Debbie’s Story
Be honest now: how many of you have taken the time to get to know the real stories of your relatives? I have various assorted stories for different relatives, but I have only rarely gotten the real “whole story”.  The Debbie mentioned on the cover is Kelly’s aunt, and Kelly takes the time to question where the current version of the woman came from and gives us the story in lovely mini comic format. Debbie is, at present, essentially a stunt double for her mom: same basic attitude, same interests, and they talk on the phone every day. Back in the day, however, she ran with a gang (well, the small town version of a gang from 40 years ago or so) and hung out with a local scumbag until her parents sent her away to the National Guard. That’s right, that was her punishment. Still, where a lot of people would take that punishment as a hint to never come back or to make their own way in the world, she chose to return to her hometown, marry one of the losers from the local gang and have a couple of kids. She also got a job cleaning (alongside her mom) and has settled into a quiet, uneventful life. It’s the personal family bits in here that make this special though, as Kelly gets inside information from family members to make this a more complete portrait. It’s not going to come as a shock to any regular readers that I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but it really is fascinating. I can even see Kelly still being able to enjoy family dinners after this, as things never get TOO personal, although I can see that being a subjective judgment.  Check it out, then go down the rest of this huge page and think about sending her a chunk of change so she’ll send you a pile of comics. No price, so… $2?
