The comical comicker

Cartoonist/comic Karen Sneider (left) has become the go-to-gal for cartooners looking to add hilarity to their slide shows. It’s true! We went to the last outing of the Grace Reading series curated by Ariel Bordeaux last night and it was a dual Ariel attack, as Ariel Schrag and Fly read their comics works. Shrag did a reading of two stories from the upcoming anthology STUCK IN THE MIDDLE, which she edited for Viking. Shrag was aided by her sister Tania (also a cartoonist) and Sneider and someone else whose name we didn’t catch, alas. The entire reading was hilarious, (well’ Fly’s was quite serious at times) but Sneider was a highlight on the sound effects. She told us she’ll also be helping out Leela Corman tonight at Carousel, featuring R. Sikoryak, Todd Alcott, Robbie Busch, Corman, Julie Klausner, Jim Torok, Brian Michael Weaver and David Wells, as well as this Sunday at A Sketchy Neighborhood.

STUCK IN THE MIDDLE: 17 STORIES FROM AN UNPLEASANT AGE itself is a way cool anthology, including stories by Dan Clowes, Gabrielle Bell, Joe Matt, Vanessa Davis, Lauren Weinstein and many others and detailing the horrors of middle school. Shrag’s story involves shoving poop into a backpack, so it’s got nowhere to go but up from there. It goes on sale next May. Shrag, who gained fame in the comics world while still a teen, is quite the conqueror of multi-media, presently writing scripts for THE L-WORD, as well as the screenplay for a POTENTIAL movie now in production.

Fly’s reading was plagued by technical difficulties, but was very affecting, with a serious tale of childhood sexual misadventure, and another story that involved difficulties finding a safe place to go to the bathroom. Bordeaux did a fine job putting together this reading series, and we greatly enjoyed all the events we attended or even participated in.