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WORK TITLE: Young Frances
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S): Ethan Rilly
BIRTHDATE:
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RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Male.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and cartoonist.
AWARDS:Recipient of the received Doug Wright, Ignatz, and Joe Shuster awards.
WRITINGS
Contributes comics to periodicals and websites, including the New Yorker, Walrus, Slate, Chronicle, and COMPLEX, as well as to HarperCollins Publishers.
SIDELIGHTS
Harley Lin is a cartoonist who grew up in Toronto, Canada and who also writes under the pseudonym Ethan Rilly. In addition to creating the comic book Pope Hats, he has drawn for various periodicals and websites. In an interview for the Canadian Broadcasting Company website, Lin noted: “My stories usually contain a lot of quiet despair and existential dread. Fun stuff like that.” In the same article, Lin remarked that he trusts his instincts when creating a comic, during which time he must make “hundreds of micro-decisions.” Lin added: “A couple times I’ve found myself revising and revising the dialogue for a ‘problem scene’ until I finally realize that it circled back to the original wording.”
Lin first started to gather recognition in 2009 with his comics Pope Hats, which revolves around a law clerk, office politics, and the law clerk’s off-kilter roommate. “Pope Hats was a triumph, an amazing accomplishment of gorgeously delineated art and richly developed characters,” wrote a Comics Worth Reading website contributor. Lin has gathered together the comics into one volume, titled Young Frances, published under his real name as opposed to the original comic, which were published under the pseudonym Ethan Rilly.
In Young Frances, Lin follows the life of a 20-something law clerk named Frances Saarland. A smart lawyer working for a prestigious Toronto law firm, Frances faces a lot of pressure on the job and in firm so demanding that many of the lawyers joke that they spend more time at the firm than with their families. However, Francis “disguises her anxiety about a career in the legal profession with level-headed sincerity and clever wit,” wrote a Publishers Weekly contributor.
Frances is assigned to be the assistant for Marcel Castonguay, who heads the questionable bankruptcies division of the firm. Castonguay is “a man … [whose] intricacies either make him the successful lawyer he is or just another weird man who has somehow worked himself up to a place of power and wealth,” wrote Scott Cederlund in a review for the Panel Patters website. Finding herself caught in the middle of office politics, Frances has a hard time sleeping and believes that unlike other people she is not handling the world gracefully. For example, her roommate, Vickie Griffin, is beautiful and a good actress who parties, throws lovers aside like used paper cups, and is good at nursing hangovers and stealing scenes that she appears in onstage. When Frances is offered a promotion at the law firm, she must take a long, hard look at her life and what she really wants, questioning a promotion that may mean the rest of her life spending long hours with stuffy lawyers.
Meanwhile, Vickie ends up leaving for California after landing a job on a television series about, what else, lawyers. The trashy show is titled “Bad Prosecutor.” Lin examines the two women’s relationships via their phone calls and text messages. “Lin masterfully captures the dynamic between straight-laced Frances and wild Vickie,” wrote Comicsverse website contributor Molly Barnewitz, pointing out that the two women have a strong bond despite being so different. Barnewitz went on to write: “Frances needs Vickie to remind her to have fun, and Vickie needs Frances to remind her to drink water after partying too hard. The relationship brings much needed levity to the comic and their symbiosis is relatable in a culture that values intense platonic female friendships.” Commenting on the relationship between Frances and Vickie, Panel Patter website contributor Cederlund wrote that Frances sees “her introverted life as a reflection of the extroverted Vicki and, while not explicitly stated, we can see each of Frances choices as an answer to the question ‘what would Vicki do?’ even if she would never go to the extremes of her best friend.”
Andrew Woodrow-Butcher, writing for Quill & Quire Online, noted that Lin fully develops the supporting cast in Young Francis, from Vicki and Marcel to another burnt out lawyer named Chris Seagull and a young woman named Nina trying to deal with her boring life. Woodrow-Butcher also commented on Lin’s artwork, noting: “Lin’s visual style is accessible, his characters just cartoony enough to allow a very broad expressive range.” Woodrow-Butcher added that the graphic novel may not be funny but “Lin knows how to balance stillness and introspection with levity, and his character designs … and sense of visual rhythm invite the occasional chuckle.”
