Laura Lee, who does a pretty rad rendition of “My Sharona” in addition to her artistic skills, was introduced to me as another new New Yorker at the CBLDF party on Saturday night.
Her comic, Sealed: Growing Up Tupperware, is up on the Act-I-Vate site (if you aren’t checking out their webcomics regularly, you are missing out). It’s a quirky tale of growing up in a home defined by her mother’s Tupperware sales career, and the effects on her burgeoning feminism.
Sealed is destined for inclusion in an upcoming anthology called “The Big Feminist But” that is collecting comics about navigating the strange “post-feminist” world we live in. If it’s any indication of the type of work they’re getting, I’m going to love the collection.
Lee’s comic is full of hilarious little footnotes that made me giggle out loud in between observations about her family history with Tupperware. Versions of Tupperware ads are layered into the panels, which might feel parodic if Lee didn’t have a deep love for her subject that comes from having really thought about its effects on her character.
Her pages flow nicely, her panels layered and blended into one another and her art charming and distinctive–it reminds me of something I’ve seen before, but at the same time I can’t think of anything it looks like. The soft green tones have the comforting feeling of Tupperware itself.
Rumor has it that Lee is working on a graphic novel, and I for one am looking forward to it. There’s no good reason, though, for you not to check out her work on the Web. It’s free!
