Special Exits

Joyce Farmer's memoir chronicles the decline of the author's parents' health, their relationship with one another and with their their daughter, and how they cope with the day-to-day emotional fragility of the most taxing time of their lives. Elderly parents Lara and Rachel, who have enjoyed a long and loving married life together, are rendered in fine, confident pen lines. Set in southern Los Angeles (which makes for a terrifying sequence as blind Rachel and ailing Lars are trapped in their home without power during the 1992 Rodney King riots), backgrounds and props are lovingly detailed: these objects serve as memory triggers for Lars and Rachel, even as they eventually overwhelm them and their home, which the couple is loathe to leave. is laid out in an eight-panel grid, which creates a leisurely storytelling pace that not only helps to convey the slow, inexorable decline in Lars' and Rachel's health, but perfectly captures the timbre of the exchanges between a long-married couple: the affectionate bickering; their gallows humor; their querulousness as their bodies break down. Though Lars and Rachel are the protagonists of , Farmer makes her voice known through creative visual metaphors and in her indictment of the careless treatment of the elderly in nursing homes. gracefully deals with the hard reality of caring for aging loved ones: those who are or who have been in similar situations might find comfort in it, and those who haven't will find much to admire in the bravery and good humor of Lars and Rachel. Joyce Farmer, best known for co-creating the comics anthology in the 1970s, a feminist response to the rampant misogyny in underground comix, spent 11 years crafting , a graphic memoir in the vein of Alison Bechdel's or Harvey Pekar, Joyce Brabner, and Frank Stack's , about caring for her dying father and stepmother.

Farmer captures the tiniest, most mundane — and at times ugliest — details of caring for someone you love, and watching them pass from you.... It's bracingly clear-eyed and unsentimental. --Glen Weldon

Starred Review. End-of-life literature is vast and mostly practical and advisory. Though not without value as counsel, Farmer's contribution is primarily a work of art, moving and beautiful.One of the best long-narrative comics I"ve ever read, right upthere with Gen of Hiroshimaand Maus. It had a powerful effecton me... towards the end I actually found myself moved to tears. -- R. Crumb

Beautiful, moving and truly exceptional' It is understandable why Robert Crumb has compared Special Exits to classic graphic novels like Mausby Art Speigelman and Persepolisby Marjane Satrapi, for truly Farmer's book is in that league.Starred Review: Underground feminist comic artist Farmer"s account of how she looked after her aging parents is a quiet wonder'.The story is stunning for its anti-sentimental realism, as well as for the glimpses of fantasy'that flicker by like ghosts.Forceful, unsparing'[Farmer] renders her wobbly, minutely textured characters with wit and tough affection. -- Douglas Wolk

"One of the best long-narrative comics I've ever read, right up there with and . It had a powerful effect on me... towards the end I actually found myself moved to tears." Ray Olson Booklist

": Underground feminist comic artist Farmer's account of how she looked after her aging parents is a quiet wonder....The story is stunning for its anti-sentimental realism, as well as for the glimpses of fantasy...that flicker by like ghosts." Kathleen Vanesian Phoenix New Times

"Every step along the way is documented thoroughly and honestly, effectively killing any romantic notions I still had about my final years.... Reading this was like watching an incredibly slow train wreck, where you got to know everyone on board before it crashed..." John Hogan Graphic Novel Reporter

"Forceful, unsparing...[Farmer] renders her wobbly, minutely textured characters with wit and tough affection." Dawn Rutherford The Unshelved Book Club

"I finally read last weekend. And I am here to tell you: It was tough. It was not fun. But it was truthful. It was specific. And it ... helped. In this, it was utterly unlike the book on grieving that a well-meaning relative pressed into my hands.... ... is all about specificity... It's bracingly clear-eyed and unsentimental..." Glen Weldon

"The subject matter isn't pretty. Still, [] is intriguing, well-written and thought-provoking." NPR

"Sure, is sad. But it's also funny, touching, thought-provoking, and life-affirming. It's never trite, cheap, or hokey, like, say, . This is the raw, unvarnished truth about the end of life, elegantly put to page by Farmer's lyrical drawings, a welcome, thoughtful evolution of the raucous underground style of the 60s and 70s. Most of all, is powerful. It's vital; almost essential. [...] It's not for the faint of heart, but it's one that everyone can benefit from reading. Your future self will thank you." Nick Smith ICv2

