GraphicMEMOIRBlog | Creator Conversation #88
Last summer, I noticed LA-based writer Dave Cowen posting about an intriguing graphic novel, Should We Buy A Gun? and immediately wanted to learn more.
The 330-page full-colour graphic novel follows Maggie and Adam, newlyweds building a life together in Austin, Texas. Adam is a New Yorker; Maggie is a native Texan and NPR journalist. As they begin thinking about starting a family, a mugging forces them to confront a question neither expected would threaten their relationship: should they buy a gun?
Over Zoom, Dave told me about the journey behind the book. Written by a politically left-leaning author and illustrated by a politically right-leaning artist, Should We Buy A Gun? doesn’t pretend to have all the answers. Instead, it explores the uncertainty and complexity surrounding one of America’s most divisive issues. A writer with deep roots in the cinematic world, Dave also spoke candidly about his transition from Hollywood screenwriting to the more intimate and flexible medium of graphic novels.
Screenplay to Comics
Dave began the project in 2013, out of a deep curiosity about America’s conversation around guns, not just the politics, but the cultural divide beneath it. It initially carried a clear point of view and began life as a screenplay with a more satirical edge, rooted in what he described as a “polemically left-wing” stance. But despite years of development, he struggled to secure financing or attachments within the studio system.
The transition to comics came after what Dave called a “funding wall” in Hollywood. The graphic novel offered a way to finally realise the project without the financial scale or institutional approvals required for a movie.
Beyond practicality, the medium opened up new creative possibilities. Dave found that the form of comics allowed him to combine research, personal reflection, and narrative fiction in a way that felt more intimate and flexible than a conventional screenplay or “action-comedy.”
A New Set of Influences
Key influences included Nick Drnaso’s Sabrina, which captures a muted, unsettling vision of contemporary America, and Alison Bechdel, whose research-driven, introspective approach demonstrated how memoir and analysis can coexist on the page.
Dave was drawn to this “hybrid” quality—the sense that a work like Sabrina could be longlisted for major literary prizes, while still resisting conventional narrative resolution. It confirmed for him that comics could hold ambiguity, reflection, and discomfort without needing to resolve into a traditional arc.
Collaboration of Contrasting Views
To bring the book to life, Dave partnered with illustrator Gabriel Wexler. Drawing on his film background, he approached the process like a screenwriter working closely with a cinematographer: scripting the book panel by panel, then refining it through ongoing collaboration.
“I did the script panel by panel,” he explained. “We’d talk it through, he’d draw a version, and I’d respond to it.”
The collaboration was shaped by a productive tension. Dave noted that he and Gabriel didn’t always agree on the subject of guns, and that difference helped prevent the work from settling into a single perspective. The book evolved through this back-and-forth, with tone and pacing emerging from a real-time creative negotiation.
Autobiographical Roots and Austin
Should We Buy a Gun? follows a fictional newlywed couple, trying for a baby, who find themselves shocked to be debating firearm ownership following a mugging. By grounding the story in a relationship inspired by his own past, Dave shifts the gun debate away from abstract politics and into something more domestic and fragile. The central tension is less about ideology and more about the relational friction of two people who care for each other navigating fundamentally different instincts around safety, fear, and the future of their family.
This personal conflict is heightened by the setting in Austin, Texas, which Dave describes as a unique “enclave.” He chose this location as a microcosm of America’s cultural divide—a liberal enclave nestled within a conservative state. The location continually presses the characters’ private beliefs against the cultural realities of the state surrounding them, creating a natural friction that allows the narrative to explore perspectives often flattened in public debate.
Running alongside the couple’s story is a secondary narrative involving a young person on the brink of a crisis. This arc is heavily informed by Dave’s deep dive into contemporary research, particularly the work of Mark Follman in Trigger Points.
Self-Publishing
Dave ultimately chose to self-publish under his own imprint, Serio Comics, after years of encountering resistance from traditional gatekeepers in both film and publishing. He reached a point where he decided that if the book was going to exist as intended, he would have to finance it himself.
It was not a small decision. Dave invested significant personal resources into the project, taking on both financial risk and creative responsibility. In return, he secured full autonomy and was able to bring in Gabriel Wexler while maintaining the production standards he felt the material demanded.
Using Substack as a parallel platform allowed Dave to expand the work beyond the limits of the printed book. Recognising that the story’s research and personal context couldn’t fully fit within the graphic novel alone, he added essays between chapters online.
“There’s a lot more context there than in the paperback alone,” he explained.
These essays function as connective tissue, extending the narrative into a more reflective space. For Dave, Serio Comics is not just a publishing label, but a framework for this hybrid form—one that keeps both the autobiographical detail and research intact.
An Ongoing Conversation on Guns
After a decade-long journey, Dave seems comfortable with the book’s refusal to resolve its central question. Rather than advancing a fixed position, he hopes it invites readers into an ongoing conversation—one where uncertainty is part of the experience.
“You can infer certain things about my beliefs,” he said, “but the goal is to get people to question things for themselves again.”
In a culture increasingly drawn to certainty, Should We Buy A Gun? makes a case for something more fragile and more difficult: sitting with the gray areas.
Article written by Jonathan Sandler, author of The English GI: World War II Graphic Memoir, curator of the GraphicMEMOIRBlog, and Advisor to Mensch Publishing.
Sounds like a super interesting book. Thanks for flagging
INTERESTING. I love being introduced to these graphic novels and memoirs that I might not be aware of otherwise. Thanks!