Crowbar: A True Story
The pitch pages for an auto-bio comic about my mother's attempted murder and how it changed my family's life forever.
October is always a bittersweet month for me. I love autumn, Halloween, and the crisp smell of the air. But it’s also the month where my entire life changed back when I was in elementary school.
My father was very, very abusive. While my brother and I suffered a lot, my mom got it the worst. Aside from the physical abuse and beatings, he would also torture her just for fun. I remember him handcuffing her to a rod in the kitchen, locking her in the basement, or leaving threatening notes throughout the house. He told her that if she ever left him, he’d kill her.
But that didn’t stop her from putting a plan together.
After years of saving up enough money to leave him, my mom packed my brother and me up into the car. We lived in a hotel for two months while things were sorted out. My brother and I had to be driven to school by a police officer to make sure that my dad didn’t try to pick us up and take him with us.
It was hard. But things got worse.
After some arrangements had been set with a judge for the pending divorce, my dad would only get us on the weekends and only with his family around. My dad never actually spent time with us on those days. He’d go to the bar and leave us at the house with my aunt and uncles. But after a few months, in the middle of October, my dad tried to make good on his promise.
He started acting nicer than usual, taking us out to dinner and offering to help my mom pay for things. I don’t remember the exact circumstances, but my mom had mentioned needing a new car and my dad offered to drive her to look at one to purchase. He dropped us off at his sister’s house and we waited for them to come back.
They didn’t.
Several years ago, I partnered with Gale Galligan, a super-talented artist you might recognize from the Scholastic catalog, to bring this story to life. It’s called Crowbar, and while the book might still find a home someday, I always like to share the pages to remind people that spousal abuse isn’t black and white. It’s a gray monster that can consume your entire life and bring everything crashing down.
Here are the pages of the comic that Gale and I worked on years ago. You can also read them on my website here if that’s easier.
If you have a loved one who is going through abuse, no matter what the circumstances, you have to be there for them. Leaving isn’t easy, and there’s always the threat of more violence. I just ask that you have empathy for anyone facing a situation like this or something similar.
Dear Kenny,
I´m so sorry your family and you had to go through this! This is a fucked up situation that shouldn´t happen but happens way more often than people think.
Though it´s hard to stomach, I´d like to read more chapters. Ideally in a finished graphic novel, published by Top Shelf or Fantagraphics.
Thank you for sharing. I can only imagine how it felt putting this story on paper and then online.
Take care and all the best,
Martin Plsko
https://martinplsko.com/