Joey Comeau

Career

Comeau's work is difficult to classify by genre. Of his eight books, two are comic collections, one is a "genderqueer adventure story", one is an experimental novel told through job application letters, two are collections of short stories, and two are horror. In 2003, Comeau co-created the webcomic A Softer World with Emily Horne. His first novel, Lockpick Pornography, was serialized on the A Softer World site prior to publication in book form by Loose Teeth Press. Excerpts from his novel Overqualified were included in the 2010 Best American Nonrequired Reading. The first 20 chapters of his novel One Bloody Thing After Another were serialized on the National Post's book blog and the book was nominated for the 2010 Shirley Jackson Award. One Bloody Thing After Another was also nominated for the 2011 ReLit Awards.

In 2012 a sequel to Lockpick Pornography titled We All Got It Coming, was released for free on the Internet before being published together with the original in The Complete Lockpick Pornography.

His writing often includes themes such as homophobia, life after death, and realistic portrayals of sex. Many of his characters struggle with identity. This manifests as characters with fluid gender identities and sexual orientations as well as characters who put themselves in dangerous situations on purpose. Much of his work is sex positive, including descriptions of safe, consensual intercourse that are nonetheless very passionate. His collection of short stories, The Girl Who Couldn't Come is described as "a book where sex is fun and good and people are kind to each other."

He lists his influences as including Morley Callaghan, Hunter S. Thompson, and Tupac. There is a Tupac quotation at the beginning of Lockpick Pornography.

Online Projects

As well as the webcomic A Softer World, Joey Currently has several other ongoing online projects. Oh me Dort is a photo essay about his friend Maggie Dort. Pinball with my mom is a story (with accompanying photographs) that explores his views on his mother who is a hairdresser for television shows and movies. Me and my friend Ryan is a list of experiences Joey has had with friend and comic creator Ryan North. It also includes a poem he has written about their relationship. He is a fan of horror movies and also writes a blog about gender roles in horror movies called I'm Into Survival.

I am other people is a series of long form interviews he has conducted with people who are important to him. They include with Ryan North, Adrian Comeau (his brother), Helen Dewitt, Hamilton Chu, and Derek McCormack. The interviews are always accompanied by a picture, and are often very two sided, reading much like casual conversations and including many instances of the interviewees asking questions of Comeau.

In addition he maintains an active accounts on the social media platforms Twitter and tumblr. Many of his books are available to read for free online.

Kickstarter Campaign

In 2013, Comeau and collaborator Emily Horne ran a successful Kickstarter campaign to publish the fourth print volume of A Softer World, titled Let's Do Something Wrong. The campaign raised over $78,000, on a goal of $25,000. The project was described as being "A book about dead moms, queers, sexy extremism and sad feelings. In photo comic form with words on the photos, like, over top of them!".

Personal life

Comeau is openly queer, has a degree in linguistics, and is an avid chess player. He currently lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He has three younger brothers. One of them, Adrian Comeau, is also an artist.