So, all of the interviewees of the website so far have been people I know, or have at least met once. You are the first one that I've heard about and then tried to find out about - I guess that's fame, right? How does fame fit you? Is it different than you imagined?

Fame. hm. Well, how many people have to know about you really before it's fame? Maybe a lot of people know about me. It's weird to think about. I don't know what to do with it. I'm kind of shy. How do you respond to someone who tells you they liked your book, especially the leg hairs? And then you start to feel like someone else, and you feel like an ass for not giving everyone the same attention, or forgetting who wrote you what. It's nice, though. Keeps me going sometimes, when I start doubting my work.

What has been the response to Clumsy? Have girls sent you mash notes after reading it? Do many people write emails to you?

I've gotten hundreds of emails. A lot of response from other cartoonists. Most positive, A few negative reviews. A few negative emails, telling me I don't know how to draw or that I need to be like this or that with my girlfriend. The negative stuff is hard to dismiss sometimes, but then I realize the people writing the negative stuff don't really know what they're talking about. People comment about my inability to draw, but I could've drawn 'better', that was one of the points to drawing that way. I guess I've gotten some mash notes, some very sweet emails from girls, but I lack the confidence to believe that any of them would actually 'want' me and I've always been really bad about reading signals.

Since the book is so personal, is it strange having people feel they can comment about your personal life? What kind of advice do they give? Has anyone asked you for advice with their personal life?

It's strange, but I guess if I didn't want commentary on my personal life, I shouldn't put it out there. But the thing that bugs me is that they're basing everything on one book, assuming that they know me just from Clumsy, and there's a lot more to me than that. There was a lot more to the relationship than you see in Clumsy. Most people say positive things, stuff along the lines of 'you'll find someone, don't worry' and 'remember the good times.' One girl said I needed to learn that sometimes a girl needs space, and wants to take a bath alone. That one was really funny, because she was basing her advice on the This American Life segment, which didn't even explain that it was a long distance relationship. And space is always fucked up in long distance relationships. A couple people have asked for advice about being in a long distance relationship. I told them to not think too much and to not feel like they had to spend every minute together when they visited.

Does it get exhausting being the protagonist? Does it make you tired of yourself? Do you find yourself more and more charming?

Um, I don't really think about it. If you were my friend, I'd tell you certain stories about my life, include certain details, etc. and for me, drawing these comics is just doing that same thing. On a much wider scale, sure. I've got two more major books to draw for autobiography, and I'll probably always be doing shorter autobio stories, but I'm not sick of me yet, I guess. I'm just too lazy to make up convincing fictional characters. I have my charming moments, sometimes I amaze myself with it, but usually I'm just an idiot blurting out nonsense.

Your comics -Clumsy in particular - are really small slices, really condensed pieces of a complicated picture. Do you think it makes things more understandable that way, or just more communicable? I guess another question is: what's your take on minimalism, or simplicity?

I just wanted to write poems in comic form. Condense really specific moments, emotions and ideas. I wanted to simplify in the extreme, in response to what was going on around me in grad school. All this complicated bullshit that was just a lot of talking and all becoming removed and unhuman. I also was interested in memory, and the way I was remembering things from the relationship I was experiencing. I think communication and understanding come about not because of a conscious decision to use particular forms, but a conscious decision to write and draw exactly what I felt in the most honest and open way possible.

Do you write with audience in mind, or just what seems interesting or funny or important to you?
I write and draw to amuse myself first. I don't really care about having a particular audience or writing for someone else. If I like it, well, 6 billion people in the world, I'm sure if I'm even a little bit good at what I do, there's going to be a bunch of other people who like it too. A lot of people find Clumsy to be sad and for me it's mostly funny. And the new book is even more 'bittersweet' and 'heartbreaking' but I re-read it when I got proofs back from the printer and it really made me laugh. But maybe that's some kind of psychological defense mechanism.

It seems that Clumsy, and even less explicitly personal stuff like Dash Shaw's and Chris Ware's work is somewhat similar, in terms of being about thwarted desires and weaknesses. Despite a lot of the bravado going on these days, new and somewhat independent, American production is really into being painfully honest with the perspective of humor. Who else? Dave Eggers is another candidate. I guess the question is: any thoughts on this as a sort of trend. And if so any theories why its going on?

For me, painfully honest stuff is a cathartic release, a way of not bottling up emotions anymore. I think America is a pretty repressed society, in terms of sexual hang ups, in terms of machismo and not showing emotion. It does seem like a trend, especially in comics, where there's such great potential for emotional involvement with the work on the part of the reader. I guess in a way, it's really just a different kind of bravado. Like, fuck you, I don't care what you think, I'm going to cry, and then I'm going to draw a picture of myself crying. Maybe not. But I think a lot of us are definitely reacting against a certain falseness that some people exhibit, and certain attitudes. I want to show that it's okay if you're not a raging asshole, it's okay if that means you're not cool anymore. And humor, well, humor has always been used to either balance serious issues in art and literature, or to add emphasis on the seriousness through contrast. We all want to laugh, it's good for us, and it lets us deal with painful things - be they our own experiences or that of others - in a way that is more healthy and comforting than just moping around. Humor makes the sadness funny.

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