The first thing that many people will notice about My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down is how different it looks from many other graphic novels—perhaps most notably in the number of panels on so many pages. How did this format come about?

There’s several answers to this question. The diary strips are drawn to a 48-panel-per page grid. It’s probably a reaction against a trend I was seeing in the last 10 years toward fewer panels per page among my peers, which I always felt was kind of cheating. Some people were elongating a comic strip to the length of a book. The other reason is that I’m going for the kind of richness and density I find in the comics I like, the kind that ask to be read more than once. Finally, the way a story is drawn is as important as the story being told. I knew I wanted to draw these comic strips with a minimum of artistic fuss. No slick inking or lettering, no splash panels. None of the trappings that comic books have that can be used as a crutch in the place of storytelling. Normally comic book art is drawn larger and then reduced for reproduction, which “tightens” everything up and removes all the inconsistencies in line quality. I decided to work in the opposite way—to expose all the awkwardness and imperfections in the way I draw. Part of the insanity of this book, and hopefully its appeal, is its obsessive nature. The conceptual assignment I gave myself with this book was to get my whole life story out at once. That meant cramming and compressing 34 years of life into 128 pages. I’ve done my best to make the work readable and accessible, but I know it also requires some digging. I think that uncovering process can be pleasurable for the reader. At least that’s my hope.

How long did it take to complete this book, and what was the process of putting it together like? With the large number of panels on each page, how did you manage the art?

It took between 4 1/2 and 5 years from when I first started on the earliest strips until the book’s completion. I chipped away at it a little at a time. I tried my best to listen for what needed to be included and not force anything. Editing and arranging the book continued up until right before it went to print. So in a lot of ways it’s a time capsule of who I was when I was working on it more than anything else. I can say I’m already a different person than the one who drew the book and especially different from the person I was writing about. Doing the book changed me.

The book shares many very personal details about your life, from sexual history to social views to family relationships. How did you decide to tell such personal details?

I’m working in a tradition of autobiographical comics, which dates back to the ’60s “underground.” So there’s quite a bit of precedent for what I’m doing. I might be taking it a step further and addressing things people are still reluctant to talk about, like their own racism. I’ve always been something of an exhibitionist by nature. There’s clearly something in the zeitgeist too, since I’m not the only one who feels comfortable sharing their most personal secrets with the world. Check your local blog. But the difference is I’m not simply interested in getting attention (though I’d be dishonest if I said that didn’t factor in at all). I’m doing my best to share my story so that it’s useful and entertaining and moving to my readers. Art kept me alive as a teenager. I needed art that didn’t talk down to me, art that seemed to accurately reflect just how stupid, absurd, hard, and awful it is to live on the planet. But in spite of that, my favorite artists were able to remain hopeful and optimistic. That’s what I’m trying to do with this book.

What has reaction to the book been from your friends and family?

My family has been wonderful, especially my mom. I shared the parts of the book that were about her as I worked on it and it changed our relationship for the better. My brothers have been supportive too and I think grateful that they don’t have big starring roles in my crazy stories. My dad is very proud and I think enjoys the attention, even though much of the material is as unflattering as it gets. He has a remarkable ability to compartmentalize things in his life and deny reality. Anyone from the book that I’m still friends with is excited for me and happy to be in it. A surprising number of people from my past have shown up to be my Facebook friend in the last year, though I don’t think it’s related to the book. At least none of them have really told me if they’ve read it. Most surprising has been the reaction from the comics “community,” which has been somewhat hostile. I find myself growing away from the scene that spawned me. I’m interested in clarity and connecting with an audience and being part of a larger cultural dialogue. These days I’m learning more from people like Matt Groening or writers like Tina Fey than artists who are wounded and create in a willfully obscure way.

Which part of the book was most difficult to put out there and share with readers?

The race stuff felt the most raw to me. While working on large parts of it, I had to stop and either sob or scream and pound pillows on my bed. Especially shameful were the memories of mistreating campers in my care when I was 16. It felt important to shine a harsh light on that and not justify it. It’s about as ugly as it gets for me. This story is my attempt at talking about a “political” issue. Most political art is self-righteous, obnoxious, semicoherent, and unconsciously driven by parental issues. I think it’s much more effective to look into myself and talk about what’s there than to point fingers at any group and analyze “their” behavior. Now that we have a black president, I think we’re going to see a lot of scrambling among whites to show they aren’t racist. I take the opposite premise. I was born white in this country; therefore I am racist. And it’s my job to probe that, understand it, and ultimately discard what’s faulty in my thinking. No one can do it for me.

The book is pretty bold. Did you surprise yourself with it?

What’s surprising is that I thought I knew myself and what I was putting into the world. But I don’t actually know what this book is or who’s supposed to read it. It was a mysterious process creating the book. I don’t feel like I was really in control then and I’m certainly not in control now. It’s up to readers to decide what it is. I’ve been struggling to let go of it and let it have a life out there in the world, free of my “helicopter parenting.”

Why did the graphic novel format work best for telling the story of My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down?

This kind of book was what I was most interested in making when I started it five years ago. It wasn’t a question. Now I’m very interested in adapting the story to other formats, like with the songs I’ve written to accompany the book or short video “webisodes” on YouTube. That’s where my energy wants to go at the moment.

Who are some of your influences in the graphic novel field? What are some of your current favorites?

My favorites have remained relatively stable for the last decade and they’re all the obvious literary cartoonists, like Ware, Clowes, Spiegelman, Burns, etc. Dan Nadel is publishing some fantastic books with his company Picture Box, including a wonderful Japanese cartoonist named Yuichi Yokoyama, whose work is like nothing I’ve ever seen. Alison Bechdel is also a very exciting writer to me and so is Ariel Schrag. They seem to have sprung up outside of the influence of the male cartoonists I admire, so they have a very different approach and voice. I’m influenced by a lot of different things, like hip hop and TV shows and ’80s video games. I don’t draw distinctions about what’s considered an acceptable source of inspiration. It all goes into the stew.

What are you working on next?

More music with my producer Peter Wade. Some sort of film or TV adaptation of My Brain. And my next book for Pantheon, Overpeck, which is a more standard fictional “graphic novel.” It’s based on the neighborhood where I grew up in New Jersey, but features characters that came to me in my dreams, some of whom have magical powers. It will be a complete departure from everything I’ve done with this book, though much of it is based on my earliest memories from childhood. I can’t wait to dig into it. Hopefully it’ll be done by 2010? Don’t hold me to that.