A 2017 graduate of Columbus College of Art and Design, Gabby Metzler, is making waves in the area comics scene. In the last two years, she has won both the S.P.A.C.E. prize and the CXC Emerging Artist Award for her comic series, The Fat Girl Love Club. Years in the making, The Fat Girl Love Club tells the tale of Becky, an awkward girl from small-town Ohio who has an unhealthy attraction to Jesus. The Fat Girl Love Club is now a graphic novel available through most local book stores and online. Gabby is also the organizer and founder of Peztilence: A Comics Reading Series where she hosts Ohio comic artists who present their work in front of a live audience. Furthermore, she recently colored Whistle, a YA graphic novel published by DC Comics in the spring of 2021.
1. Are there any artists who you credit as influencing your offbeat cartooning style?
Not to my knowledge! I try to put cool aesthetics in there, but I’m not cool, so it doesn’t stick like rejecting an organ after a transplant. I try to put some Jeff Lemire in there or Shae Beagle or Rosemary ValeroO’Connell, but no mas. Luckily, studying those styles is great for learning the fundamentals of visual storytelling. The biggest visual influence is Bob’s Burgers. I watch it every day, so it’s subconsciously snuck in.
2. Are comics something you’ve always been interested in or did you discover them later in adulthood? What are some of your favorites?
I used to read Garfield as a lazy way to get in my 10-page reading requirement for 3rdgrade English. So, of course, I wanted to be a cartoonist. Later, in high school, I got very into oil paintings. I LOVE a good oil painting. I studied painting at CCAD, but the librarians at CCAD are too woke! I read like every graphic novel CCAD had and then started ordering more from OhioLink. Shamefully, I don’t read as much anymore. It was a short obsession that has turned into 8 years of drawing. My favorites are John Porcellino, Alison Bechdel, and Jeff Lemire.
3. The Fat Girl Love Club takes place in a small Ohio town and the setting and characters have a ring of authenticity to them. Is there any part of the book that is autobiographical?
God, the older I get the more I realize that it was autobiographical. Like accidentally naked in front of everyone honest. That’s the beauty of making art when you’re young, it’s cheesy, it’s not mastery. On the other side, it comes right from your subconscious and says things you don’t know how to say. I wrote the original outline with my friends as a joke making fun of Tumblr kids and Christians. I was aware early on that The Fat Girl Love Club was an attempt to understand the depressed kids in class. I had all these friends that were so depressed and I wanted to know why. It scared the s**t out of me that one day they’d be gone and that I had no power to be their parents or help them. I tried, but you’re a kid who doesn’t know anything trying to help other kids that don’t know anything. Turns out I was struggling too and didn’t know it and that’s where the autobiographical elements had to sneak in.
4. As a creator who writes, draws, colors, and letters your own work, can you explain your process? Is there one aspect you like more than the others?
My process, all fundamentals. The chaos of emotions in a story needs a framework. I’m very into a clean and organized process. Write a script, draw thumbnails, draw sketches, ink, color, get edits the whole time. I’ve experimented a lot and tried a million things and failing has made me value structure in working. I hate lingering in ambiguity searching for perfection. I’d rather flip a coin and make a choice and move on. The first 22 pages took me 2 years, the second took 1 year, then 6 months then 4 months then I kind of plateaued there. It’s such hard work. Panel after panel, over and over again. After a few years, you get impatient and start trying to speed up everything that can be sped up. For instance: Your script has to be immaculate. It takes 4 minutes to change a sentence and 12 hours to change a spread.
I absolutely like some steps more than others! Writing is the most fun thing in the world, but thumbnailing makes me want to blow my brains out. Most inking is pure misery, but the last 15 minutes of inking are the most fun you’ll ever have. Like, “YEAH THAT LINE SHOULD BE THICKER! I’M SO SMART.”
5. Why did you start your comic reading series Peztilence and, since it has been on hiatus due to COVID, how much do you miss doing it?
I realized that if you don’t bring value to a community you aren’t actually a member of the community. I wanted to do something that would uplift or benefit other artists in some way. The uplifting, very social vibe was inspired by Alec Valerius. He hosted a weekly drink and draw. The comradery was so intoxicating. Also, the absolute powerhouse Sarah Schmidt created Malt Adult. How can you not be inspired by Malt Adult? I was like “comics could have something like this!” I do miss it, but it’s so anxiety-inducing. It’ll be back, but it might be a minute.
6. How has your experience working with DC Comics been? Was it hard to switch from a solo artist to being a member of an art team?
NO! I love working in teams and definitely want to do more. All my solo work has been to get good enough to join teams. It was wonderful, I miss working on it all the time. It was also terrifying – I got the email and was like “OH S**T! BETTER GET GOOD FAST!”. They’re pros. My editor Diego Lopez was by far the kindest boss I’ve ever had. Oddly, we only talked on the phone once. It was all over email. He would have team meetings once a week and send me the notes. Which is a smart way of working. There might have been strong emotions in the editorial meetings? I’d never know because he’d do the labor of condensing what the team wanted into very clear and kind notes. They trusted my artistic judgment a lot, so I felt a great deal of ownership in the color which was scary, but so fun.
7. You’ve now won grants, awards, and even had residencies at Corrugate Contemporary Studio & Gallery and 212 by Artlink. Has any of that changed how you make comics?
That all sounds very cool when you phrase it like that. The question makes me grateful that I studied Fine Art at CCAD. They taught us that artists live and die by residencies and grants and collectives so I do it and it works! 212 by Artlink has been a continued asset to me. Their programming and staff are helpful and hands-on. I recommend using their AHA Grant or the 212 Program. I had a mentor Rob Ducey who’s a Technical Supervisor at Laika. It was mind-blowing to work with him because he stuck his neck out for the story even when it was messy. He helped me clean up the story and to take talking about it seriously.
8. Are there any lessons that you hope readers derive from The Fat Girl Love Club?
I jammed a lot of subtext in there. Writers say your first book is everything you’ve ever thought. That’s true for Fat Girl. When It was all done and edited I realized the biggest theme is the strength of being open. Becky starts the story closed off and slowly learns to be open. The story is small-scale. It’s the life of a failed friend group. Becky leaves everything she knows and fails over and over again. But she hears what Sasha has to say and she accepts it. She doesn’t get to keep her friends, but she gets to learn and try again. That’s all anyone can do. It’s beautiful and brave to do it.
9. You’ve spent years creating this book and it’s finally done. What has been the hardest part of post-production and marketing?
It’s all hard! How do you distribute and market a book!?! Please, someone tell me!
10. If you had to pick the best and worst aspects of being a teenager, what would they be?
The worst part of being a teenager is feeling powerless. You’re exposed every day to a new thing you can’t change in the world and in your home. What’s worse, you don’t even know how to express how that feels. The best part of being a teenager is learning how to express all that with people you love. There is nothing more intoxicating than those first few real friendships.