HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Mom!!!!!

My mom is one of the best people in the entire world. I mean that.

The first comic I drew with the intention to get published was an elaboration on a four-panel, year-old Mother’s Day card that my mom had kept. That comic was bought by Ms. Magazine, and was published an agonizing year later. (Note a little Alison Bechdel influence??)

Of course, Mom starred in “I Was Seven in ’75″ (my comic about growing up in the 70′s, in my Unitarian/ nudist-camp-visiting/ liberal family). A number of people told me they had a disconcerting crush on her. Even more people said they envied me my obviously very cool parents. ( Very cool parents = true.)

This is a portrait I did of me and Mom – I’m demonstrating the lip-twisting face she’d taught me (which she has now taught my enthused 12-yr-old nephew, Roy, via Skype):

When she was a kid, Mom used to make faces in front of a mirror, and gave them names: The Red Skelton. Fishy Lips. The Stare (that one used to Freak. My. Aunt. Out.). The Grimace. These days, as a pediatrician, Mom’s face-making skills help her charm (and probably, sometimes frighten) her patients. Yay, the doctor is a goofball! Yes, I will say “ahh!”

When I was 25, Mom was 50, and my Grandma Florence was 75, my Aunt Evy tried to take a nice portrait of us. Many failed attempts later, we finally gave up and did one that would obviously not work — and of course, it came out the best:

I love you, Ma!!