Comicsverse website contributor Barnewitz also commented on Lin’s black-and-white artwork, noting that it seems “strongly rooted in realism” but adding: “However, at times random insertions from wild birds in the city to an imaginary leap from a building, make readers suspect that reality isn’t quite so firm.” A Graphic Policy website contributor called Young Frances “an excellent book that captures the downsides of friendship, the overzealous politics of the workplace and the value of hard work,” adding: “Lin captures the complexities of life, the absurdity of self-importance, and the need for self-worth.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, February 12, 2018, review of Young Frances, p. 65.
ONLINE
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation website, https://www.cbc.ca/ (May 31, 2018), Jane van Koeverden “Magic 8 Q&A: Comic Creator Hartley Lin on His Daily Rituals and How He’d Change His Workspace.”
Comics Worth Reading, https://comicsworthreading.com/ (March 28, 2018), “Young Frances Collects Pope Hats, Now by Hartley Lin.”
Comicsverse, https://comicsverse.com (May 23, 2018), Molly Barnewitz, “Young Franes in a Nutshell.”
Graphic Policy, https://graphicpolicy.com/ (May 12, 2018), review of Young Frances.
Hartley Lin website, http://www.popehats.ca (August 5, 2018).
Panel Patter, http://www.panelpatter.com/ (June 28, 2018), Scott Cederlund, review of Young Frances.
Quill & Quire Online, https://quillandquire.com/ (March 1, 2018), review of Young Frances.
Hartley Lin (also known by the pseudonym Ethan Rilly) is a cartoonist from Toronto. His comic book Pope Hats has received Doug Wright, Ignatz and Joe Shuster awards. He has drawn for The New Yorker, Walrus, Slate, Chronicle, HarperCollins and COMPLEX. He now lives in Montreal.
MAGIC 8 Q&A
Comic creator Hartley Lin on his daily rituals and how he'd change his workspace
Jane van Koeverden · May 31
Hartley Lin has published comics under his pseudonym Ethan Rilly. (Adhouse Books)
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Montreal-based comic creator Hartley Lin has been steadily building a fan base since debuting his award-winning series Pope Hats in 2009. His latest, Young Frances, is his first longer form graphic novel. Funny, poignant and beautiful, the book follows millennial Frances Scarland's hesitant climb up the corporate ladder.
10 Canadian comic books and graphic novels you should be reading right now
Below, Hartley Lin, who is a featured guest at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, takes the CBC Books Magic 8 Q&A. and answers eight questions from eight fellow authors.
1. Jillian Tamaki asks, "What do you wish was different about your workspace and how do you adapt?"
My workspace set up is not impressive. Everything should be different. But for some reason I equate most upgrades, especially digital ones, with more headaches. I could use more plants.
2. Tom Gauld asks, "Have you ever looked back on a finished story and felt that an element of it was actually better in a previous draft?"
Yup. But you kind of have to trust your instincts as you make hundreds of micro-decisions on the page. A couple times I've found myself revising and revising the dialogue for a "problem scene" until I finally realize that it circled back to the original wording. It's a waste of time, but I take it as a good sign.
3. Rajiv Surendra asks, "Is there a book that you wish you had never read? Explain. Please. Thanks."
Hm. I once read a Kazuo Ishiguro short story collection that I thought was lazy and dull, which is the exact opposite of how I feel about his novels, and him as a writer. It wasn't the end of the world, though.
4. Adeena Karsick asks, "What recurring themes, tropes or obsessions appear through all your books?"
This seems dangerous to answer… I guess my stories usually contain a lot of quiet despair and existential dread. Fun stuff like that.
5. Marissa Stapley asks, "If you had a crush on someone you saw on your morning commute, what book would you read on the subway to try to impress them/show them your soul?"
God, I don't know.
