45 Days Of CCS, #38: April Malig

April Malig is an avid zine-maker whose work varies from hyper-specific narrative comics, to journals revolving around drawing, food & travel; and abstract experiments with color and form. In I Am Trying To Enjoy My Life, Malig shows off one of the favorite things about her as an artist. She's completely unapologetic about every aspect of herself and her art, especially as it impacts her mental health. There's a sense of her having running out of fucks left to give a long time ago, and so she talks about and does things that make her happy: eat, draw, go outside from time to time, travel, and see friends. This zine captures her personality perfectly, and the little decorative details (the drawing on graph paper, the mix of hand lettering and type) only accentuate the pleasure of reading this. The abstract swooshes of color on every other page feel in tune with Malig's descriptions of what each individual day was like. 

The 2022 Sketchbook Drawings zine is another great example of Malig's abstract waves of color, this time gridded out on a monthly calendar on every page. This allows the reader to enjoy each image individually, experience them sequentially, and then perceive each page as a gestalt of bright colors. Malig adds commentary about why drawing every day can be joyful so long as you are in the moment of making marks or creating color. She also added a bunch of Washi tape images to add further detail and complexity to each page, making each its own unique viewing experience. 

The comic I was most interested in here was the third issue of Rotten Roses, Malig's sequential comic about a group of friends obsessed with a particular boys love manga & anime that Malig made up. This includes a dedication to not just the show, but to fanfic writers and artists equally obsessed with the show. Malig captures this subgenre of fans who are so inspired by original source material (and perhaps hyperfixated) that they want to put their own spin on it. There's a hilarious segment where one of the members of the friends group writes a fanfic manifesto that admonishes those who write fanfic that openly ignores what she considers to be canon aspects of characters. It makes sense, because while putting your personal favorites in space or doing a Digimon crossover might make sense, ignoring the fact that one of them hates sweets is going over the line. Malig's character design nicely balances lots of looping lines and a tasteful use of color. The guest artists providing examples of art for imaginary manga or anime shows is another nice touch, as Malig takes great pains to provide verisimilitude for something that does not exist. Malig concludes the issue as the friends start to drift apart; they find other fandoms, stories dry up for this fandom, or real life intrudes. It's a natural part of both friendships (especially those that start off in an extremely intense way) and fandoms, and Malig has captured something special in this series. Even if you have no idea what she's referring to at times, the fandom acts as a gimmick that reveals the enthusiasm and infectious need to discuss the thing they're fixated on with other people