Kari Backman

Kari Backman stepped onto the page in 1988 through Chester Brown's wildly inventive Yummy Fur, one of the most daring titles to emerge from Vortex Comics during the Copper Age's flourishing of bold, creator-driven work. A figure in Brown's characteristically strange and intimate storytelling universe, Kari shares that world with the likes of Ed the Happy Clown, Jesus Christ, and the other Backmans — a cast that tells you immediately this is comics operating on its own gloriously singular wavelength. With only a handful of appearances, Kari is a quiet corner of a landmark series, but Yummy Fur itself is essential reading for anyone serious about the alternative comics tradition, and every character within it carries that distinction.