6. Melanie Mah asks, "What are your daily rituals other than writing?"
I drink coffee. I tell my dog how much I like her.
7. S.K. Ali asks, "What surprised you the most after getting published?"
Honestly? That people could react to this odd, introspective stuff that I created in a relative vacuum as if it were the most natural thing in the world. There was a lot of, "When do we get more?"
8. Yann Martel asks, "What's the favourite sentence (or scene) that you've written?"
Once you've parted ways, people just keep breathing and growing and following a bending line that you can never quite clearly imagine.
Young Frances Collects Pope Hats, Now by Hartley Lin
Young Frances
Pope Hats was a triumph, an amazing accomplishment of gorgeously delineated art and richly developed characters. Although the main story of the intermittent comic series was set in mundanity, starring a law clerk coping with office politics and a flaky roommate, it was full of skilled observations of human nature.
Now comes the collection of this story. Although Pope Hats was credited to Ethan Rilly, turns out his real name is Hartley Lin, and that’s how this is now authored. Young Frances is due out at the end of May from AdHouse Books and can be ordered now from your local comic shop with Diamond code MAR18 1080. There are preview pages at the publisher’s website.
If you haven’t yet seen it, get aboard now for what’s likely to be one of the books of the year. I envy you experiencing it for the first time.
Young Frances
Publishers Weekly. 265.7 (Feb. 12, 2018): p65.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* Young Frances
Hartley Lin. AdHouse, $19.95 (144p) ISBN 978-1-935233-42-8
This thoroughly entertaining graphic novel collects the serial comics "Pope Hats," which were originally published under the pen name Ethan Rilly. Now published under Lin's real name, the complete arc showcases Lin's disarming brilliance, through skillful comics art and authentic conversational humor. Frances Scarland is a smart young law clerk at a high-pressure Toronto firm, who disguises her anxiety about a career in the legal profession with level-headed sincerity and clever wit. Her best friend (and roommate), Vickie Griffin, a gorgeous, talented actress, is just the opposite: a let-it-all-hang-out party girl, perpetually discarding hookups and nursing hangovers when she isn't stealing scenes onstage. Offered a promotion that promises long hours working for imperious attorneys, Frances is forced to reconsider her life ("No one in history ever wanted to be a great law clerk"). Vickie, meanwhile, leaves for L.A. after getting the lead role in a trashy TV show about lawyers. Using the women's professions as a stage, Lin mines their long-distance phone calls and text messages (and the cutthroat office politics of the firm) to define the nature of their friendship. This much-anticipated release captures the emotional bonds and clumsy charm of two besties who will always have each other's backs. (May)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Young Frances." Publishers Weekly, 12 Feb. 2018, p. 65. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A528615515/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=1bac0052. Accessed 14 July 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A528615515
Young Frances
by Hartley Lin
For many, this new graphic novel from Hartley Lin will signal the debut of a talented, thoughtful cartoonist. But connoisseurs of Canadian literary comics have already gotten to know Lin’s work over the past decade, through his much acclaimed, pseudonymous serial anthology Pope Hats. In this welcome hardcover volume, boutique U.S. comics publisher AdHouse brings together the previously uncollected stories of his character Frances Scarland, in an edition that serves as either a worthy introduction to Lin’s work or an essential addition to the libraries of Lin’s many fans.
Young Frances follows the daily life of a 20-something law clerk navigating a period of personal insecurities and surprising career advancement. Assigned to assist Marcel Castonguay, the mysterious Head of Bankruptcies, Frances is thrown into the centre of her firm’s office politics and finds herself unable to avoid the combative, exhausting, and sometimes bizarre demands of her job.
Quarter-life crisis is too dramatic a characterization of Frances’s story. But she can’t sleep, and she has arrived at a point in life where she craves “that thing that everyone else seems to have … that lets them dive into the world with grace.” Young Frances takes a subtle, true look at the strangeness of adulthood, as Lin’s protagonist discovers that her day-to-day might eventually become her whole life.
