I first read The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam by Ann Marie Fleming almost two years ago and flat out loved it. This illustrated memoir specifically tells the story of Ann Marie's great grandfather (Long Tack Sam) but also explores her greater family history and how families lose their history. It's about performing magic and travel and immigrants and war. As the narrator, Ann Marie is the one who pushes the boundaries her family long established and asks the questions that everyone has forgotten. And then if all that isn't interesting enough, the book was published in the graphic novel format and includes original artwork, ephemera, photographs and comics. Based on her documentary film of the same name, it is one of the more fascinating memoirs I have ever read and a firm entry in the "graphic novels are for adults" category. It is also, I think, woefully under appreciated. Maybe because she doesn't have a story of abuse to share, Long Tack Sam hasn't gotten the press of Stitches or even Fun Home. That means a lot of folks are missing a book they should be reading (and will enjoy immensely). I certainly can't get enough of it and was delighted when "AMF" agreed to answer a few email questions on the movie, the book, and the man who inspired it all.

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CM: First up, I really enjoyed your book! I bought it through my comic shop and thought it was outstanding. I have been researching my family tree for years and it was that aspect of the book that really appealed to me - the on the ground research you did as well as your thoughts on why so little was known about Sam's fame. I understand why you embarked on the research after finding the movies but wondered if you had ever been curious before about this aspect of your family history. Were the movies alone what sparked the hunt or had there ever been any clues dropped in the past? Further, aside from the fact that Sam was a famous magician (which is pretty huge) was there anything else you discovered that stopped you in your tracks or gave you pause?

AMF: from my first film in 1987, Waving, which was an elegy to my grandmother, mina... i mention long tack sam, her father. she was my entry into that story, though i didn't know much about it. "she was a showbiz princess, a magician's assistant who never knew where the doves went to". i mention him again in automatic writing (1996), an experimental feature about my chinese grandfather's side of the story, but the ghost of my grandmother comes back to remind me about her story that is still waiting to be told. hollywood names were often dropped, but through some freak of nature, my curiousity was never truly piqued. no one was that interested, in the family, and it all happened such a long time ago (or that's what it seemed, in my 20's). the single most surprising thing i learned about long tack sam... besides EVERYTHING... was that he did a full chinese circus act... that he was an acrobat (?!), a comic, and did old time magic as well as western sleight of hand. just to see him in full chinese regalia was a shock. i had only seen images of him as a westernized man.

CM: I know you started this out with a film and I was curious as to whether or not you ever had trepidation about bringing your family story (including how you have all drifted apart somewhat) into the public. Your book and other graphic novel memoirs like Fun Home by Alison Bechdel and What It Is by Lynda Barry, are very revealing - and the combination of words and art seem much more intimate to me than a standard prose memoir. Were you nervous at all about the film and later the book? And how do you think the graphic novel format aids in the telling of a life story?

AMF: i was very nervous about doing a family story. i needed the help of so many people, and i wanted to be respectful of their stories and memories but be able to have my own perspective on the life and times, too. it was pretty tricky. i've done a few films about personal stories: my own, my family, my friends, so i was certainly aware of the pitfalls. making the graphic novel was a dream come true. i was commissioned by riverhead books. it was an enormous challenge to adapt a 4-D, time-based project onto the page, minus sound (which i always consider 65% of a project) and keep the same tone. i also didn't want to completely repeat the film. time had past. i had new things to say. new information. i wanted them to complement each other. i DO think that the book is more intimate than the film. even by the very act of holding it. taking your own time. making your own connections. that's why it is presented a little like a text book, with interstitial drawings and information in the margins and different page layouts. there are many ways to read a book. a film experience can be more immersive, but certainly, it is more passive, or, at least, your attention is very directed at all times. "look here. look there."

CM: Threading general history into Long Tack's specific history makes the book very appealing. I read in a couple of other interviews online (Smith Magazine was one) how this idea helped you frame the narrative and I can certainly see how it grounds Sam's history for the reader. But I had to wonder just how hard this was for you - how did you pick and choose what to mention in the larger story of world history? Were there certain events that you knew from the beginning you wanted to include or did this part of the narrative form organically as you discovered more about Sam and the rest of your family?

