There is a light that never goes out

August 24, 2013 1:35 PM

Comic artist Lucy Knisley (prev., prev.) is often asked if there's anything in her life that she won't make comics about.

There has been one thing - the aftermath of the breakup with her longterm partner in 2010. Here, saying "I make something that is for me but also for you," she decides to tell us what ended up happening.

posted by cairdeas (37 comments total)

Trying not to spoil it, but -- simply annihilating. Thanks for sharing this, cairdeas.
posted by Etrigan at 1:48 PM on August 24, 2013

awh, sweet!
posted by dejah420 at 1:51 PM on August 24, 2013

Definitely not what I was expecting, but so glad to have read it! Life is weird sometimes, and Lucy is wonderful at being brutally honest about that.
posted by harujion at 1:58 PM on August 24, 2013

Neat.
posted by MartinWisse at 2:19 PM on August 24, 2013

Oh man. I used to follow her work back when I was on Livejournal regularly, but that's been a long time ago so I hadn't heard of the breakup in the first place. To hear about it and the aftermath at once is an emotional whiplash.

But yay! Now I'm reminded how much I like her stuff and will dive back into the archives. Thanks for posting this.
posted by rewil at 2:20 PM on August 24, 2013 [1 favorite]

I wasn't going to read this because I hate reading embarrassing things and I didn't want to be sad. But, for some strange reason I read it anyway and... well let's just say I didn't regret it.

Even if you don't want to read embarrassing, sad things, read this.
posted by Dreadnought at 2:27 PM on August 24, 2013 [2 favorites]

The story of her breakup is in an ebook that'll cost you $8. This story is free on the Web. That's cool.
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:33 PM on August 24, 2013

I saw this a few days ago (I follow her on tumblr and you can, too!), and it felt like an emotional roller coaster. So happy that things worked out.
posted by dinty_moore at 2:50 PM on August 24, 2013 [1 favorite]

Awww.
posted by rmd1023 at 3:07 PM on August 24, 2013

Good call, John.
posted by MoxieProxy at 3:25 PM on August 24, 2013 [3 favorites]

Lucy is an excellent woman and I'm very, very happy for her.
posted by Narrative Priorities at 3:30 PM on August 24, 2013 [4 favorites]

Awww, that was worth reading. Thanks for posting.
posted by theora55 at 3:46 PM on August 24, 2013

Glad you guys liked it as much as I did :)
posted by cairdeas at 3:47 PM on August 24, 2013

I want to throw up now.
posted by The otter lady at 4:04 PM on August 24, 2013 [5 favorites]

That makes me want to tug my vest in an oh so adorable way.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 4:06 PM on August 24, 2013 [3 favorites]

If she'd stopped time right when he said he was still in love with her and wanted to be with her and have children together and all that stuff, and while time was stopped, posted an Ask Metafilter question re: Should I Get Back Together With My Ex, He Says He Loves Me And Everything's Different Now, swearing to herself that she'd do whatever the majority consensus was, there is no way she would be engaged right now.

What do you mean? I'm sure the AskMe consensus would have been, as usual, Do Thou Marry that Fiance ASAP.
posted by yoink at 4:14 PM on August 24, 2013 [8 favorites]

I was afraid he was going to have a heart attack that night.
posted by Balok at 4:30 PM on August 24, 2013 [3 favorites]

Seriously Balok! I was convinced the story would end with him being diagnosed with cancer. So happy it didn't!
posted by matt_od at 4:43 PM on August 24, 2013 [2 favorites]

Lucy and John: a story with a happy and implausible ending. This does happen in life sometimes, but not often in literary fiction, and rarer still in the graphic novel/story canon. This (the first FPP link) was a pleasure to read. Now I'm off to a picnic with free jazz in the neighborhood park. This will probably be a happy time, too.

Happiness is considered odd and worthy of gimlet-eyed analysis in the literary and the therapeutic world these days. I'm probably not the only one who finds this ironic. Other art forms do not so consistently dwell on the darker side of life. (This comix story reminds me of the recent brouhaha about writers - especially women - typically using unlikable characters as protagonists.)

Pleasant dreams, everyone.
posted by kozad at 5:22 PM on August 24, 2013 [4 favorites]

This comic made me sad, which lets me realize that as much as I think I'm over my own things, I'm not. I guess I'm jealous, but in a way that's also really happy for her.
posted by Polyhymnia at 6:53 PM on August 24, 2013 [6 favorites]

An... interesting read, on tonight of all nights.

It has not been a great night, Metafilter.
posted by Imperfect at 7:02 PM on August 24, 2013 [2 favorites]

Good thing that she never posted a question to Ask after the break up. I doubt that any advice we'd have given her would have led to that ending.
posted by octothorpe at 7:03 PM on August 24, 2013 [1 favorite]

My sympathies, imperfect and Polyhymnia. I think lots of us have our own "things," too.
posted by cairdeas at 7:20 PM on August 24, 2013 [1 favorite]

Apropos of nothing, it makes me think of just how many significant events in people's lives have taken place in that very beer garden in Astoria. It must be in the thousands. I had a first kiss with someone there, over 6 years ago...
posted by cairdeas at 7:22 PM on August 24, 2013 [1 favorite]

Also, this is one time when you CAN read the comments underneath. All of them are very sweet. My fave: "Good things do happen!"
posted by cairdeas at 7:34 PM on August 24, 2013

All the explaining in the world will never result in my understanding why someone would break up with another simply because they may want kids someday. Ending a real thing over a possibility? Maybe it's youthful folly, or there was more to the breakup… and it's totally beside the point that I really dislike kids.

Happy for them. Hope they make excellent parents. She doesn't sound like a person I'd like to know though.
posted by scamper at 8:29 PM on August 24, 2013

All the explaining in the world will never result in my understanding why someone would break up with another simply because they may want kids someday

I think the thing you're missing is that there was no "may" in this case. She definitely wanted kids and knew she wanted kids and he was sure he didn't. That's a pretty serious incompatibility.
posted by yoink at 8:50 PM on August 24, 2013 [9 favorites]

Ugliest manatee pjs

does not compute
posted by benzenedream at 12:02 AM on August 25, 2013 [7 favorites]

This is so sweet!

(He's going to break her heart again one day...)
posted by markkraft at 1:54 AM on August 25, 2013

♥
posted by JHarris at 2:14 AM on August 25, 2013

An enduring faith in such things has not served me well.
posted by sonascope at 4:11 AM on August 25, 2013 [8 favorites]

Me neither... but I think that's part of what makes it so wonderful for me. It's like someone else really getting to go to Never Never Land or getting a unicorn for their birthday.
posted by cairdeas at 6:20 AM on August 25, 2013 [4 favorites]

I might have some drinks now.

Good for them, though.
posted by brennen at 1:13 PM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

[this is good]
posted by turbid dahlia at 3:09 PM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

Have children. Will swap children for manatee pyjamas and/or a trip to a beer garden in a heartbeat.

BUT naaawwww, I loved this.
posted by Catch at 5:36 PM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

I've followed Lucy Knisley's work for several years. I somehow missed this for about a week after it was posted (got to it through this interview on Unshelved, which I've also been following for several years). Made me cry. I always enjoyed John and Lucy's relationship through her comics--they really did seem to work well together. I hope this turns out to be a real happy ending, or beginning.
posted by dlugoczaj at 10:06 AM on August 26, 2013

Yay! I love Lucy Knisley's work--especially Relish, which I read recently--and I'm happy that things are going so well for her!
posted by mlle valentine at 7:06 AM on August 28, 2013 [1 favorite]