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Look Back and Laugh
Join the award-winning indie-comics darling for a hilarious, awkward, touching, and occasionally heartbreaking strip-a-day journey through one of the most tumultuous years of her life.
Liz Prince invites you to spend a year walking in her (Converse) shoes! Look Back and Laugh collects the 365 comic strips she drew to document every day of her life in 2016. Follow Liz through such life-changing adventures as: buying a house, moving to a new state, getting married, crippling insomnia, and as always, lots of cats, cats, cats! Full of humor, pathos, and insight, these comics reveal the ups and downs that make up the glamorous micro-celebrity life of a freelance cartoonist.
Liz Prince invites you to spend a year walking in her (Converse) shoes! Look Back and Laugh collects the 365 comic strips she drew to document every day of her life in 2016. Follow Liz through such life-changing adventures as: buying a house, moving to a new state, getting married, crippling insomnia, and as always, lots of cats, cats, cats! Full of humor, pathos, and insight, these comics reveal the ups and downs that make up the glamorous micro-celebrity life of a freelance cartoonist.
416 pages, Paperback
Published August 21, 2018
About the author
Liz Prince
44 books603 followersI have been a comic artist and a self-publisher since I was in high school in the mid-90's. In 2005 my book Will You Still Love Me If I Wet the Bed? was published by Top Shelf Productions; it won an Ignatz Award for Outstanding Debut. Top Shelf has since published two more of my autobio comic collections, Delayed Replays in 2008, and Alone Forever earlier this year. In September my first full length graphic novel, a memoir about adolescence and gender stereotypes called Tomboy, comes out from Zest Books.
I have had comics published in numerous anthologies, drawn stories for the wildly popular Adventure Time series, and I am a columnist for the punk magazine Razorcake.
Currently my cat Dracula is sitting on my lap, and his sister Wolfman is giving him the side-eye.
I have had comics published in numerous anthologies, drawn stories for the wildly popular Adventure Time series, and I am a columnist for the punk magazine Razorcake.
Currently my cat Dracula is sitting on my lap, and his sister Wolfman is giving him the side-eye.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
February 21, 2019
Filling the void left when James Kochalka ended his brilliant daily diary strip American Elf is Liz Prince with Look Back and Laugh. The book collects all of her daily comics from 2016, originally available only to her patrons on Patreon – and it’s really good!
I don’t know what it is about diary strips but they’re defo my jam. Maybe it’s the conciseness with which the artist has to highlight a moment in their day – like a comics haiku - or the variety of the strips or both. And, lordy, did Liz Prince have a varied 2016!
She marries her boyfriend Kyle, they buy a house in Maine, she travels to Macedonia to teach a comics class, her grandmother is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and put in a home, she attends a comics con – and those are just the noteworthy events! Along the way are many, many strips on her wuvable cats Dracula and Wolfman and their fraught relationship, lots of naps, Indian food, movies, and, always, comics, comics, comics!
It speaks to Prince’s talent that the book never reads repetitively despite a lot of the same stuff coming up over and over. And, actually, I preferred a lot of the strips where she doesn’t do anything but talks frankly to the reader about her state of mind or breaks the fourth wall by revealing what’s going on behind-the-scenes.
I probably wouldn’t get along with Prince in real life – a librarian tells her friend where Prince’s book Tomboy is located, to which Liz unironically replies “… Did you just get… gender profiled?”; ugh. And she genuinely loved Ghostbusters 2016 – double ugh! Not all of the strips were that good – I wasn’t interested in the ones on recipes and fixing up her new home.
Still, the material is by and large very enjoyable regardless - Look Back and Laugh is a great read!
I don’t know what it is about diary strips but they’re defo my jam. Maybe it’s the conciseness with which the artist has to highlight a moment in their day – like a comics haiku - or the variety of the strips or both. And, lordy, did Liz Prince have a varied 2016!
