There’s nothing revolutionary, or even especially innovative, going on with Elise Dietrich’s recent (as of this November 2019 writing)  self-published mini Key West Diary — and, frankly, that’s one of the best things about it.

Over the years, autobio comics have undergone something of an evolution into memoir on the one hand, fist-person journalism/reportage on the other, but along the way something important’s been lost : something more personal, more isolated, more immediate. Which isn’t me bad-mouthing memoir or comics journalism in the least — quite the contrary, both are exciting “substrata” of the overall comic arts “foundation” — but the slice-of-life sans additional imperative, whether it comes in the form of a vignette or a longer-form story, sometimes feels as if it would be getting lost in the shuffle if it weren’t for the likes of Gabrielle Bell, John Porcellino, Jenny Zervakis, Keiler Roberts, et. al. keeping the torch…