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, Bande Dessinée, Womens

168 pages, Kindle Edition

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.

[Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

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

[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.

[Shoshanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of Keiler Roberts's dry and observational wit in this book of tiny vignettes! She's reliably one of the only comics authors who can make me laugh!

[Sara Hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was really nice and funny, made me happy

[Dan P · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just as breezy and sardonic as you imagine suburban slice-of-life comics during the pandemic would be

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

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

[Matt Graupman · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's probably not too controversial to admit that most of the art - movies, books, comics, music, etc. - that came out of the COVID-19 lockdowns was pretty shitty. Look, it was an uncertain time and we were all just trying to make the best of a terrible situation. Occasionally, though, something worthwhile slipped through and Keiler Robert's "Preparing To Bite," a collection of autobiographical comics, is one of those good ones. Amusing and candid, they're exactly the kind of autobio gags that virtually any parent would recognize themselves in. Keiler has a wonderful no-frills kind of style, narratively and artistically, and very funny friends and family (and she's obviously quite witty, too). That's a recipe for a great book!

[A Yusuf · Rating 1 out of 5]

someone should submit this to a museum as an exhibit for an entry on "Just Because You Can, Doesn't Mean You Should".


what in the white people drivel is this book? I hate to leave a bad review, specially for an artist, but the world is better off if this person truly quits comics. I wish I could get my 30 minutes back, and I wish I were the kind of person who could DNF a book. this would be the first one I would DNF.

[Joseph Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

Relatively relatable quick moments of the author with her pets and family. Honestly, it's sometimes hard to read about someone who doesn't seem to take much overt enjoyment in life; I can only handle so many of those types of people at once. Her daughter is given the wittiest observations, while the pets and husband just kind of are there, looking cute. It's a mixed bag for me. Some of the humor I enjoyed, other parts I found annoying or irresponsible.

[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.

[Melanie Faith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book last June for the first time and enjoyed the afternoon today rereading this book and Lucy Knisley's French Milk in preparation for a fun writing and drawing course I'll teach in August. I really like the deadpan humor and everyday slice-of-life stories on each page. Cool drawings, too. Fun to read and motivating.

[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.

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Portraits of a like during COVID. Preparing to bite is a collection of comics and panels showing the small moments during COVID. Roberts shows us her and her daughter's banter, her bad dogs, and her constant quitting of comics. Overall, a very short and cute read!

[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 · 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

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best way to start a new year!

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.0 I just did not find this funny or amusing. Maybe I am missing something but I got the sense this mother does not like her daughter. She felt like a bully to me.