Editorial Review | Awarded a 2019 MacArthur Genius Grant "Eternally Wise And strange."--NPR "Barry is Pushing The Envelope on Understanding How The Brain Creates And Responds to Words And Pictures -- a Scholarly Envelope That, in Her Mind, Should be Positively Covered With Illuminating doodles."--The Washington Post "Making Comics is Stuffed to The Gills With Barry's Friendly Wisdom, Characteristic Doodles, And Mind-Expanding exercises."--Paris Review "Barry Pairs a Spirit of Wise And Open Encouragement With a Demand For rigor... The Underlying Thesis of Making Comics is That Anyone Can Discover Their Own Cartooning Genius, if They Are Willing to Put in The work."--Salon "What's Most Delightful About Making Comics is Its Emphasis on Action, on Exercise, on Practice--on Actual making."--New Republic "Part Motivational Lecture, Part Creative Writing Exercise, Part Group Therapy Session, And Part Trippy Meditation on Memory And play... Barry is Not Only a Genius Herself But an Encourager of Genius in others."--The Nation "[Making Comics] Will Help Anyone, Adult or Child, to Regain The Spirit of Freedom, Improvisation And joy.--KCRW Bookworm's Best Books of 2019 "One of The Best Books on Unlocking Creativity I've Ever read: Humane, Interdisciplinary, Fun, And in Touch With Something Deep And mysterious."--Boing Boing Best Books of 2019 "An Instructional Book That Doubles as a Work of art... These Lessons From Barry, Like Her Art, Capture Her Own Brand of magic: a Synthesis of Theory, Practice, Memory, Imagination, And "a Certain Sort of unlearning.--Publishers Weekly Starred Review "The Activities, Drawn From Barry's Own Magical Classroom, Are Fun, Flexible, And Easy to Follow [While] The Reality That Art Drives And Sustains us, if we Let it, is Present on Every page... An Engaging Combination of How-to And Why-You-Must, Perfect For Anyone With a Story Itching to be told."--Library Journal, Starred Review "[Making Comics] Feels Like Taking a Class From Marlys While Stuck in The Living Room at Your Cousin's House, And It's a Delightful, Shed-Your-Inhibitions-About-Your-Talent Kind of instruction."--Chicago Reader "[Making Comics is] Full of Drawing Exercises That Help You Access Your Creativity And Silence Your Inner critic."--CBC Q "Making Comics is Both a Tool Kit of Her Comics-Making Exercises And a Tender Manifesto About How Anyone Can create."--Lit Hub "There's a Serious Theoretical Underpinning Here, And Barry's Lighthearted And Genuinely Fun Approach is Directly in Service of it: Banishing Your Inner Critic, Developing a Disciplined (But Playful) Practice, And Dismantling Beliefs About What Constitutes a "good" Comic is Key to Finding Something Organic, Original, And true."--Booklist, Starred Review "A Sequential Art Legend Known For Her Imaginative And Deeply Personal work... Shares Her Comics-Making Exercises That Detail Her Creative curriculum."--My Modern Met "A Lesson in Rekindling Our Inner spark...part Philosophical Discussion, Part Memoir, And Part Straight-Into-The-Vein fun."--Black Girl Nerds "I've Read a Lot of Writing And Drawing Textbooks, And Barry's is The Only One That Has Made me Choke up With emotion."--Pop Matters "Delightful... [Making Comics] Offers a Thoughtful, Clear, Step-by-Step Approach to Generating Creative Work in Words And Pictures, Which is Daunting When a Person is Staring at a Blank Page And Wondering How They Could Possibly begin."--New City Lit |