It's here!  The new volume of comics pedagogy by The Funnest Teacher in the World, Lynda Barry!  As most watchers of this space are likely already aware, Ms. Barry was recently awarded a MacArthur Fellowship (aka "the genius award").  Making Comics provides further evidence that this award was well deserved.

This much anticipated follow up to her previous work, Syllabus, also based on her experiences teaching at the University of Wisconsin, follows the same format, using it to dig deeper into the cave of creativity.  In the 200 pages of this facsimile composition book we leave the safe, well defined confines of the symbolic realm and are transported to the rarely seen borderlands between writing and drawing.  There, we are taken on a guided tour that includes a visit to the wilds of projective doodling wherein hands can draw without eyes to guide them, lines comes alive to reveal the "monsters" lurking in latency, and much, much more. 

By turns inspiring and instructive, insightful and informational, and a pleasure to read, Making Comics will be a welcome addition to anyone interested in what comics are and how they work, and how to go about making them.  It will, of course, be of extra special interest to anyone who wants to learn more about how to teach comics and their making – and, really, creativity in general – and how to make it fun!