She marries her boyfriend Kyle, they buy a house in Maine, she travels to Macedonia to teach a comics class, her grandmother is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and put in a home, she attends a comics con – and those are just the noteworthy events! Along the way are many, many strips on her wuvable cats Dracula and Wolfman and their fraught relationship, lots of naps, Indian food, movies, and, always, comics, comics, comics!
It speaks to Prince’s talent that the book never reads repetitively despite a lot of the same stuff coming up over and over. And, actually, I preferred a lot of the strips where she doesn’t do anything but talks frankly to the reader about her state of mind or breaks the fourth wall by revealing what’s going on behind-the-scenes.
I probably wouldn’t get along with Prince in real life – a librarian tells her friend where Prince’s book Tomboy is located, to which Liz unironically replies “… Did you just get… gender profiled?”; ugh. And she genuinely loved Ghostbusters 2016 – double ugh! Not all of the strips were that good – I wasn’t interested in the ones on recipes and fixing up her new home.
Still, the material is by and large very enjoyable regardless - Look Back and Laugh is a great read!
September 12, 2018
Liz Prince was kind of professionally stuck (a bit?) and with the help of a therapist, decided to do a comic strip for every day of 2016, which I have read in a day or so (what does that say about a year in a life?!) (Well, I'll tell you what it means for one--this--reader: It tells you that I couldn't put it down, even when she had little to say about her day.
The idea in diary comics as psychological strategy is to beat down your writer's/artist's block by just writing/drawing something every day, anything, following the advice of Harry Mathews, who published Twenty Lines a Day as an example of what it looks like.
Prince's fallback topic is her cats, or eating vegan food, wen not much is happening, but 2016 was a HUGE year for Prince, who once published Alone Forever and similar comics about her (once) hapless life. She got married and bought a house, she traveled, and she battles some of her demons pretty openly and with her typically self-deprecating humor. While wearing pajamas and sugar-binging. So this is not typical diary comics in that stuff actually happens of real significance. Almost the (amusing) point of diary comics is that almost nothing happens in comics artist's lives except making these comics (though I find even that charming). If Prince ever completely and consistently achieves empowerment, contentment and happiness, will she even be interesting to the majority of us who could best relate to her aloneness and Tomboy outsiderness??!! Stay tuned. Actually, if you want to find out, you can keep reading (and supporting her and imagining you are actually her Up Close and Personal Friend in the way of the intimacy of diary comics), as she continues to do daily diary comics online, here:
patreon.com/liz prince
The idea in diary comics as psychological strategy is to beat down your writer's/artist's block by just writing/drawing something every day, anything, following the advice of Harry Mathews, who published Twenty Lines a Day as an example of what it looks like.
Prince's fallback topic is her cats, or eating vegan food, wen not much is happening, but 2016 was a HUGE year for Prince, who once published Alone Forever and similar comics about her (once) hapless life. She got married and bought a house, she traveled, and she battles some of her demons pretty openly and with her typically self-deprecating humor. While wearing pajamas and sugar-binging. So this is not typical diary comics in that stuff actually happens of real significance. Almost the (amusing) point of diary comics is that almost nothing happens in comics artist's lives except making these comics (though I find even that charming). If Prince ever completely and consistently achieves empowerment, contentment and happiness, will she even be interesting to the majority of us who could best relate to her aloneness and Tomboy outsiderness??!! Stay tuned. Actually, if you want to find out, you can keep reading (and supporting her and imagining you are actually her Up Close and Personal Friend in the way of the intimacy of diary comics), as she continues to do daily diary comics online, here:
patreon.com/liz prince
September 26, 2018
As a way to get out of a creative block, the author commits to create a comic strip a day for her Patreon supporters, and this is the collected strips from 2016.
I've read similar books, American Elf comes to mind, and I am always, ALWAYS, impressed by the commitment projects like these entail. If you have tried any daily project for more than seven days, you understand what a tremendous undertaking this is, so I really appreciated that.
