Underwire - Softcover

Jennifer Hayden came to comics from fiction writing and children’s book illustration. Her most recent book, The Story of My Tits (Top Shelf, 2015), is a 352-page graphic memoir and breast cancer narrative. Her previous book, the autobiographical collection Underwire (Top Shelf, 2011), was excerpted in The Best American Comics 2013 and named one of “the best comics by women” by DoubleX. She is a member of Activate (the premier webcomics collective in New York City), where she posts her webcomic S’crapbook, which earned a Notable listing in The Best American Comics 2012. Jennifer currently posts the daily diary strip Rushes at thegoddessrushes.blogspot.com. Her comics have appeared in print anthologies such as The Activate Primer, Cousin Corrine’s Reminder, and The Strumpet. 

After hours, Jennifer plays electric fiddle with The Rocky Hill Ramblers and The Spring Hill Band. She lives in Central New Jersey with her husband, their two college-age children, two cats, and the dog. 

You can read her blog at goddesscomix.blogspot.com.

Hayden—a mother, wife, and daughter—provides a clear-eyed and good-natured glimpse into her own moods and expectations in this graphic novel. Chronologically arranged vignettes, each laid out in six black-ink panels per page, invite any reader willing to both giggle and sigh in close succession to share in her accessible world. We observe as she watches her 12-year-old daughter learn how to hold her temper; we feel her impatience when the kids won’t go to sleep and let her drink and chat the night away with old girlfriends; and we can’t help but identify with her view of aging, which isn’t so much graceful as it is graced by good humor and undaunted optimism. Each perfect little drawing, composed without underlying pencil sketches, underscores Hayden’s ability to seamlessly translate experiences from her mind’s eye to ink on paper. In spite of its brevity and gentle approach (salted with mom-inappropriate swear words and occasional visions of big-bottomed, buxom Everywomen bursting from her imagination), this is a book with plenty of staying power. --Francisca Goldsmith