Families are complex, and creators often must balance artistic license with revealed truth. July 27, 2024 Judy Prince-Nibb (Torrance Public Library Youth Services Librarian) moderated a panel discussion at San Diego Comic-Con exploring what happens when the bonds that hold a family together begin to fray, tangle, or shrink. Joining the Neeb team are: Adam Nimoy (The most user-friendly), Shawnell and Shawnee Gibbs (Ghost BBQ), edian (promote) and Fan Tian (family style).
Nibb begins the discussion by asking group members to describe their approach to writing or illustrating a particular story. Nimoy referred to his experience in a 12-step recovery program, in which he spoke anonymously about his estranged relationship with his father, Leonard Nimoy. The other 12-step players were smitten.
“It resonated more and more to the point where they would say, ‘I’m going to call my dad tonight. I’m going to see all my estranged mothers or siblings,’ and it feels like I really have more Something to do, a deeper understanding of what happened to my dad,'” Nimoy said. “My first memoir ended when we reconciled. I had been very close to him for the last seven years of his life. It was like now was the time to delve deeper into the project.
Ghost BBQ The inspiration came from a trip the Gibbs sisters took to New Orleans with their mother. As they danced around Congo Square, they discovered that enslaved people often escaped to dance in the square on Sundays. The idea germinated in Shawnee, and she began thinking about and writing the story with Shawnelle.
Ann is a San Francisco environmental justice attorney who has always kept his career as a nonprofit activist separate from his interests as an artist. Ann began creating fictional stories through the DIY aesthetic of magazine culture, but his story evolved into an autobiographical comic. Ahn first published his story in February 2020.
“I thought these comics were for me, very personal stories about how I connected with nonprofit work. Part of it was that I could make a visual pamphlet or some kind of little book for my parents,” Ahn explains. “Ultimately, this is the central conflict of the book; my parents don’t really care about my nonprofit work. It’s not what they think I should be doing with my life. Trying to make them understand my chosen worldview and lifestyle was a very A painful experience.
For Pham, how to tell the story of his immigration from Vietnam was confusing. It wasn’t until the epidemic broke out and Fan returned to his parents’ house that he learned the truth about that journey.
“My parents were Asian immigrant parents, and one thing about Asian immigrant parents is that they keep a lot of things back. They don’t want you to worry about their worries. We never talked about any of their trauma, any of their sadness, any of their difficulties, “Fan said. “So, now I’m old and my mom is old. She finally figured out, I’m going to tell this kid my story. And then she told me the story. I was so touched. Half an hour later, I was I feel sorry for taking my parents for granted.
As the months passed, Van continued to struggle with his storytelling approach. The inspiration finally came from childhood memories.
“My mom asked, ‘Do you remember coming to America?’ and I said, ‘I remember when you gave me rice balls when we were on the boat. I remember when we had steak. And I realized that all my memories were Based on food, based on the meals I had, and everything around me, that was my voice.
Nieb attempts to understand how each team member balances the reader’s perception of facts and opinions. Shonell talks about character development through guidance; the sisters had a specific character speaking to them as they wrote. They then have the characters speak to the reader, who interprets the characters based on their own experiences. They soon discovered that the characters and stories they created through “transcription” resonated with readers.
Fan took a completely different approach, relying on social media reactions. family style Conceived as a daily Instagram comic. Pham would start working on his six panels at 7 a.m. and finish at 7 p.m., then publish the comic and wait for readers’ reactions. He then refines subsequent content based on reader input. This way, Fan was able to edit the story on the fly before it was printed.
Ann, on the other hand, spoke of the difficulty of balancing family values and expectations.
“A large part of the book is essentially my mother grappling with her relationship with her father, her grandfather, the Korean War, their own desire to be mobile in the United States. A lot of what they did in the beginning was It is to impose one’s own views on others.
Initially, Ahn was worried about how his mother (who has an Instagram account) would react to readers’ opinions and reviews of the book as it was published. In the end, after finishing the comic and reading the glowing reviews, she cried and expressed her appreciation for Ann’s confident approach to the relationship.
“You have your own perspective on what’s being told in the story, and then you hope that other people around you, especially family members, understand it,” An said.
Nimoy, on the other hand, found it tricky to humanize a world-famous and iconic figure. Although both parties’ drug addictions led to conflict and estrangement, Nimoy was conflicted about what he could reveal publicly. To avoid the sensitive subject, Nimoy hired an editor who recommended how much and what to reveal. The approach they agreed on was to connect the threads of family history to highlight generational disconnects. His grandparents’ lack of emotional connection resulted in his father’s lack of emotional connection with his own children, leading to their estrangement. Supporting a family of four children while finding acting work in expensive Los Angeles put a strain on an already fragile family. Despite this generational trauma, Nimoy struck a conciliatory tone.
“I’ve always been proud of what he accomplished, and I say that throughout the book,” Nimoy said. “I just wanted to be honest about what happened between us. Our relationship was transformative. We were able to reconcile. It’s a success story. But I think there are some things about my relationship that you should know.
Neeb then quoted Kendrick Lamar’s song “6:16 in LA” as a quote for her next question, which asked what these creators and artists have discovered about themselves on their storytelling journeys . Although their specialty is creating fictional characters, the Gibbs sisters admit that they drew on their experience of alienation in middle school as a reaction to their status as scholarship students. Ghost BBQ. In the process, the sisters discovered genetic roots extending upward from the south,
For Nimoy, the lesson learned was to stay in the process as an artist.
“Try to do a good job. Don’t put things off. Don’t meander. It may not be perfect, but it’s still worth it.
The final rotation of issues ended with Ahn reflecting on his life and career, culminating in the publication of promote.
“I’m not a young person, and I’m not just starting out in my writing career. I’ve done a lot of different things, but this is the story that needs to be told,” An said. “It inspires me to keep going and get stuff out. I mean, when you’re pumped and you’re into it and you feel the passion, that’s really the best time to show it to the world.
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