Interview by Aziz Bawany

So you’re looking to get into autobiographical comics and have no clue where to go? It’s a common problem as the genre is littered with hundreds of choices to make between big names such as Valentino, Beland, Thompson, Brown, and now Claytor. That’s right, Ryan Claytor is a one man autobiographical comics making machine whose And Then One Day series is as much about a slice-of-life moment taken and translated into a serialized story as it is about teaching and exploring the wonders of autobiography. I caught up with Claytor at the San Diego Comic-Con to talk about his new book And Then One Day #7, out just in time for the convention.

Aziz: So is #7 the big book that you’re promoting?

Ryan: Yeah, I’ve got a couple new books here that are brand spanking new. #7 is the one I’m most proud of and it’s a series of conversations. It’s something I’ve been working on since grad school. It’s a series of conversations between a professor and myself surrounding topics about autobiography. After doing #6 and getting into the theoretical side of autobiography, I still had a lot more questions I wanted to discuss with somebody, so this is the next step in the series.

Aziz: That’s interesting because it sounds like it came from a thesis discussion. Is that where you took most of your inspiration for this issue, or was it more off topic outside of academia?

Ryan: This actually started in grad school as a couple of independent studies and I ended finishing it up after I graduated. The last 1/3^rd of this book I finished in Africa last month with my girlfriend.

Aziz: And you’re teaching at the University of Michigan?

Ryan: Actually I’m teaching a comic studio class at Michigan State University.

Aziz: How’s the Michigan comic’s scene treating you?

Ryan: The comic’s scene is treating me amazingly well. Surprisingly enough, better than when I was here in San Diego.

Aziz: When you decided to create this new comic, how did you decide to go about focusing on this discussion amongst a list of possible other topics to focus on, especially considering the nature of autobiographical work? 

Ryan: After I created "And Then One Day #6", which focuses on lending a greater objectivity to autobiography, I felt a couple of things.  First, I really enjoyed how the voices (direct transcriptions) of each person/character read as very authentic, and I wanted to carry that feel into my next book.  Second, I was left with a lot of unanswered questions about theories surrounding autobiography that I wanted to explore, and the comic’s transcription of these conversations seemed like a natural progression in my series of books.

Aziz: You’ve sprinkled throughout the book a few moments that only a comic can afford. Such as creating a visual diagram that wouldn’t be visible in real life and motion effects that carry on the humor but also ground the work in the art style. How do you decide when to apply these methods that only a comic book can offer, and is it a conscious decision on your part to limit their use?

Ryan: I try to use these devices only when I think they will help the narrative.  In some instances, like the visible diagram, I'll think about what I was going through my mind at the time.  When originally speaking those lines in the diagram panel I remember gesticulating uselessly in order to simulate the imaginary autobiographical continuum I envisioned.  But comics allow me to conveniently insert an illustrated visual to give clarity to what was previously imagined, and quite possibly a little confusing.  In other spots, I include motion effects to (hopefully) allude to a path of movement.  This is simply recognizing one of the limitations of the comic’s medium.  The static images used in comics are inadequate at showing motion, and so occasionally for short or quick movements, I'll include a path of motion, like you'll see in the panel where I'm shaking my head on page 21.

Aziz: You talk about being artistically overwhelmed in #7’s introduction. With these smaller volumes, is it hard to decide when a good cutting off point might come about considering that life as we view it is continuous whereas your comic is now taking a serialized representation of life? How do you see it balancing between fiction vs. reality in your own choice of storytelling? 

Ryan: Is it hard to decide on a good cutting off point?  Yes.  Especially for this book that I see as a longer continuous narrative, rather than a nicely segmented mini-series.  My focus is on the eventual publication of a compiled version, so the end of this book may feel a little abrupt.  Regarding the second part of your question, I suppose I still see the comic’s interpretation as a pretty good representation of reality, regardless of the serialized nature of the current book.  In addition to using recorded conversations as a basis for the script, I've done more photo reference and focused more attention on background detail than I have for any of my previous works.  I hope this gives the reader a strong sense of place and serves as another undercurrent of authenticity.

Aziz: When choosing the matter of storytelling, especially involving a conversation between you and your professor on the nature of autobiography, how do you balance the discussions of theory with the idea that you’re creating a book that is turning into a metatextual representation of your own book? Was it a challenge creating the fine line between crafting a story and having a subtle nod to the reader?

Ryan: The "met textual representation" of my own book in this one is not something I'm intentionally focused on.  If that is interesting to the reader, all the better, but my intention behind this book was to further question and familiarize myself with the autobiographical comics genre. 

Aziz: Thanks, Ryan!  

With that concludes our And Then One Day #7 spotlight. Check back with The Comic Addiction as we check in with Ryan down the road for some more discussion on autobiographical comics and creating your own work.