" is a quiet triumph, a celebration of the unseen acts of love, protection, duty and well-meaning deception among families. [...] Anyone with an aging parent or grandparent will surely relate to , and appreciate the heartrending honesty with which Farmer weaves this sad, sweet, and beautifully drawn tale." Sam Humphries Seen - Best of 2010

"...[T]he impressive thing about [] is that, despite depressing subject matter, it's extremely readable and fairly funny. Yes, you'll think about the horrors of getting old and failing to maintain your independence, not to mention the even scarier prospect of taking care of your own parents. But if Farmer's book is meant to soothe your fears, it kind of works." Niki Papadopoulos Bitch

"...[W]ith its leisurely pace, confident art style and deeply touching story, this memoir will tug at your heartstrings..." Hillary Brown Paste

"() Emotional and physical crises are depicted naturalistically, never hyped up to tug the heartstrings or extort pity, and the parents' personalities are convincingly and lovingly evoked. The end-of-life literature is vast and mostly practical and advisory. Though not without value as counsel, Farmer's contribution is primarily a work of art, moving and beautiful." Allan Halsey Bizarre

"This is something that if we have not faced yet, we know we will, and Farmer's ability to capture it all is clear-eyed. It's a remarkable achievement considering the situation, and Farmer has a way of uniting the readership in one collective deep breathing session that lets us know we are not alone in the wider scope of coping with loss. ... exists as a graphic novel of considerable depth and meaning." R. Crumb

" stands out at one of 2010's best comic books, a fitting tribute to Joyce Farmer's parents that tackles, head on, the heartbreaking inevitable process of losing one's parents. The result is one of the most human and most affecting comics of recent memory..." John Seven Archive 7

"...Joyce Farmer's depicts old age as a wild, lurching ride from medical crises to euphoric nostalgia to an eerie calm as the end draws near. [...] Aging and dying are rare topics in literature and cinema, let alone in comics, which makes an automatic standout. But it would be an excellent book even if the shelves were full of fictionalized memoirs about elder care." Michael C. Lorah Newsarama

"Written with impressive empathy and obviously heartfelt, angry frustration even years later, this memoir confronts issues that will affect every single one of us whether or not we have the guts to face it, and the light airy art and terrific supporting cast -- especially Ching the cat -- keeps the tone hopeful and ultimately upbeat even through the worst of all times. This is a book you must read." The A.V. Club

"In this lightly fictionalized and unflinching account of the author's parents, Lars and Rachel stumble toward the end of life with unpredictable successes, setbacks, and flashes of joy.... An excellent alert for those new to the path (for themselves or for relatives) and a validation for those already familiar with this normal yet seemly so abnormal life stage." Win Wiacek Now Read This!

"Yes, [] is a heartbreaking -- even harrowing -- tale, one made all the more moving and immediate by the creator's nuanced gift for capturing the essence of her parents on the page. But it's also a tale told with consummate skill, filled with mordant humor and real compassion, an almost embarrassing amount of candor, and a deep abiding love and respect for its subjects. [...] Ultimately, it's these simple and true moments of mundane magic which marks Special Exits as more than just one of the best books released this year. It is, without a doubt, also one of the most significant contributions to the comics medium this side of the millennium, a modern masterpiece which celebrates the human condition." Martha Cornog Library Journal

"Joyce Farmer... recently has emerged as one of the most provocative voices in the comics and graphic-literature landscape. Her debut book, the 208-page illustrated memoir , chronicling the slow, freaky decline and ultimate death of her elderly parents, ...is an almost uncomfortably honest memoir that's dense with details. It's also layered with meaning and sub-themes." Bill Baker ForeWord Reviews

"[] was fueled by Farmer's personal outrage at the unacceptable treatment of her elderly parents at the hands of medical and nursing home establishments. And she'll pooh-pooh the idea that making the book was psychological therapy of any sort. 'It was in no way cathartic. It was really, really depressing,' she told me any number of times. This is classic Joyce Farmer, drawing, writing, and satirizing taboo and socially risky subjects." Deborah Vankin Los Angeles Times

"In Joyce Farmer's powerful the people are more people-like than I have encountered in comics in a long time.... It is moving without being sentimental. Real without being pedantic; a solid graphic novel that reads, well, like a novel!... is one of the most engrossingly human comics and, ultimately, one of the most moving... Joyce Famer has brilliantly conveyed what it is to be human. To live, to die. To ripe, to rot. And thereby hangs her tale" Publishers Weekly

