My Interview with Webcomic Artist Jenn Dolari

Web comics may not have as wide recahing an audience as the strips that appear in the daily newspapers such as Dilbert or Pearls Before Swine, but on the other hand the artists are far more approachable and may more readily address social issues that may offend the wider circulation of the daily papers. Jenn Dolari, the artist who draw the web comics Closetspace and A Wish for Wings recently granted me an interview. This comes from my Yahoo small business inbox. I have formatted it for niceties, but if I end up editing it to say something that Miss Dolari did not in fact say, I apologize for it and will correct it in the comments. I did make one error though and did not tell her that AC's articles are limited to 2000 words.

LT: You draw Closetspace and A Wish for Wings. I assume Closetspace which deals with two transsexual roomates draws from your own experience. What was the inspiration for A Wish for Wings?

JD: Actually, A Wish for Wings is more based on personal experience than anything in Closetspace.

Closetspace began as part of a support group newsletter, explaining one of the functions they did. So I devised up Carrie and "Allyson" two transgender roomies. I also came up with Irving at the same time, since the function I was explaining was a sausage dinner the group did at midnight. The storyline was just something my best friend and I were talking about at a Fuddruckers one day. I thought I passed well enough that I could move in with another woman and she wouldn't notice. Looking back on things - no way I coulda done that. Eventually that talk emerged with the roomies I'd created and "A Different Perspective" was born. A friend of mine, Dov Sherman, came up with the title Closetspace. I'm notoriously bad with titles.