{"id":17179,"date":"2024-11-26T16:18:33","date_gmt":"2024-11-26T21:18:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=17179"},"modified":"2024-11-26T16:18:33","modified_gmt":"2024-11-26T21:18:33","slug":"episode-614-caitlin-mcgurk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-614-caitlin-mcgurk","title":{"rendered":"Episode 614 – Caitlin McGurk"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virtual Memories Show 614:
\nCaitlin McGurk<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/virtualmemories\/Episode_614_-_Caitlin_McGurk.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

Podcast: Play in new window<\/a> | Download<\/a><\/p>

Subscribe: Spotify<\/a> | TuneIn<\/a> | RSS<\/a> | More<\/a><\/p>\n

“I thought of myself as someone who really knew a lot about cartooning and had heard of everybody, but the fact that I’d never heard of Barbara Shermund at all was embarrassing and panic-inducing, but also inspiring.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>Comics librarian and curator Caitlin McGurk<\/a> returns to the show to celebrate her amazing new book, TELL ME A STORY WHERE THE BAD GIRL WINS: The Life and Art of Barbara Shermund<\/a> (Fantagraphics). We talk about Caitlin’s shock at her 2012 discovery of Barbara Shermund’s incredible gag-comics and illustrations in the archive of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum<\/a>, how her interest in Barbara evolved from blog posts to a museum exhibit to a book, the challenge of writing about someone who did no interviews or press and had no close relatives, and how easily women get erased from history. We get into the gestalt of Barbara’s fantastic linework and washes and her wry sense of humor, why Caitlin wound up writing an academic press version of the book before rewriting it for a trade publisher, the challenges & rewards of designing a book to showcase so much art, how Barbara helped create the look of The New Yorker<\/em> in its early years, why Caitlin speculated (but not too much) about Barbara’s sexuality. We also discuss the malleability of history, how the Billy Ireland has changed in the 10 years since Caitlin & I last recorded<\/a>, the pep talk she wished she could have gotten from our late friend Tom Spurgeon<\/a>, time Al Capp (!!) advocated for allowing women into the National Cartoonists Society, the incredible story of tracking down Barbara’s remains and giving her a proper funeral 35 years after her death, and a lot more. Give it a listen!<\/a> And go read TELL ME A STORY WHERE THE BAD GIRL WINS<\/a>!<\/p>\n

“Let’s rewrite history, change the canon, and try to get people like Barbara to be part of the conversation, where they should have been all along.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n