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My first exposure to the work of veteran alternative cartoonist Carol Lay was in the early 90’s, while I was looking through the then meager comics selection at my college bookstore. There I found Twisted Sisters (Vol. 2), an anthology (edited by Diane Noomin) dedicated to giving wider exposure to the growing talent pool of female cartoonists. The book was chock full of amazing, eye-opening work, but Lay’s detached irony and take on traditional sci-fi genre ideas definitely made her stand apart from everything else in the already varied line-up.
It was an effective introduction to her work. Both stories – Clio’s Problem and God for a Day displayed Lay’s innate gift for grappling with the big, unanswered questions and bringing them down to eye level. Clio and God took one such big theme – specifically, the nature of God, here grafted onto a ‘what if?’ Bruce Almighty-ish kind of scenario. But what was really remarkable to me was how she played out the concept in two very different ways. Where Clio had a classic Twilight Zone bent to it (an influence Lay mentions in her bio), with a dead serious approach matched by moody, naturalistic drawing and anxious linework, God took a satirical approach, with deadpan humor and simplified, exaggerated illustrations and unfussy rendering.
In just eighteen pages, Lay effectively explored what is possibly the greatest philosophical question in all of human history, and did so in a vastly entertaining way. This magic trick, I realized, was not in spite of the opposed approaches, but because of them. By pitching one straight and one curve ball, she’d actually deepened the meaning in both stories. The difference in both the writing and drawing styles was remarkable – moreso for remaining identifiably the work a single artist. Lay single-handedly introduced to me the idea that an artist can and should vary tone for effect. She also served as a very major bridge for me into the possibilities of alternative comics, simply by engaging genre as art – a good decade in advance of the highly successful Flight anthologies.
Of course, this is not to say that Lay is a ‘genre’ cartoonist. She has over the years in her newsweekly Story Minute and WayLay strips created her own genre, and the flow between satire, allegory, autobiography, social commentary and what-have-you serves as a constant reminder that some of the best cartoonists around have never had their work sold in even the finest comic store. Like Jules Feiffer, Alison Bechdel, Matt Groening, Lynda Barry, Tony Millionare and many others, Lay has pushed the boundaries of her craft in the pages of urban newsweeklies, not comic books. When the book is finally written on the vast impact this undersung genre has had on the history of comics, Lay should expect a chapter of her own.
Most recently, Lay has turned her gifts to the diet/self-help genre, with The Big Skinny: How I Changed My Fattitude, a book that uses her ability to change moods to great effect, talking in tones both humorous and sad about her own lifelong struggles with weight and how she overcame them. She’s dealt with the issue before, most notably in her 1996 graphic novel Joy Ride, where the development of brain-swapping technology allows the lazy and obese to have their bodies remotely toned by the disciplined likes of Madonna. Having read The Big Skinny and then re-read Joy Ride together, it’s impressive how well they compliment each other – like the resonances between Clio and God. Seeing Lay’s personal themes presented in both memoir and fiction is the exact kind of rare insight I like as a reader.
The Big Skinny goes well beyond most diet books, offering a mix of memoir and tips on calorie counting and recipes that flows incredibly well. Lay also distinguishes her approach from many other diet authors by refusing to sugar-coat her plan, simply and clearly presenting a no-shortcuts, reasonable diet and exercise regimen as being the way to permanent weight loss and improved health and longevity. It’s also charming and lovely to look at, with Lay making great use of the full-color printing. The Big Skinny aims high at its target and hits it, and simultaneously becomes a powerful example of why comics should no longer be relegated to their traditional bookstore ‘Comics’ or ‘Humor’ ghettoes.
I can’t do Lay’s biographical details any better than she presents in The Big Skinny or at her own waylay.com or carollay.com sites. All the background that you might need to know for the following interview is that Lay is a child of the 50’s, a lifelong Californian with a decades-long dedication to the medium of her choice, who took a childhood suffused with classic television and a UCLA arts education and put them together in a way that has sustained her career for three-plus decades, in animation, storyboarding and, of course, comics.
Lay continues her weekly strip every Friday at salon.com.
NOTE: All images used in interview © copyright Carol Lay, except ‘Star Wars #6′ (© Lucasfilm LTD) and ‘Eating Raoul’ (© Kim Deitch).
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