We want everyone who needs this comic to find this comic. Pig Wife astonished us both, but our first encounter with it rocked us so hard we needed weeks to process it. After that, Pig Wife took root, and we’ve carried the comic ever since, processing much of our daily lives through its lens.
Lisa read it first, early in the year. As she turned through its pages, the temperature around her seemed to increase. The book affected her chemistry, challenged her perspective, morphing with her as she morphed around it. Brad read Pig Wifesecond, and we’ve talked about little else until this week, when cartoonist Abbey Luck joined us on the podcast for a comprehensive discussion.
Published by Top Shelf Productions, Pig Wife recounts the tale of Mary, a young girl dragged to a remote mining town by her mother and stepdad. Living in dead aunt Pearl’s house triggers a familial confrontation that sends Mary through a trapdoor, leading to an abandoned gold mine. There, she meets those who live below, and nothing will ever be the same again.
We discuss Pig Wife’s origins with Abbey Luck, who she initially imagined her audience to be, and how her relationship with surrealism captured a profound honesty about people. Pig Wife is a lot, and may not be for every reader, but for those who connect with it, as we did, they will mark Pig Wife as one of the year’s best books, and maybe one of the best books of the twenty-first century.
Pig Wife is out now in paperback. It’s written by Abbey Luck with art by Luck and Ruka Bravo. Make sure you’re following Luck on Instagram.
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