Lin’s visual style is accessible, his characters just cartoony enough to allow a very broad expressive range. Young Frances is not exactly a funny book, but Lin knows how to balance stillness and introspection with levity, and his character designs – of Castonguay in particular – and sense of visual rhythm invite the occasional chuckle. The book is notable, too, for its loving illustrations of Toronto streetscapes, which will not only delight those familiar with the city, but contribute to Lin’s tone, always anchoring his big, existential ideas to particularities: this sidewalk, this subway line, this house.
Though focused on Frances, in some ways the book reads like an ensemble piece, and Lin’s supporting cast is richly developed. From party-girl roommate Vickie to stuck-in-a-rut Nina to over-caffeinated, overtired lawyer Chris Seagull, the characters’ anxieties, dreams, and conditions propel Frances’s story forward with realism and candour.
With this book, Lin demonstrates a mastery of lithe narrative on a human scale. Young Frances is an important contribution to contemporary fiction – graphic or otherwise – that is both artful and eminently readable.
Reviewer: Andrew Woodrow-Butcher
Publisher: AdHouse Books
DETAILS
Price: $24.95
Page Count: 144 pp
Format: Paper
ISBN: 978-1-93523-342-8
Released: May
Issue Date: March 2018
Categories: Graphica
YOUNG FRANCES in a Nutshell
By Molly Barnewitz Posted: May 23, 2018
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YOUNG FRANCES BY HARTLEY LIN
Plot
Characterization
Art
SUMMARY
YOUNG FRANCES is a meandering journey into the life of Frances as she searches for place in life despite her anxieties. Hartley Lin carefully captures the existential worry many millennials experience with whimsical art.
90 %
PHILOSOPHICAL
Hartley Lin’s graphic novel YOUNG FRANCES meditates on a concept proposed by Shakespeare in Hamlet. Specifically, Hamlet’s lines “I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams.” Which is to say, despite being trapped by circumstances, one can go as far as their imagination allows them. But there’s a catch. Anxiety and other bad dreams might stand in the way. Similarly, Frances of YOUNG FRANCES fights the realities of her circumstances, trying to make some space within the confines of her nutshell. Lin’s realist comic from AdHouse Books develops the character from his earlier series POPE HATS. The graphic novel verges on the melancholic, capturing the sometimes self-indulgent anxieties of young working millennials but asserting that some control can be found if you alter your perceptions.
Following in the footsteps of other coming of age stories including the similarly named film Frances Ha, YOUNG FRANCES examines how our own anxieties may limit us. The comic follows the eponymous heroine as she rises in the ranks of a monstrous corporate law firm. Frances is a law clerk, who manages the files for a plethora of overworked attorneys. Meanwhile, Frances’ best friend and roommate, Vickie, is busy pursuing her acting dreams and falling short on rent. Lin pessimistically establishes a binary system for intelligent, white, attractive, healthy, female millennials: follow your dreams and be poor, or stick to a stable but unfulfilling job.
Image courtesy of AdHouse Books.
Although Lin does not acknowledge that both Frances and Vickie are highly privileged for many reasons, the comic nevertheless revels in the awkwardness of making your way through life, bad dreams and all. As a result, YOUNG FRANCES is a compelling life study that can resonate with many people who feel trapped by their circumstances.
Living with Bad Dreams
Lin masterfully captures the dynamic between straight-laced Frances and wild Vickie. The two friends are opposites but share a deep friendship. Frances needs Vickie to remind her to have fun, and Vickie needs Frances to remind her to drink water after partying too hard. The relationship brings much needed levity to the comic and their symbiosis is relatable in a culture that values intense platonic female friendships. YOUNG FRANCES makes space for the two as they struggle to navigate adulthood. Importantly, Lin does not sugarcoat their experiences. Even though Vickie skates through life, she ultimately faces the realities of working in the entertainment industry. Meanwhile, Frances deals with superficiality within her own realm. The young clerk drafts memos, speeches, and briefs for corporate moguls who take the credit.
YOUNG FRANCES
Image courtesy of AdHouse Books.
