WEB COMICS ROUND-UP: DIARY OF A CATERING WHORE

[Andrea Speed]

This continues my series of web comics I think you should check out. This week, it's Diary of a Catering Whore by Sean Seamus McWhinny, a semi-autobiographical comic about the trials of working a menial job under strange circumstances, catering to those not only much more wealthy than you, but occasionally famous, always demanding, and always pretentious.



I take it you are no longer a catering whore.

SSW: My last event was December 2006, thank Buddha! Four years was enough for material, and to go off on my own story threads. I keep holding my breath, but I think I'm done with it for good.


Have you heard from anyone you've ever featured in a comic? Do former caterers ever ask to be in it?

SSW: I hear quite often from former catering whores I've known and meet new ones when at conventions, especially at the Alternative Press Expo. I hear from folks whose doppelgängers I've used and they love it, so far. I get others jealous for not being included yet. There are tons of people to draw from example. One character, the short, cat-eyed glasses-wearing, breasty Babs is based on a couple of people, none of whom have figured it out yet, I'm assuming.


At its heart, do you think this is a biography, or a subtle warning not to enter the catering business?

SSW: It's a little bit of both. It began as a trio of biographic pieces, the first three strips in the archives. I got approached at the Alternative Press Expo about making it into a weekly online strip, where the ad space would supply some money. The ad spiel hasn't gone anywhere, but it's free hosting at least. I have to watch my tone so that I'm not being too negative or downbeat about catering, but so much of the experience is absurd. The whole idea of setting up a fine-dining experience, with tuxedos and fine silver and linens, in a huge white tent in the middle of a horse field is absurd. While the idea is to aim for fantasy perfection, so much can and does go wrong. I felt it was worth exploring more on the subject. While I had not intended it to be made into a series, and sort of deplore churning out strips in a series, there's plenty of material to mine.

It began as biographical, but I also do more fictional episodes, where I'm exploring characters based on people I've known, dramatizing or fleshing out situations.


Where do you think you'll be five years from now?

SSW: Lordy, that's a loaded one. My wish is to have a publisher for my work. I'd like to have a variety of stories out there on a spectrum of genres and styles. So far, I've done more autobio stuff, which I think is an easier sell in some ways, since people like tell-alls and reality shows. Wouldn't mind doing a travel-related graphic novel/vignette, much like Josh Neufeld's "A.D: New Orleans After the Deluge" which is a compelling journalistic work. (Having studied journalism and creative writing in college, I'd love doing that.) Could possibly do some work about my experiences living/teaching in Japan and working as the Easter Bunny in a mall after the dot com bubble burst. What I wish for, in general, is wider exposure of my work. I'm learning to market myself better, slowly. I suppose it would be impure of me to privately wish for a studio to option my work for a film or to have "Catering Whore" adapted for a TV series, in the mode of "Arrested Development" or "30 Rock". (A producer type at the APE last year suggested as much.) But that would be impure of me as a cartoonist to suggest such a thing. So impure. But then, Mama needs a new pair of shoes.



An often funny comic that doesn't make caricatures of its people, check Diary of a Catering Whore out for yourself. (And, a slight warning: sometimes bad language is used, but not often.)