John Guillemette
writer & artist
about John
John Guillemette is a writer and artist who enjoys hikes, houseplants, and disparaging mankind. He reads monks & drunks; if a monk wrote it, or a drunk wrote it, then he has probably read it.
John lives in New Haven, Connecticut, where he strives to create weird comics both compulsively readable and infinitely layered. He describes his audience as “people you regret getting into conversations with at parties.” (Are you one such person? He hopes so.)
BOOKS
Gina School
With eight million (and counting) readers of her Psychology Today blog-column, People magazine called Dr. Gina Barreca “smart and funny.” Bestselling novelist Wally Lamb says, “Barreca’s prose, in equal measures, is hilarious and humane.” “Feminist humor maven [Gina Barreca offers] her characteristic wit and wisdom,” writes Ms. Magazine. “Barreca learned to do what any sassy smarty-pants would: challenge stale ideas and press buttons,” raves the Chicago Tribune. “Barreca writes with intelligence and wit,” applauds the L.A. Times. Everyone’s favorite professor and advisor Gina Barreca is “wicked, witty, and wonderful,” (Library Journal), who “gets it just right (Booklist) and “… is an unfailingly winning narrator,” providing her readers with “humor along with serious insight” (Publishers Weekly).
GINA SCHOOL offers open, early, and rolling admissions, perpetual latecomers, mature students, speed readers, book groups, gloriously erudite librarians, anxious applicants in need of reassurance, writers in need of prompts, and gift givers. Extravagantly illustrated by John Guillemette, provocative, reassuring and witty, GINA SCHOOL— a gorgeously delicate yet voluptuous volume — is virtually impossible to resist as an emotional support book, a motivating tome, and a daily inspiration source. GINA SCHOOL reassures readers that they are not alone, they are not nuts, and that laughing together is as close as you can get to another person without hugging them. You never have to graduate from GINA SCHOOL and will return with delight, given that it pairs just as well with coffee and cake, cheese and fruit, espresso and champagne—and, if you wish, a cap and gown.
- 256 pages
- Publisher: Woodhall Press
- ISBN-101960456415
- Publication Date: October 7th, 2025
STATEMENT
In this surprisingly lucid zine, John threads his creative philosophy through selected sketchbook pages, reflecting on his time in the looney bin, rehab, and eventually in Portland Oregon, where he spent the peak of the coronavirus pandemic disinfecting hospital rooms in the ICU five days a week (and yet was still somehow broke as a loafer). This project serves as an overture to his spiritually-warped graphic novel-in-progress, “Relapse of a Recovering Ego Addict.” Print copies contain two bonus comics and are available at New Haven’s zine fairs and arts pop-ups, or whenever you can flag John down on his bike. Otherwise, click the button below to view the project in full.
- 74 pages
- Print release: Jan. 1st, 2026
Relapse of a recovering ego addict
A behemoth of a comic, Relapse of a Recovering Ego Addict is a graphic memoir about a college dropout hellbent on fame pushed into a despairing state by his inability to reckon with a toxic and uniquely American local culture. Misdiagnosed as bipolar, this artist and addict frequents psych wards and rehab centers until he flees the state for a fresh start, winding up on the West Coast just in time for a global pandemic to annihilate his dream of fame but also, surprisingly, his nightmare of obscurity. A strange peace ensues. With no job opportunities besides a pitifully paid janitorial position at a hospital, he disinfects Covid-19 rooms in the ICU, bearing witness to human mortality and undergoing an unexpected spiritual metamorphosis in a dire environment (only to un-metamorphose later, so don’t get too excited).
Social isolation, addiction, psychiatry, the American healthcare system, sexuality, and the existential vacuum are among the themes explored. The comic synthesizes non-western philosophies for a comparative approach that validates the pervasive sensation among much of America’s youth that something is terribly wrong. Leading with humor, the project serves as a biting, laugh-out-loud satire both compulsively readable and infinitely layered. It assures “lost souls” that they aren’t crazy and recognizes “Utopian Dreaming” as a powerful mode of resistance to explore cultural alternatives.
2026 is all about making significant headway with this project. Monthly blog posts will share updates (subscribe to receive these posts as a newsletter).
John Guillemette 