Feeling emotionally and developmentally stuck is at the heart of YOUNG FRANCES. Frances feels stuck in her job. Between the long work hours and a disruptive roommate, Frances doesn’t even have time for sleep. Her colleagues at the firm joke about spending more time at work than with their children. On the flip side, Vickie lives in relative chaos but enjoys herself. Both situations compound Frances’ anxieties. The comic underscores living authentically as a potent cure for feeling stuck. However, the comic recognizes that opening yourself up to authenticity is not easy. Despite their fears, Frances and Vickie are able to make space for their own identities.
YOUNG FRANCES: Just a State of Mind
Lin plays with emotionality in YOUNG FRANCES. The understated artwork lends a feeling of realism, yet there is still an element of whimsy. Readers might expect more emotions from Frances, but she is an introvert. True to form, Frances does not always invite readers into her decision making. Nevertheless, readers will be invested in Frances’ well-being from the get-go. Some might even feel frustrated by her actions, as we long for Frances to live a little more dangerously.
Lin’s black-and-white comics feel strongly rooted in realism. However, at times random insertions from wild birds in the city to an imaginary leap from a building, make readers suspect that reality isn’t quite so firm. The artwork reinforces Lin’s overall thesis, that reality is dependent on our own perceptions. For example, while most of Lin’s characters are similar sizes, Frances’ boss is a giant. The robust figure fills her office doorway and towers intimidatingly over her with massive form and tiny head. Whether this is a realistic image of Frances’ boss is hard to say. Indeed, he humorously stands out in such a way as to make readers think it could not possibly be accurate.
YOUNG FRANCES
Image courtesy of AdHouse Books.
Final Thoughts on YOUNG FRANCES: The Kings of Infinite Space
The enticing artwork and philosophical edge help YOUNG FRANCES embody millennial experiences with humor and honesty. While occasionally aloof and evocative of hipster culture, the comic is highly thought-provoking. The crisp artwork will carry readers into Frances’ world, where they will empathize with the difficulties of making a life for oneself and living authentically. Lin’s carefully constructed comic lacks true catharsis, however, the comic is not sad so much as contemplative. In an age of superhero comics and romantic narratives about how to make it big, YOUNG FRANCES offers refreshing honesty.
REVIEW: YOUNG FRANCES
Posted on May 12, 2018 by pharoahmiles
In the immortal words of Whodini “Friends, how many of us have them?” It is considered one of the all time hip hop classics, but as with all songs back then, they sought to teach their listeners. As I heard the song play in my car, the other day, I paid attention to the lyrics, and the second line in the bridge caught” How many of them(friends) can you depend on?” That line actually gave me pause, as it made me consider those people who I consider “friends.”
There are people who I have not talked to in years, but when we see each other, it was like we never stopped talking. Then there are users in your life, and only seek you when they need something, but when you need them, they are nowhere to be found. Of course, when you are young, it takes time, sometimes years, before you see people for who they really are. In Hartley Lin’s brilliant Young Frances, the reader gets a front row seat of two friends on wholly different paths but can’t do without the other.
We meet Frances, a hot upstart lawyer who seems to be on the fast track, as her firm is in disarray, much like her personal life. We meet her friend, Vickie, an aspiring actress and the one-person Frances mostly can’t say no to. As both friends navigate their respective professions, Frances begins to feel overworked, swimming around office politics but climbs regardless while Vickie, steadily rises to fame, which takes her to Los Angeles, which has all the pitfalls. By book’s end, though Frances seemed like she would not be anymore than her station, she became a shining light for all her peers to follow.
Overall, an excellent book that captures the downsides of friendship, the overzealous politics of the workplace and the value of hard work. The story by Lin captures the complexities of life, the absurdity of self-importance, and the need for self-worth. The art by Lin is vivid, elegant, and warm. Altogether, an excellent book which shows Lin is a force to be reckoned with. His deft touch to characters and portrayal of slice of life is what makes him exceptional.
