How Did I Get Here?

I would describe myself as a PhD historian turned graphic storyteller.

As a child, my brother’s Mad and Cracked magazines, and T.V. X-men cartoons inspired me to draw a team of female superhero characters with colourful capes and bulbous heads too big for their bodies. I was a nerd who would make little newspapers complete with comic strips and leave them out for my parents to read.  

As an adult I earned a PhD in Central European History, studying at the University of British Columbia and researching in German and U.S. archives.

When I read Maus, Persepolis and Joe Sacco’s Palestine, it renewed my interest in graphic storytelling. I began learning about comic book writing and writing fictitious stories based on the real-life characters I discovered in my archival research.

In my last year as an academic, I attended a German history conference in Denver.The keynote speaker was Holocaust survivor and author Ruth Kluge. Surprisingly, she devoted a portion of her address to the strength of comic books as a new medium for history, touting the impact of Maus and the form’s ability to relay history through visual details. In that moment I knew that all my years of research would not be wasted if I changed course. My work could be accepted in graphic novel form.

Since that day, I have worked to improve my skills as an illustrator as I continue to research and work on comics with a historical or social justice theme. The thread that runs through my research is telling stories of oppression, injustice, war, postwar reconstruction, and human resilience, all in the spirit of promoting pacifism, thus the name of my website The Pacifist Handbook.

  -Dr. Kelly Cairns