When we got Anna Bongiovanni’s application to #stlsxpexpo, we wanted to run around the block. Whether you’re coming to the show or not, seriously read Anna’s weekly webcomic Grease Bats here.
Tell us a little about yourselves; what makes you tick, and what makes your publications tick?
I’m a genderqueer cartoonist whose work has been published online, in anthologies, graphic novels, and mini-comics. I love self-publishing and zines because I get full control of my work and there tends to be a super quick turn around between when I create it to when I publish it. I try not to box in my work or the subjects I want to address. My comics are about everything from queer BFFS, dysphoria, erotica, to fuckin’ capitalism, educational, and auto-biographical.
What drewyou to creating, publishing, editing and presenting your projects?
I wanted to get my stuff out into the world! I’m impatient. I am not a perfectionist. I believe in the power of zines as an alternative way to get across information and stories in an accessible and cheap way. I love having control over the paper, the look, and the final product. It’s great because I don’t need anyone’s approval but my own.
How long have you been at it (by “it” I mean publishing)?
As long as I’ve been drawing, honestly.
What would you have told your younger self about what you are doing? and What do you hope your older self might tell the you of today?
That what you’re creating is valid, that you don’t need others approval, that what I’m making and what I want to focus on in my art and stories is important and even if it’s published without a giant distribution, it’s still going to reach those that need it.
Join is at #stlspexpo 2016 on October 15th at Central Library from 10:00 and 5:00.
If you can’t make it, buy Anna’s stuff anyway: www.annabongiovanni.com