Lynda Barry was one of a new breed of artists and writers who brought underground comics to the light of day with her bitingly funny strip Ernie Pook's Comeek, first printed in 1980 in the Chicago Reader alternative newsweekly, and the acclaimed novel and play The Good Times are Killing Me, published in 1988. The crudely-drawn Ernie Pook's Comeek details the antics of a group of misfit adolescents, centering on the hapless Marlys Mullen, who gives a voice to sociocultural issues through the eyes of a young girl. It appeared in more than 60 newspapers in the 1990s. The Good Times are Killing Me, set in the 1960s, tackles race relations and other topics as understood by children. Barry's sharp wit and wry commentary is often compared to that of her college friend Matt Groening, creator of the Life in Hell comic and The Simpsons television show, who helped propel her career.

Further Reading:

Coburn, Marcia Froelke. "Her So-Called Life." Chicago. March1997, 80.

Graham, Judith, editor. Current Biography Yearbook. New York, H.W. Wilson, 1994.