Self-described model and wannabe actress Arianna Arras’s autobiographical series A Life Through Selfies is designed to mimic selfies posted on a social media website. The concept is fascinating and mysterious. Is the author/artist actually the character she’s portraying? Are the events, including a stalker and at least one murder, true or made up? If it is not Arras’s actual life then it is even more remarkable, since the artwork appears to be created from photographs.
It’s a bit confusing to match the dates on the episodes with when they actually posted; the series appears to have started in November 2017 and ended in December of this year. The series ends abruptly on an episode dated December 31st, 2017, with no indication of the character’s or the artist’s future plans, other than the message “Cheers to my followers,” in the second to the last episode. This sudden conclusion may have dark implications foreshadowed earlier.
Daily autobiographical webcomics are not uncommon, with James Kolchalka’s poetic American Elf being a classic example. A Life Through Selfies is at the other end of the expressive spectrum, the writing flat and superficial, the artwork somewhat harsh. One can take it as a companion piece to Mike Birchall’s Everything is Fine, where bland, inhibited conversation is the result of a brutal authoritarian society; but in A Life Through Selfies, the society is our own, and the wearisome commentary arise from the character herself.
Included in Best Webcomics of 2022.
