"The Greatest Of Marlys is a collection of [Barry’s] best cartoon work, and as such it's a perfect introduction to her (we're approaching a word not commonly employed when talking of cartoons) oeuvre… How many writers can place us back in third grade without getting vague or wistful? Lynda Barry has no peer." -Dave Eggers, New York Times Book Review

"Lynda Barry is an extraordinary talent, with a real gift for creating utterly believable child characters. Marlys is so well written that you end up feeling like some of these things happened to you, regardless of how different your childhood was."― The Quietus

"Marlys ranks with Charlie Brown as one of the most genuine and poignant adolescent protagonists in serial comics...If you haven't read Barry, let this book be your gateway: she is one of a kind, and with Marlys, she is irresistible."― The Paris Review

"You'll cheer for Marlys and empathize with her embarrassments, just like the supportive adult figure you wished you had when you were her age."― Huffington Post

"Barry's unique genius lies in her capacity to wiggle under your skin and, once there, to wiggle some more until you're gasping and twitching, not sure if it's with laughter or something else. She provokes existential squirminess."― NPR

"The Greatest of Marlys shows some of the earliest iterations of the weird, warm, boundless energy that has characterized [Barry's] career. It also helps preserve a character who was considered by millions of readers (and hopefully now by millions more) a great friend."― Chicago Reader

"Barry is one of American literature's great chroniclers of childhood. Her comic strips, drawn in disarmingly and deceptively childlike lines, distill the essence of fried bologna sandwiches and stray dogs, mysterious teenage bedrooms, and kickball at dusk."― Publishers Weekly

Lynda Barry has worked as a painter, cartoonist, writer, illustrator, playwright, editor, commentator, and teacher and found that they are very much alike. She lives in Wisconsin, where she is an Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Creativity at the University of Wisconsin Madison. In 2019, she received the “Genius grant” from the MacArthurs Fellows program.

In addition to What It Is, Barry has written four bestselling and acclaimed creative how-to graphic novels, What It Is; Picture This; Syllabus: Notes From an Accidental Professor; and Making Comics. Her seminal comic strip, Ernie Pook's Comeek, features Marlys, Maybonne, and Freddie and was collected into The! Greatest! of! Marlys!, The Freddie Stories, Come Over Come Over, My Perfect Life, and It’s So Magic. Her other books include One! Hundred! Demons!, Cruddy: An Illustrated Novel, and The Good Times are Killing Me.