Underwire

by Jennifer Hayden

Overview

"Hayden's work reminds me of why I began drawing comics, and why I continue. They're comforting, straightforward and strongly connected to life." -- Gabrielle Bell, author of Lucky and Cecil and Jordan in New York

"Underwire explores the funny, and often absurd, aspects of being a lady. Cheers to the artist for spotlighting female characters... and, hopefully, getting more women psyched about comics." -- Whitney Matheson, USA Today

"Hayden's cheerful profanity and scratchy lines give the work a homey, intimate feel... Hayden's stories are like comfortable, lived-in jeans--not the most stylish or flattering, but the ones you want to spend time wearing." -- Publishers Weekly

"We observe as she watches her 12-year-old daughter learn how to hold her temper; we feel her impatience when the kids won't go to sleep and let her drink and chat the night away with old girlfriends; and we can't help but identify with her view of aging, which isn't so much graceful as it is graced by good humor and undaunted optimism... This is a book with plenty of staying power." -- Booklist

"The central character is the author herself, and she's a joy. She's bawdy, messy, raucous, and entirely human - as likely to sit around with her friends, slamming wine and gossiping, as she is to lament over her son leaving for college... Hayden is seriously fun, alive, and inspiring - as an artist, a writer, a woman, and a human being. Brava!" -- Under the Radar

"With a busy black-and-white palette of comforting cartoon grit, Hayden recalls Robert and Aline Crumb in this offkey anthem to misfit domesticity." -- Adam McGovern, Comic Critique

Sometimes you just gotta pick yourself up by your brastraps.

Underwire collects the wise and witty autobiographical comics of an captivating new voice: Jennifer Hayden, cartoonist and politically incorrect mother of two. She may not have all the answers, but she's not gonna let that stop her from enjoying the prime of her life -- her forties!

Since its internet debut at ACT-I-VATE.com, Underwire has attracted praise for its sharp tongue, enchanting style, and warm wisdom. These everyday observations -- about womanhood, parenthood, growing up, and rocking out -- add up to something not only funny, but also quite profound. After a few stories, you might even feel like a member of the family.

Now, for the first time in print, Top Shelf presents twenty-two stories from the beloved webcomic, plus seventeen new pages of comics and art created exclusively for this collection.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781603091343
Publisher:	Idea & Design Works, LLC
Publication date:	05/15/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	37 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Jennifer Hayden came to comics from fiction writing and children’s book illustration. Her most recent book, The Story of My Tits (Top Shelf, 2015), is a 352-page graphic memoir and breast cancer narrative. Her previous book, the autobiographical collection Underwire (Top Shelf, 2011), was excerpted in The Best American Comics 2013 and named one of “the best comics by women” by DoubleX. She is a member of Activate (the premier webcomics collective in New York City), where she posts her webcomic S’crapbook, which earned a Notable listing in The Best American Comics 2012. Jennifer currently posts the daily diary strip Rushes at thegoddessrushes.blogspot.com. Her comics have appeared in print anthologies such as The Activate Primer, Cousin Corrine’s Reminder, and The Strumpet. 

After hours, Jennifer plays electric fiddle with The Rocky Hill Ramblers and The Spring Hill Band. She lives in Central New Jersey with her husband, their two college-age children, two cats, and the dog. 

You can read her blog at goddesscomix.blogspot.com.

Editorial Reviews

Dysfunction needn’t always be the attendant of memoir, as Hayden shows in this slim collection of vignettes about middle-aged womanhood, some originally published as an ACT-I-VATE web comic. Hayden has two well-adjusted adolescent children and a husband still smitten with her. She dances, shops, and has chummy conversations with her daughter, Charlotte, who surprises her mother with her insight and maturity; her son, Kip, has overcome ADHD and attends a prestigious boarding school (and so plays much less of a role in Hayden’s stories)—the vignette in which Hayden laments the departure of her “little boy” of 14 shows much about the emotions of motherhood. Hayden’s cheerful profanity and scratchy lines give the work a homey, intimate feel. And with Hayden’s references to her “ancient self” and reminiscences about pot-fueled fantasies, there’s more than a dash of hippy sensibility. (“Mom, seriously,” her daughter admonishes her on a shopping trip, “the seventies are OVER.”) Even a story about a recurring dream of having murdered someone and being investigated by her children speaks of their affectionate relationship. Hayden’s stories are like comfortable, lived-in jeans—not the most stylish or flattering, but the ones you want to spend time wearing. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly