I was in fact at a wicca-themed party briefly on Saturday, but this was drawn far before that! It is, however, based on an actual Gardnerian Wicca Club that has met a nonzero number of times while I was at Epoch Coffee working on Bad Mother scripts, and this is what my hasty ballpoint margin-of-notebook sketches tell me its participants look like. I know enough about this stuff that it is really is critical to distinguish between Gardnerian Wicca and other rival witchcrafts, but I really liked that they had a sign up saying “Gardnerian Wicca Club Meets Here!”, like if they didn’t have the sign you might stumble onto one of those other wicca clubs by mistake, and you wouldn’t connect with the right kind of spiritual power.
It took a long time to figure out how ghoulish Betty should be in this, also. I’m not sure I struck the right note. WHAT DO YOU THINK?
So here is some news: my book is one of the October Book Recommendations by the mysterious “Grantland“! The review talks a lot about The Master (which I saw just before reading this review, so it seemed extra delightful to make such a comparison), thus:
There’s a discomforting tension that runs throughout The Master. Its saturated palette and Jonny Greenwood–composed score give the film a consistent tone that’s hushed and at the same time distressing. Doctor Bantam feels the same way. It’s a slow, dissonant burn of a novel, a haunting meditation of young, wayward love.
TL;DR: A coming-of-age tale about Scientology and lesbians.
I love that TL;DR! I also love that, uh, this book that I worked for a pretty long time on seems to be enjoyable to different folks.
I should have a new comic on Thursday, and maybe more book news! Or maybe not! I can tell you that if you’re an Austin local, there will be an Event on November 1, so save the date, I guess?
See you all later!