Episode 601 - Jess Ruliffson

The Virtual Memories Show

Comics journalist Jess Ruliffson joins the show to talk about the origins of INVISIBLE WOUNDS (Fantagraphics), her collection of stories from veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but we wind up talking about guys' butts, among other things. We get into her focus on male vulnerability, the Tim Hetherington photos that led her to make Invisible Wounds, the differences between soldiers who enlisted pre-/post-9/11, what it's like to come home from war with no idea what to do next, and the new comics she's making with her husband, Ernesto Barbieri, about his work as an ICU nurse. We talk about her upbringing in Mississippi, what she's learned about interviewing and how stories sometimes take shape in retrospect, whether it's "permissible" to tell stories about people in a different demographic, the common thread of moral injury in her work, how she met her husband through an MFA open house, and how she found her way into comics and journalism. We also discuss her frustration at not drawing the butts she wants to draw, her experiences teaching comics and learning to give her students permission, what she's learned from making the Terrible Anvil podcast with Tom Hart, why her therapist insisted she never make a memoir, and more! Follow Jess on The Terrible Anvil podcast • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Patreon or Paypal and via our e-newsletter