The Comics Bureau

Scott McCloud writes up some inter­est­ing thoughts on autobiography;

It’s a real open ques­tion whether any auto­bi­o­graphy can ever be more than 95% true. Mark Twain stip­u­lated that his mem­oir not be pub­lished until 100 years after his death (this year!), pre­sum­ably so that he could be 100% honest—a full imple­ment­a­tion of the Mys­tery Quote—but from what I’ve heard, the old guy doesn’t come across as par­tic­u­larly object­ive while rant­ing about his many late-in-life grudges.

Emo­tional hon­esty and fac­tual accur­acy aren’t the same thing after all. Twain may have thought he was hit­ting 100%, but maybe nobody can ever get past 95%. And maybe say­ing so upfront, as White and Hernan­dez both do in their own fash­ion, is the most hon­est way to start.

He also intro­duces us to Tracy White, whose book ‘How I Made it to 18′ is out now. Go and check out her web­site as a mat­ter of pri­or­ity. You should also check out an anim­ated excerpt of the first chapter on youtube.

Also intro­duced is Lea Hernan­dez, whose Near Life Exper­i­ence is great;