You've mentioned that "Mars Needs Moms!" has run into trouble with "the daunting p.c. police of children's literature." What's the issue with it?
It's 1) the domestic depiction of moms and the domestic fantasy that the Martians are obsessed with: getting driven to soccer. Making their lunches. Being entertained. I got dinged by the kid-lit p.c. police for failing to mention a professional job for mom. Big no-no. This is very funny. As if working at Kmart -- or as the CFO for Intel -- means a damned thing to a 5-year-old. Bandaging her boo-boo does.
And 2) depicting moms as (domestic) self-sacrifice machines. This, in the kid-lit orthodoxy, provides reasons for women to feel guilty about the career choices they might make (and the sacrifice/guilt issues regarding children). Both of these nailed me in Publishers Weekly's eyes. It was a deliciously scathing review, the most important in publishing ... I can say "delicious" with a buoyant, flippant air because the book is a bestseller. I'm quite positive, by the way, that my Publishers Weekly reviewer was a woman whose own mother made her sit and eat broccoli until she wet her pants.
How has the world of children's books changed in the 16 years since "A Wish for Wings That Work"?
The fucking -- excuse me -- celebrities have invaded our turf and don't plan to leave. Everyone -- and I mean everyone -- who has a household name is lined up and booked on the "Today" show to promote their children's book. I happen to know that Saddam Hussein had been approached before the noose tightened. Too bad they couldn't have hung Madonna before she had a chance to dump her 10 million books all over the shelves. For crying out loud, Barney, the presidential dog, did a children's book. It was a bestseller, goddammit. I'm going to show up at the White House and suggest that it's my professional right to take a poop in Barney's doghouse. See how he likes that. I'm not bitter.
One theme of your work seems to be longing for respect -- a lot of Opus' story is about his uphill battle for dignity, and in "Mars Needs Moms!" Milo starts out frustrated at his "thundering, humorless tyrant" of a mother's lack of respect for him, and ends up respecting her more. Do you feel like you've gotten the respect that's due to you?
Now that you've brought it up, no. My mother still calls me "Berke" and not "Berkeley," even after I explained to her that a "berk" is common, working-class English slang for -- I'll put this gently -- a vagina. I'd like her to stop this. Mom, I hope you subscribe to Salon.
About the writer
Douglas Wolk writes a monthly column on comics and graphic novels for Salon. His book "Reading Comics" will be published by Da Capo next year.
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