Acclaimed cartoonist Alison Bechdel’s Spent: A Comic Novel is both a very funny fictionalized graphic memoir and a lively satirical critique of consumer capitalism and her own privileged role as a media celebrity within it. In this cleverly skewed version of her life, Bechdel lives in rural Vermont with her partner, Holly, a goat-farming sculptor and YouTube-personality, amid a group of middle-aged hyper-woke queer and straight friends who turn out to be the characters from Bechdel’s comic strip, Dykes to Watch Out For. In this telling, Bechdel’s bestselling memoir has been adapted into a popular, albeit cringey, TV series, and she’s got a right-wing sister who’s writing a “counter-memoir” about their childhood. In this seven-page excerpt, Bechdel, stuck trying to write a new book, grapples with the gloomy state of the world and is conflicted about accepting a book deal from a giant corporate publishing house. Spent: A Comic Novel by Alison Bechdel is out now from Mariner Books.