Julia Gfrörer (born September 12, 1982) is an American cartoonist, graphic novelist, illustrator, and author. Her work is often transgressive, invoking occult themes within an ambience of subtly observed historicist concerns, in narratives generally characterized by "mumblecore dialogue, persistent overtones of horror and suffering, and unapologetic sexuality."[1] She's been hailed as "one of the most promising artists of her generation" by Phoebe Gloeckner.[2]
Gfrörer graduated from Cornish College with a BFAinprintmaking.[3] Her thesis show explored depictions of martyrdom – a subject she has returned to frequently in later works (e.g. How Life Became Unbearable[4], Palm Ash[5], Martyrdom: A Coloring Book).[6] Moving to Portland after graduation, she met Dylan Williams (founder of Sparkplug Comics) in the process of consigning her DIY mini-comic about St. Francis of Assisi at the Pony Club Gallery where he happened to be working. He became Gfrörer's first publisher. Her first full-length comic, Flesh & Bone (2010), was nominated for an Ignatz Award for outstanding achievement in the form, and was excerpted in the Best American Comics (2011) anthology shortly thereafter.
Career
[edit]Flesh & Bone by Julia Gfrörer, 2010. Published by Sparkplug.
After experimenting with self-publishing and working with a number of smaller presses (Sparkplug, Study Group etc.), Gfrörer's second graphic novella, Black Is The Color, was published at Fantagraphics after being digitally serialized on the Study Group Comics website.[11][12][13] Fantagraphics published her book about the Black Death, Laid Waste, in 2016 which was released to general critical acclaim.[14][15][16][17]
While Fantagraphics publishes Gfrörer's major works, she continues to publish shorter works and collaborations under her own imprint, Thuban Press. In 2016, Thuban published No End Will Be Found, a harrowing novella set during the Würzburg witch trials by author Gretchen Felker-Martin whose work continues to appear under the imprint.
Gfrörer and Sean T. Collins (her partner & frequent collaborator) were selected to curate and edit the second volume of 2D Cloud's annual anthology Mirror, Mirror in 2017.[6][23] More recently Analog Self-Publishing has been released as a starter-kit for aspiring zine and comic book artists, the Visions trilogy, and All-Fucked Up (in collaboration with Sean T. Collins & Felker-Martin).
Flesh and Bone (2010): after returning from a black mass, a witch meets a forlorn young man who has come to ask for her aid in reuniting him with his dead lover. Selected by Alison Bechdel for inclusion in Best American Comics 2011.
Black is the Color (2013): a 17th century sailor abandoned at sea by his shipmates endures, and eventually succumbs to, both his lingering death sentence and the advances of an amorous mermaid.
Laid Waste (2017): as corpses accumulate around her in a plague-ravaged medieval city, a young widow named Agnès must weigh her obligations to the dead and dying against her desire to protect what little remains.
Mirror, Mirror II edited by Julia Gfrörer and Sean T. Collins (including "Heroic Devices" by Claude Paradin, translated and illustrated by Julia Gfrörer)
No End Will Be Found by Gretchen Felker-Martin (published by Thuban)
