Picture a Chicago-born artist who turned personal tragedy into a graphic novel masterpiece—meet Emil Ferris! With her debut, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, Ferris captivated readers with a dazzling blend of gritty storytelling and intricate illustrations, all crafted with a ballpoint pen. Her journey from paralysis to literary stardom is as compelling as the monsters she draws.
The Making of Emil Ferris
Emil Ferris was born in 1962 on Chicago’s South Side, growing up in the vibrant, turbulent Uptown neighborhood. Raised by artist parents who met at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Ferris was steeped in creativity from a young age. Her childhood love for monsters, sparked by Saturday night Creature Features, shaped her unique perspective. At 40, a mosquito bite changed everything: Ferris contracted West Nile virus, leaving her paralyzed and unable to use her drawing hand. As a single mother, she faced immense challenges but enrolled in the School of the Art Institute for an MFA in creative writing, teaching herself to draw again with a pen taped to her hand.
Emil Ferris’s Unforgettable Stories
Ferris’s debut, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters (Volume 1, 2017), is a fictional graphic diary of 10-year-old Karen Reyes, a monster-obsessed girl investigating her neighbor’s murder in 1960s Chicago. Drawn on notebook paper with Bic pens, the 400-page work blends B-movie horror, noir, and fine art, with cross-hatched illustrations that evoke Robert Crumb and EC Comics. Volume 2 (2024) continues Karen’s story, tackling race, gender, and identity against Chicago’s violent summer of 1968. Ferris’s upcoming prequel, Records of the Damned, promises ghostly tales from Karen’s early life. Her style—dense, visually explosive, and emotionally raw—rejects traditional comic panels for a spiral-bound diary aesthetic, reflecting her childhood notebooks and the era’s social upheavals.
Themes of monstrousness permeate Ferris’s work, from schoolyard cruelty to historical horrors like the Holocaust. Karen, who imagines herself as a werewolf, embodies Ferris’s own feelings of being an outsider, shaped by her scoliosis and gender dysphoria. Her meticulous recreations of paintings, like Henry Fuseli’s The Nightmare, weave art history into the narrative, making each page a visual and intellectual feast.
Why Emil Ferris Matters
Ferris’s impact on graphic novels is profound, earning her comparisons to Art Spiegelman and Alison Bechdel. My Favorite Thing Is Monsters won multiple Eisner Awards and sold 100,000 copies, a feat for a debut. Her resilience inspires older readers and artists, proving it’s never too late to create. By blending pulp horror with social commentary, Ferris redefines what comics can achieve, offering a voice to the marginalized and monstrous. Her work challenges readers to confront the monsters within and around us, making her a vital figure in contemporary literature.
- Born: 1962, Chicago, Illinois
- Key Works: My Favorite Thing Is Monsters (Vol. 1 & 2), Records of the Damned (upcoming)
- Awards: 2018 Eisner Awards for Best Graphic Album, Best Writer/Artist, Best Coloring
Grab My Favorite Thing Is Monsters and dive into Emil Ferris’s haunting, heartfelt world of monsters and mysteries!