The stories in this comic are nonfiction, but the names and details have been changed to protect the identities of the participants. This work follows my first year and a half as artist-in-residence at Town Clock Community Development Corporation, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, which offers permanent housing to survivors of domestic abuse. The creation of this comic was supported by CoLABarts, which has collected some of my interviews here.

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![Panel 01
A chair falls.
A woman jumps.
Panel 02
[silent panel]
Panel 03
A woman comes in late with her son.
“I’m, uhh, going to be teaching a drawing workshop... Do you want to come?”
“Yeah? Maybe.”
Panel 04
“I used to draw all the time when I was a kid, superheroes mostly. When we first came to the USA, my dad loved to read Thor and the Hulk, so I’d copy the pictures. He was
proud of me then. “
Panel 05
“I took art classes in the back of a comics shop. The teacher was really strict about drawing the “Marvel way” and when I tried doing something different he said I’d never be good enough.”
Panel 06
Well, you don’t have to draw the Marvel way! I don’t care what you draw!”
“Terrific! I want it my style! I want it so that people know that’s Svetlana’s work... just like da Vinci.”](https://compote.slate.com/images/0884fc07-8818-4326-9fee-15e96904e4bd.jpeg?crop=900%2C1350%2Cx0%2Cy0)
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