COMIC SHOP NEWS 685:
Winick Takes Readers Inside the Real World
With Pedro & Me

By Cliff Biggers

Judd Winick has made quite a name for himself as both a comic book writer and artist-but before fans ever enjoyed the results of Winick's talents, millions of viewers got to know him through his involvement in MTV's The Real World. In August, Winick uses his artistic talent to take readers inside The Real World in Pedro And Me, a 192-page graphic novel that chronicles Winick's friendship with fellow The Real World participant Pedro Zamora.

"I was a cast member on MTV's real-life documentary soap opera The Real World in the third season," Winick told CSN. "Our house was in San Francisco. Fellow cast member and my roomamte Pedro Zamora was a twenty-two-year-old AIDS educator and activist. Pedro died of AIDS complications back in November of 1994... five months after the show ended. This book is about our friendship, and what it was like to lose him."

Within the pages of this very personal tale, fans will get to know both Winick and Zamora; Winick uses his critically-acclaimed skills at portraying characterization to help readers get to know both.

Pedro And Me is quite a departure from the sort of work that Winick is best known for-and ironically, it's appearing at approximately the same time that Winick's first issue of Green Lantern hits the stands. Winick is confident that readers can enjoy both books, as well as his delightful humor book The Adventures of Barry Ween, Boy Genius, even though they are quite dissimilar. "I think we're all quite comfortable in the fact that comics don't have to be about super heroes.The majority are. I love hero comics, I read 'em, now, I'm even writing them. I believe we have more than enough room for diverse stories. There are tons already out there, people just have to discover them. As far as me doing a graphic novel, this is just the way I tell a story. Words and pictures. It's the language I can best communicate in."

While Winick has worked with major comics publishers such as Image, Oni, and DC, he chose to take Pedro And Me to Henry Holt and Co., a publisher better known for mainstream books rather than comics. "I wanted as mainstream an audience as possible," Winick said. "It was just important to me to reach people. I'm telling Pedro's story, and my hope is that people will learn from him. I sought out a mainstream publishing house to do just that."

Pedro And Me, a $15.00 6" x 9" trade paperback, is scheduled for early August release.

Additional Press