, October 9, 2006, Andrew D. Arnold, "5 Gripping Graphic Novels for Grownups" review of The Squirrel Mother, p. 70.

ONLINE

Art Bomb.net,http://www.artbomb.net/ (December 28, 2006), Peter Aaron Rose, review of Queen of the Black Black.

Comics Journal,http://www.tcj.com/ (December 28, 2006), Gary Groth, "Trimmings: Megan Kelso."

Comics Reporter Online,http://www.comicsreporter.com/ (December 31, 1999), "A Short Interview with Megan Kelso."

Girlhero,http://www.girlhero.com (December 28, 2006), Kelso's Home Page.

IGN Online,http://comics.ign.com/ (June 7, 2006), Richard George, review of The Squirrel Mother.

Indy Magazine, http://www.nexilis.com/ (August 12, 2003), Rick Bradford, review of Queen of the Black Black.

Mortlake Blog,http://mortlakepa.blogspot.com/ (August 28, 2006), review of The Squirrel Mother.

San Francisco Chronicle Online,http://www.sfgate.com/ (December 19, 2004), Rachel Fudge, review of Scheherazade.

Silver Bullet Comics,http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/ (August 12, 2003), "Slice of Life: The Megan Kelso Interview."

Spark Online,http://www.spark-online.com/ (December 28, 2006), Austin English, review of Queen of the Black Black.