AMF: there are a billion things i had to leave out, but basically, my thesis is that we are all affected by the geopolitics of our time, whether we know it or not. and even though we all may live on the same planet at the same moment, what is happening in different parts of the world not only affect us, but seem like impossible, incongruous yet parallel realities. i knew very little about LTS when i started. i put down the dates i knew, the places that he'd been, and then did a grid with world events, popular song, etc. and started to fill in the holes. "why was he here?" "where could he go next?"

CM: Stick girl is a great narrator! She is the face of the book in some ways and I thought it was interesting how sometimes she is you and sometimes you are there, in photographs (sick or blonde!). As you were putting the book together did you know that you would need Stick girl? This is a plotting question but as a writer when I see a graphic novel I'm curious about how the pieces come together. You had the facts of Sam's life, the photographs and illustrations but you needed someone to "talk" to the reader. Did you realize this from the beginning or did Stick girl appear later?

AMF: stickgirl has been my avatar for over 20 years, and she is takes over from the voice that is in the film. i didn't know she would be there. i was going to hire julian lawrence, who did the 30's style comics inside the film/book, to draw the entire book. then, i ran out of money, and i realized i needed to make this a more personal experience. AND the film is a collage so the book could be as well. Zines really gave me permission to mix it all up. and the different styles of "me" comes from the manga tradition of 3 different representations of characters... the "normal", the "cute", the "superhero". or, that's how i understand it. so, i'm referencing a lot of different histories.

CM: More than just a family saga though, Long Tack Sam is very much an exploration of the immigrant experience - and how complicated that experience can be. You track how hard it was for successive generations of your family (down to even yourself) to move from place to place due to issues of nationality. For most Americans, this has to be nearly unbelievable. Many of us are generations removed from immigration or familiar only with direct immigration (from country of origin to the US). Your family went everywhere - and back again! Did seeing Sam and Poldi's experiences illuminate the immigrant experience for you at all? What do you think about how they lived, and how much they struggled with the notion of "home"?

AMF: my family is STILL moving. and although a lot of americans (and germans, and chinese, and and and...) know the comfort of a multi-generational family hometown, many do not. they move for economic reasons (even if it is just in the state), political... the whole world is moving. 13% of u.s. citizens are foreign born today. it is an enormous struggle to migrate, especially as a family, from a different culture... under duress. it was only my experience as a foreigner in germany as an adult that gave me a glimpse into what other immigrants experience. through my own experiences and those of all the other international artists i met along the way. it was really hard, and it was really important. and it gave me an enormous insight into beginning to understand what sam and poldi went through. and on a smaller level, anyone who has ever gone away to college knows that it is hard to come home again. your sense of home has been forever altered. travel changes you.

CM: And finally, did you ever get to back to Sam's village after being thwarted by the Falun Gong trials? I couldn't believe you weren't able to get back there!

AMF: i haven't been back to china since the film (except hong kong for a screening). the idea of the native village is a strong one. does it exist? was it wuqiao? does the family still exist? could i find them? it all seemed very serendipitous in the film/book. maybe too good to be true. i am going back to china this year, to look for another long-lost relative (from the 8th century... the sage poet Fu Du...). where i'll go is chengdu, where he spent 4 important years of his literary life. that is his "home". where was long tack sam's home? people move. borders move. mountains endure. for a while, anyway.

CM: After writing this graphic novel have your thought about doing another? I really found your family's story to be quite inspiring and I think a lot of other people must have as well. (And I'm hoping I can bring you a few more fans with this interview.) The format just worked so well for the story you had to tell - it was a perfect match.

AMF: thanks for your comments! it was the hardest thing in the world, making the film... until i made the graphic novel. but it was so satisfying. i'd love to do another one. will i have the opportunity? i hope so. the book has reached an enormous range of people (not that it is a best seller, or anything like that). people from 8-80, male and female, immigrants, historians, magicians, comic fans, biography fans... it is an interesting take on the 20th century, it is about family and it's got magic in it. what's not to like?

[Post pic of Long Tack Sam movie poster; Group shot of Hack Man Slim troupe, Long Tack Sam is 4th from the right; interior spreads from Magical Life of Long Tack Sam]