"Farmer's black and white line drawings are detailed and expressive, but never flashy. Her art is straightforward, as befits the story.... The end product is as honest and unembellished as a personal journal and we're lucky Farmer's chosen to share it with us." Paul Karasik (Eisner Award-winning cartoonist) The Comics Journal

"Does this make seem like a downer? Good. It is a downer. It's also funny and touching, and gratifyingly cleareyed about the messy emotions involved in caring for aging parents. [...] And thanks to the thoughtful writing and art of Joyce Farmer, [her parents'] lives and deaths will be a comfort to readers beginning to consider the end of their parents' lives -- or their own." Andrew Fuerste-Henry No Flying No Tights

"This is a magnum opus no one expected to read, a brutally frank depiction of what it's like for full lives you love to end, and it has the most painfully happy ending of the year. It made me cry. Don't do what I almost did and ignore one of the year's most moving comics." Dan Kois The Washington Post

"The book is both funny and heartbreaking, sometimes on the same page, dealing with the quiet hopeful moments and the nerve-wracking agony that come from a situation that is all too common and spoken of far too little." Sean T. Collins Comic Book Resources

"... avoids cheap pity and piousness by doing what any good art should: focusing on specifics -- the ways in which Farmer's parents slide into old age and ill health; the care they require and receive. That this is also a portrait of a strong marriage is an added benefit. Frank, never shying away from the awkward indignities of aging, illuminates two lives, as well as that of the author's." Alex Dueben Comic Book Resources

"...[W]ith , Farmer delivers a wonderful memoir about her aging parents and their aging process. [...] This story will resonate and it will haunt you. But it will also impress you. Farmer doesn't pull punches, but she doesn't go for self-pity either. is a loving tribute to life's final moments, and the love that is left behind after we leave." Ken Tucker Entertainment Weekly - The 10 Best Graphic Novels and Comics of 2010

Elderly parents Lara and Rachel, who have enjoyed a long and loving married life together, are rendered in fine, confident pen lines. Set in southern Los Angeles (which makes for a terrifying sequence as blind Rachel and ailing Lars are trapped in their home without power during the 1992 Rodney King riots), backgrounds and props are lovingly detailed: these objects serve as memory triggers for Lars and Rachel, even as they eventually overwhelm them and their home, which the couple is loathe to leave.Special Exits is laid out in an eight-panel grid, which creates a leisurely storytelling pace that not only helps to convey the slow, inexorable decline in Lars and Rachel s health, but perfectly captures the timbre of the exchanges between a long-married couple: the affectionate bickering; their gallows humor; their querulousness as their bodies break down. Though Lars and Rachel are the protagonists ofSpecial Exits, Farmer makes her voice known through creative visual metaphors and in her indictment of the careless treatment of the elderly in nursing homes. Special Exits gracefully deals with the hard reality of caring for aging loved ones: those who are or who have been in similar situations might find comfort in it, and those who haven t will find much to admire in the bravery and good humor of Lars and Rachel. Joyce Farmer, best known for co-creating the Tits n Clits comics anthology in the 1970s, a feminist response to the rampant misogyny in underground comix, spent 11 years crafting Special Exits, a graphic memoir in the vein of Alison Bechdel s Fun Home or Harvey Pekar, Joyce Brabner, and Frank Stack s Our Cancer Year, about caring for her dying father and stepmother. "

Special Exits chronicles the decline of Lara (Farmer's stand-in)'s elderly parents (Lars and Rachel)'s health. Set in southern Los Angeles (which makes for a terrifying sequence as blind Rachel and ailing Lars are trapped in their home without power during the 1992 Rodney King riots), backgrounds and props are lovingly detailed: these objects serve as memory triggers for Lars and Rachel, even as they eventually overwhelm them and their home, which the couple is loathe to leave. Rendered in thin, confident pen lines, Special Exits is laid out in an eight-panel grid, which creates a leisurely storytelling pace that not only helps to convey the slow, inexorable decline in Lars' and Rachel's health, but perfectly captures the timbre of the exchanges between a long-married couple: the affectionate bickering; their gallows humor; their querulousness as their bodies break down. Though Lars and Rachel are the protagonists of Special Exits, Farmer makes her voice known through creative visual metaphors and in her indictment of the careless treatment of the elderly in nursing homes.

A major, original graphic memoir in the vein of .

Joyce Farmer lives in Laguna Beach, CA.