Story: Hartley Lin Art: Hartley Lin
Story: 10 Art: 10 Overall: 10 Recommendation: Buy
Young Frances by Harley Lin
BY SCOTT CEDERLUNDJUNE 28, 2018
A surface reading of Hartley Lin’s Young Frances would make it look like a workplace drama, almost like TV’s Mad Men without the smoking, drinking, and carousing. Telling the story of a young law clerk, Lin’s story could easily be the cliche of the spunky-yet-overlooked-and-overworked underdog who has to prove herself to her best friend, her co-workers, her boss and most importantly, to herself. But Young Frances is so much more than that, mainly thanks to the specificity that Lin puts into it, from the small details of Frances’ apartment after a going-away party for Vicki, her best friend, to the odd characteristics of her boss Mr. Castonguay, a man who’s intricacies either make him the successful lawyer he is or just another weird man who has somehow worked himself up to a place of power and wealth.
There are few comics that can create a sense of time and place. Whether it’s an attempt to be “timeless,” a lack of need for it for the story or just an inability to capture a true sense of place by the cartoonists, too many comics take place in a nebulous setting, focusing more on plot and narrative to hint at the when and where of a story rather than letting the art take the reader to a concrete moment and location. The law offices that Frances works and the apartment she lives in ground the story in a very contemporary Toronto but it also grounds Frances in a very recognizable world and helps define her character. Lin’s cartooning pays attention to the details of location, even when Vicki goes out to California to work on a tv show called “Bad Prosecutor.” Just the difference between the sunny land of make-believe in Los Angeles and the cold nights of Toronto create very specific spaces in this comic that chart the narrative paths of both characters.
As a best friend, Vicki is probably both the best thing and worst thing that Frances needs in her file but isn’t that what best friends are supposed to be? Vicki is the exact opposite of Frances. She’s emotionally messy, impetuous, and free in ways that Frances probably admires but could never be. Vicki and Frances are the perfect examples of “opposites attract.” They are so different but Lin shows how this great friendship supports one another and makes each examine their own lives through the prism of the other. Mostly we see Frances looking at her introverted life as a reflection of the extroverted Vicki and, while not explicitly stated, we can see each of Frances choices as an answer to the question “what would Vicki do?” even if she would never go to the extremes of her best friend.
So Vicki spends a large portion of this book acting as a motivator for Frances. It may be easy to see Vicki and the other various love interests, office co-workers, and bosses merely as plot devices to push Frances’ story forward except that Lin pays attention to the little character details of these characters so that they have their own lives and stories in the book even if they’re not the focus of Lin’s book. That everyone gets these little character moments of pride, uncertainty, craziness, and jealousy help mold the story into this tale where we see all of these forces and influences working on Frances, pushing and pulling her in the direction of her life.
A fantastic cartoonist, Lin draws in a natural, realistic world but has these moments and images that you can’t believe that you’re seeing. In the aftermath of a goodbye party for Vicki, as she’s leaving Toronto for sunny California, the giant head of a baby chick costume sits in an open oven. It’s a funny yet weirdly gruesome image; a head in an oven that echoes a flippant suicide joke that Frances made elsewhere in the story. And Frances’ boss, Mr. Castonguay is some exaggerated version of Little Orphan Annie’s Daddy Warbucks, complete with the vacant eyes, but with physical proportions that are almost like something out of an early Rob Liefeld comic. Castonguay's large, broad chest and gigantic hands are completely incongruous with the characters tiny head. It’s another one of Lin’s great details that are initially funny, then becomes slightly disorienting, and then becomes completely normal as you read the book.
Rereading this review, it almost feels like Frances could almost be a tertiary character in her own book but that is far from the truth. It’s just that like all of us, Frances is the sum of her experiences and her friends so they all play this big part in her life. As Lin tells her story, he’s layering in all of these people and events that shape the decisions that she makes on a daily basis. To understand her, Lin knows that we need to understand her life and everything in it. Crafting an incredibly rich cast around Frances, we get to know her through her experiences, being able to share her story with her rather than just reading it from the distance between eye and page.