'One Hundred Demons'.
Lynda Jean Barry belongs to the tradition of James Thurber and Jules Feiffer: skilled humorists for whom comics is just one of several media suited to their talents. Later in her career she also expressed admiration for Charles Burns.
Barry, along with close friend Matt Groening, stood at the forefront of the least talked about aspect of the 1980s comics renaissance: the rise of the alternative newspaper strip. Appearing in a number of free weeklies across the United States, particularly the Los Angeles and Chicago Readers, Barry has achieved, in some ways, the alternative comics dream. Her work reaches adults who might not read any other comics, adults who, because of work like Barry's, don't question that this art form can produce sophisticated reading matter.
'How To Draw Girls'.
Titles by Lynda Barry are: 'Girls and Boys', 'Big Ideas', 'Naked Ladies, Naked Ladies, Naked Ladies', 'Everything in the World', 'The Good Times Are Killing Me', 'The Fun House', 'Down the Street', 'My Perfect Life', 'Ernie Pook's Comeek', 'It's So Magic', 'The Freddie Stories', 'Cruddy' and 'One Hundred Demons'.
Barry's comic 'Ernie Pook's Comeek' is most remarkable because of its voice: lonely, unremarkable children struggling with everything that is awful and overwhelming about the world. In Ernie Pook's best years, in the late '80s, Barry's strip reads like actual diaries of children. In an act of developmental shorthand, Barry has created characters that have earned the affection that takes most cartoonists decades to build.
In 2017 Barry was one of several contributors to the magazine Resist!, founded by Françoise Mouly and her daughter Nadia to protest against the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Barry plays in a rock group named the Millie Orchid Show Band, which also features Brigid Murphy, and cartoonist Heather McAdams on drums.
The looks of cartoon character Daria Morgendorffer, a side character in Mike Judge's animated series 'Beavis & Butt-head' and later the star of her own TV cartoon series 'Daria' (1997-2001) by Glenn Eichler and Susie Lewis, were inspired by Barry's own physical appearance. Lynda Barry was a strong influence on Matt Groening, who placed 'Ernie Pook's Comeek' on nr. 4 in his personal list of '100 Favorite Things'. Barry additionally influenced Roz Chast, Maia Matches, Joe Matt, Nina Paley and Mimi Pond.
'Ernie Pook's Comeek'.