They felt a lot more ambitious for that reason, and more exciting also. Less about the inner life, more about the interactions between people. “They were both under 30 pages, but they were different from my other work in that they were less about interiority, more about unique characters-they were more character driven. “I had done two other short pieces that felt similar to this one, BDSM, and Liddy’s Dad ,” Davis says. “I think it’s the most ambitious thing that I have done and the thing I am most proud of,” she says. The Hard Tomorrow is a milestone work: It’s Davis’s first full-length graphic novel for adults and the first of her works that feels like it was conceived as a long-form story. As the story unfolds, each of them is tested in a different way, as politics and personalities mingle, and hopes clash with reality. Hannah wants to get pregnant, Johnny seems determined to put off reality, Gabby’s feelings for Hannah go beyond friendship, and Miss Phyllis, the elderly woman Hannah cares for, just wants to die. In just 150 pages, Davis creates a handful of compelling characters: Hannah, who works as a home health aide and spends her spare time protesting the use of chemical weapons Johnny, who dreams of living off the land but spends his time getting high and reading seed catalogs Gabby, Hannah’s friend and fellow activist Tyler, Johnny’s survivalist friend and the companionable group of anti-war activists.

Eleanor davis the hard tomorrow