Preparing to Bite

by Keiler Roberts

Achingly human auto-bio comics that extract big laughs from the small moments

Cartoonist Keiler Roberts quit making comics. Or did she?


Preparing to Bite, her latest collection of all-new, one-page comics is a return to perfect
form. Roberts skewers innocuous aspects of everyday life and dissects them for their
unique from cooking meals, to keeping doctors’ appointments, to owning pets,
and even navigating now-inescapable zoom calls. These vignettes portray a woman in
middle-age grappling with the realities of being a mother, a wife, a friend, a daughter, and
lastly (perhaps even least of all), a practicing artist—all while dealing with the long-term
effects of a debilitating disease.


From page to page, Roberts jumps from moment to moment, expertly using the comics
form as nobody else can while showing off what it can do that no other form can. Preparing
to Bite captures the transient gestures of life in the modern age, both mundane and inane.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Memoir, Humor, Nonfiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Comix

168 pages, Paperback

First published May 13, 2025

Reviews

[Sunny Lu · Rating 4 out of 5]

i smiled i giggled and i laughed

[Juan Naranjo]

En este nuevo volumen de viñetas tan intrascendentes y encantadoras como la vida cotidiana de cualquiera, Keiler Roberts nos vuelve a hacer fijarnos en las pequeñas cosas que nos rodean y en el humor sardónico que encierran.
En el tranquilo discurrir de su día a día vemos cómo su pequeño mundo cambia: su hijo crece, su relación con el trabajo se transforma, sus mascotas aumentan en número… y, en ese observar, que tiene algo de voyeur, pasamos a formar parte de una cotidianidad que, a fuerza de viñetas, acaba perteneciendo también un poco a sus lectores.

[Patricia Q · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great start to a morning, Keiler's comics always make me laugh.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last book I checked out from the Chicago Public Library before moving to Las Vegas. I sat in the library and read it quietly. It was a saying goodbye.

[Megan Kirby · Rating 5 out of 5]

She's done it again! Keiler's chronicling of the mundane is just as engaging, funny, and occasionally touching. From washing the dog's butt in the sink to sitting with her kid on the floor, she narrates frames with such clear honesty. This is a quick read--I finished the whole thing on a train ride home--and some pages had me laughing out loud.

[Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will read every book Keiler Roberts makes. Forever. Until the end of time.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was so excited to see Keiler Roberts’s new book, Preparing to Bite (2025) which seems to span some pandemic through post pandemic moments in her life. In part because in her book The Joy of Quitting, she quits doing comics! So, she came out of retirement, yay for us, at least. What’s new? Well, there are--post Crooky, RIP--a new dog and a new cat, and these are humorously a pain to her. And another comics guy I love, Karl Stevens, is explicitly in the book, including a couple of pages he draws himself (could there be more different styles?!).

I have read (I think) every previous published image that Roberts has drawn, all the books, and so--in addition to the fact that we have met at CAKE 2-3 times here in Chicago, so I can also brag that I “know” her, ha ha--I feel as with any memoir comics weirdly connected to her life, so yeah, I continue to read about her husband, Scott, her parents, her friends, and especially, her daughter, Finn, the second half of their Laurel and Hardy dead-pan comedy act. But very funny, and sweet. I am a parent with kids still in this house and of course the parenting and pet care are relatably hilarious.

These are not comics, for the most part, so much as a series of cartoons, mostly gags; you know, Hi and Lois, by Mort Walker (whoa THAT dates me), family cartoons and strips. (I didn’t even think to mention Family Guy or The Simpsons--different vibe? Don’t let me start scrolling families and dogs/other pets comics).

If I weren’t so lazy I would curate a Chicago Memoir Comix event with Roberts, John Porcellino, Lucy Knisley, Anders Nilsen, and so many more. Yeah, I teach comics here in Chicago. I would make them all read every word of each other’s comics and then it would be just like a family reunion.

But the chief attraction to my reading this book right now is that Roberts has MS and in the past couple months someone in my life (okay, it’s my wife) was diagnosed with MS and so on every page I am looking for what it says about her living with MS. She never dwells on mental health issues or MS, though they are always there, so I pulled out the whole collection to see how MS gets represented in the books and let’s just say I always appreciated the MS being there, but now it feels like she is personally writing to me/us.

Then she mentions that a Marvel character has MS--Darkhawk! And then Mark Millar's Superior! And so I spend an hour down that rabbit hole and think I have to really research that. . . augh! This adhd! But as Roberts observes to her husband, SHE IS a comic character with MS. So interesting how your life intersects with your reading

[Rich Farrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Roberts’ work helped me define my favorite genre: hyperlocal slice-of-life memoir in sequential art. This collection of one-page standalone comics has her same dry humor on little moments in time. Several of these are pandemic-based, which is a little throwback. Everything she publishes is five stars to me.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will always love all books/collections/works by the author. This one was overly dog(ailment)-focused for my personal taste but it's still perfect. As others have noted, I also appreciate that MS is part of the collection.

[Meg R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Made me laugh out loud many times. I love the mundane simple humour. Reminded me to find amusement in the little things.

[Grg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of funny moments, but after a while, the weight of the unhappiness became too much for me.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vignettes from the author’s life captures the gloom and drudgery of daily life in a way that also somehow feels familial, intimate and sometimes humorous.

[Chris Brook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always have such a smirk on my face reading these Keiler Roberts collections.

[Lindsay Webb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Chicago autobio comics!!! I love Keiler Roberts!!!!

[Dylan Stoepel · Rating 5 out of 5]

secretly read this in my cubicle trying not to laugh. I wish she came out with 400 books a year.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could read like thousands and thousands and thousands of pages of Keiler Roberts scenes and never get bored weirdly

[Grayson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars except when she talks about quitting comics, because I like her comics a lot.

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

These comics just didn’t do it for me. I guess I just don’t get Roberts’ sense of humor.

[Emile · Rating 4 out of 5]

Réconfortant

[Ana Lorda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Queja constante y adultos cansados. Uff

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A mix of "kids say the darndest things" and "a show about nothing". 5 stars

[Drew Canole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly full-page gag style strips as opposed to the usual short comics. It's still quite excellent. I love peering into Roberts's world.