The thing is the author is a self described introvert who works at home, so in terms of actual day to day stuff, there isn't much that might interest people who don't know or love her. There are some fantastic strips in this collection, and there is power in holding 365 strips in your hands, but since most of the content is not explored very deeply, I felt like I spent a lot of time snorkeling and looking at her life through my snorkel mask. Every now and then I felt something, or paused to take in what she just put to paper, but those were too few and far between for me. So, while I enjoyed this quick read, and really who cannot have a fun time reading about cat antics, this left me wanting more.
I've read similar books, American Elf comes to mind, and I am always, ALWAYS, impressed by the commitment projects like these entail. If you have tried any daily project for more than seven days, you understand what a tremendous undertaking this is, so I really appreciated that.
The thing is the author is a self described introvert who works at home, so in terms of actual day to day stuff, there isn't much that might interest people who don't know or love her. There are some fantastic strips in this collection, and there is power in holding 365 strips in your hands, but since most of the content is not explored very deeply, I felt like I spent a lot of time snorkeling and looking at her life through my snorkel mask. Every now and then I felt something, or paused to take in what she just put to paper, but those were too few and far between for me. So, while I enjoyed this quick read, and really who cannot have a fun time reading about cat antics, this left me wanting more.
September 27, 2018
Liz Prince started drawing one comic every day at the beginning of 2016. This book collects 356 little strips and builds, piece by piece, a picture of her life. It was a tumultuous year- she got married, moved to a new state, bought a house, witnessed the election. It was also a mundane year- she took naps, petted her cats, drew comics, ate lunch with friends, watched TV. This mix of macro and micro events, plus the changing of the seasons, the ongoing attempts at better self-care and better work habits, create a story much greater than the sum of its parts. I love reading daily comics. I think they are one of the most interesting types of creative challenge for a cartoonist to take on. I've never kept up dailies longer than about six weeks, but every time I read someone else's I am inspired to try it again!
April 17, 2019
I really enjoy slice of life graphic novels.
December 21, 2020
Daily comic books for everyday in 2016. Prince is clearly talented at seeing the worthwhile in the mundane but it’s still just a quick 3 panel summary of the day so it can definitely drag. I do have to appreciate and commend Prince’s effort with following through on the daily comics as it’s definitely a big commitment and hard to stick to.
April 20, 2019
There's something about a well done diary strip that makes it a unique experience among comics. It takes talent to distill a day into a few panels and make each entry stand on its own. When done properly, it's a good mirror of the human experience. There are bad days and good days, exciting days and mundane days, funny days and sad days. Liz Prince certainly does a good job in this collection.
Like James Kochalka's masterful American Elf diary series, this works so well because Prince combines a good nose for how to pick out something each day that will make for a good strip with unflinching insight into her moods and personal life. Reading about Prince's consistent mental battles with herself provides emotional weight so that this is more than just a funny series of gags and experiences.
It's at times funny, sad, and touching, and the format makes for easy stop and starting points. I read it over the course of about a week and enjoyed ending my day by reading about Liz Prince's day. I'd highly recommend it!
Like James Kochalka's masterful American Elf diary series, this works so well because Prince combines a good nose for how to pick out something each day that will make for a good strip with unflinching insight into her moods and personal life. Reading about Prince's consistent mental battles with herself provides emotional weight so that this is more than just a funny series of gags and experiences.
It's at times funny, sad, and touching, and the format makes for easy stop and starting points. I read it over the course of about a week and enjoyed ending my day by reading about Liz Prince's day. I'd highly recommend it!
September 12, 2022
I really enjoyed these daily snapshots of Liz Prince's life. It's tricky to review the content since it is literally her life and the characters are real people, so I'll steer clear of that, and just say that it's really interesting to see what a cartoonist's life is like, and refreshing to see that it's possible to buy a home of a freelance wage. Her relationship with her husband is sweet and I feel the pain of cats that won't take medication.
I particularly enjoyed the last third of the book, Autumn into Winter, perhaps because visually I just enjoy those seasons the most. The leaves and the snow are so exciting and comforting to see. The art in general does get more polished over the course of the book, but what is more obvious is how much more skilled Prince is at telling a story in (usually) three panels by the end. She really hones that skill over the year and the strips at the end feel much more complete and professional than those at the beginning, which is an interesting progression to watch.
