Life Lessons in Calgary

July 12, 2023 10:49 AM

Illustrator, author, and cartoonist Jillian Tamaki writes about Superman III, Calgary, and change for The Walrus.

Jillian Tamaki grew up in Calgary, AB but now lives in Toronto, ON. She has a new graphic novel, Roaming, due out in the fall, co-written with her cousin Mariko Tamaki.

posted by TemporaryTurtle (3 comments total)

I liked the rambling, circular structure of the piece, little bits of narrative strung together with observations and memory. It feels like it will just fly apart, but it doesn’t. Thanks for posting it!
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:13 PM on July 12, 2023 [2 favorites]

I liked that piece; I was thinking the Walrus is at its best when it runs things like this; work that is very much itself, instead of trying too hard to be something else.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 11:02 PM on July 12, 2023 [1 favorite]

Tamaki is a great cartoonist and author, and I completely identify with the Superman III thing--I've never enjoyed Lower Wacker Drive in Chicago as much as I have after Christopher Nolan filmed some of the scenes of his Batman movies there. But my favorite bit of Superman III comes right before the junkyard scene, when he's sitting in a bar, flicking peanuts at the bottles behind the bar and smashing them.
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:08 AM on July 13, 2023 [1 favorite]