Neil Babra has been drawing and posting comics to the web since 2002. Simply titled Imitation of Life, Neil’s earliest works were autobiographical comics, and the first of those early strips were drawn in, believe it or not, MS Paint. Neil’s comics have since come a long way from those humble beginnings, and this is truly reflected in his many stories. A brief history lesson:

Cloud Factory

Prior to Flight Volume 1, and after working on his Imitation of Life strips for well over a year, circumstances arose that required Neil to put his webcomic on an extended hiatus. He turned instead to writing and drawing a weekly comic strip, Cloud Factory, for his local newspaper. While the strip didn’t last very long, it did establish a major character — Tej — who would later go on to appear in Flight volumes 1 and 2 (“Taj Mahal” and “The Golden Temple“, respectively). Neil briefly discusses the origins of Cloud Factory on his website:

“I took a break from webcomics a few years ago and created this strip for an alternative weekly newspaper. Tej gets locked out of his apartment and wanders Pittsburgh looking for his keys, while his friend Sara discovers the work of a reclusive college professor. The strip ran for about 8 weeks (sometimes in color!) before the paper folded.”

Neil would eventually post his Cloud Factory strips online to Serializer.net, and you can read these early strips here.

Imitation of Life

In 2005, Neil picked up and moved across the country, leaving Pittsburgh for San Francisco. It was here in his new surroundings that Neil returned to his autobiographical comics, Imitation of Life. He presented an autobiographical account of his first several weeks adjusting to life in the Bay Area with a short story that eventually saw publication in New Reliable Press’s anthology, You Ain’t No Dancer #1 (which can be purchased here). You can read a two-page preview of this story, “Early This Year”, at the New Reliable Press website:

• “Early This Year“

Soon after “Early This Year”, Neil followed this up with another account of his time in the Valley with his story for Flight 3, “In Due Time“. Of course, the interesting thing about autobio comics is that these stories are perpetually ongoing. Neil is continuing to tell his own stories on his website, and those that have read “In Due Time” will likely recognize a few recurring themes and characters in the strips that follow it:

• “Bird Call“
• “Vacancy“
• “Photo Girl“
• “Just Like the Rain“
• “An Empathetic Ear“
• “Short Order“

Read through the complete Imitation of Life archive here.