I particularly enjoyed the last third of the book, Autumn into Winter, perhaps because visually I just enjoy those seasons the most. The leaves and the snow are so exciting and comforting to see. The art in general does get more polished over the course of the book, but what is more obvious is how much more skilled Prince is at telling a story in (usually) three panels by the end. She really hones that skill over the year and the strips at the end feel much more complete and professional than those at the beginning, which is an interesting progression to watch.
August 19, 2018
Reading snippets of one person's life over an entire calendar year in just a few days can feel extremely awkward. However, it's that awkwardness of getting a semi-intimate look into another person's life that makes you feel less weird about yourself. We are beautiful in our mundane, in our anxious fretting, in our rituals, trials, and successes. All of this is why I have adored Liz Prince's work for years. When her name is on the cover of something (the recent Coady and The Creepies mini series was such a sweet treat) I buy it. I don't even consider second guessing it. Liz delivers something worth spending time with. For me, it's usually on my couch or lounging in my bed, some record on, pretending it's hoody weather and occasionally making faces at my cat. Which is, I think, exactly what the endearing Ms. Price is going for. You feel like a dork, until you read comics of her doing the exact same thing. I mean, you still feel like a dork, but you feel okay about it.
May 24, 2018
Prince created one strip a day, chronicling her year 2016. It's a fairly momentous year for her, with home-buying, travel, professional changes, family turmoil, and more. She strikes a nice balance of "things that are happening" with various internal hangups and small, personal foibles. The artwork is very loose, as is Prince's style, which may not be to everyone's taste, but is effective at capturing the immediacy of this particular day, this particular moment. Look Back and Laugh isn't in the upper tier of autobiographical comics, but it's insightful, reflective, and worth a look.
PDF
September 1, 2018
I love daily diary comic collections. It's such a unique storytelling convention, where the stories within the big story (read: the creator's day to day life) emerge and there is something so magical about that. Even if those substories are really small, like in this one where Liz has to deal with her cats not getting along. That's about as quotidian as it gets, but that's what makes collections like these so much fun to read. You feel like you are in on it, and you get invested in the creator's life, and you see how much work goes into creating the stuff you love (and how much Indian food one couple can eat).
October 1, 2018
Liz Prince is a good journal comic illustrator and writer. This little book is a collection of her 2016 daily comic she did for Patreon. Funny and thoughtful. It will encourage you to become one of her patrons.
September 27, 2018
She's the me with cats. Crazy to keep having my own 2016 nemories return while reading Prince's diary comics.
October 3, 2018
Every day for a year, Liz Prince drew a comic about her day.
This was super fun and inspiring. Perfectly timed for #inktober. Can I draw little sketches that sum up my days for a month?
This was super fun and inspiring. Perfectly timed for #inktober. Can I draw little sketches that sum up my days for a month?
January 26, 2019
Funny and sweet! Relatable! Cute!
January 29, 2019
Soooo funny! I love this lady.
December 27, 2019
Old love in comic form. Fun to witness
February 13, 2023
365x5*
So funny. I love Raina, but you SO TOP the charts as best woman comic 💜
I have been loving the cat comics especially.
So funny. I love Raina, but you SO TOP the charts as best woman comic 💜
I have been loving the cat comics especially.
May 9, 2023
A nice collection of comic strips that the author drew every day in 2016. They're very sweet and simple. Liz Prince's comics are always funny to me, so I'm glad I bought this :)
September 10, 2023
The handwritten text was too sloppy and hard to read. The sketchy comics were pretty good, but not very funny. Eh, this was disappointing.
August 22, 2019
I very much enjoyed this book: I really liked this idea of daily comic strips (this book made me start supporting Liz on Patreon); I love Liz's drawing style and her writing. I love how she captures big feelings and emotions in just 3 squares of comics, how she talks openly about mental health and vulnerabilities. I wanted to keep reading this book forever so I tried to read to read as slow as I could.
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April 13, 2020I
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August 13, 2018more cats than you can ever imagine. wonderful!
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews