As a city, Chicago has always been a major comics hub. And over the decades, SAIC has shaped the culture of comics in the city. Alums include comics-world heavy hitters like Chris Ware (SAIC 1991–93, HON 2019), Lucy Knisley (BFA 2007), and Jeffrey Brown (MFA 2002). In 2024, the School launched a Comics MFA to continue encouraging the world of graphic storytelling—and Cash is a part of that history. As of this summer, she’ll also be a teacher, returning to SAIC to team-teach the Summer Comics Intensive. 

Cash has fashioned herself as a rockstar of comics. In her author photo, she sits in a leather jacket and sunglasses, surrounded by a scrum of cameras, boom mics, and cellphones all pointed at her. The effect is clear: the world is her press conference, and everyone is tuning in. Part of this celebrity allure comes from her hugely popular autobiographical series, PeePee-PooPoo, where Cash draws herself hitting dive bars, wandering Chicago streets, and—of course—drawing comics. PeePee-PooPoo is full of pop culture references and homages to famous cartoonists, with covers emulating everything from Daniel Clowes’s Eightball series to 1940s romance comics. But before studying at SAIC, Cash never considered comics as an artistic pursuit. 

Growing up in Charleston, South Carolina, Cash devoured manga like Shonen Jump, One Piece, and Naruto and gravitated toward newspaper strips like Peanuts and Garfield, but her own artistic ambitions skewed more traditional. At her arts-centric high school, she focused on fine arts like painting and illustration. She knew she wanted to go to art school in a big city. The decision came down between SAIC and Pratt Institute in New York. “Chicago just seemed like the better option for me,” she said. “I liked that I didn’t have to declare a major. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, because I didn’t seriously start making comics until I was in school.” 

The first comic Cash made at SAIC was for a class where she met fellow student cartoonist Gabe Howell (BFA 2018). He started sharing comics by alternative cartoonists like Michael DeForge and Julie Doucet. “Meeting Gabe was my introduction to indie comics,” said Cash. “I didn’t know there was a whole genre.” 

“Caroline’s always been social while I was pretty reserved at 19, but we crossed paths in a queer literature class after we both made comics for an assignment,” remembers Howell, who is currently enrolled in SAIC’s Comics MFA. “She’s one of the most outgoing cartoonists I’ve ever met.”

At the same time, Cash started creating posters for alum Maddie Rogers’s (BFA 2020) monthly Vintage House pop-ups. She picked up more freelance illustration gigs. Her comics received more and more attention and acclaim. Athenaeum Comics Art began representing her work, selling inked pages to fans who wanted a Cash original hanging in their homes. She realized she could be a full-time artist. “There is money in comics,” said Cash. “It’s hard to find, but it is there.” 

From Quimby’s to Chicago Zine Fest to her growing network of local comics artists, the Windy City provided a great base to begin building her career. “Chicago is one of the best comic cities in the country,” said Cash. “There’s such a history there. It was just a really supportive place to be self-publishing. Especially when you have a niche interest, it’s nice to be able to go physically outside and see people who are also into this thing that you like. It feels less trapped online than other cities.” 

Since becoming a full-time artist, Cash just keeps winning. She was commissioned to create a comic for the Museum of Modern Art, and she illustrated an art-school parody for The New Yorker. Recent issues of PeePee-PooPoo (irreverently numbered as Issue #420, Issue #69, and—the latest release—Issue #1) have needed several print runs to satisfy demand. Recently, she wrote and illustrated an Adventure Time one-off issue that keeps selling out. It’s currently on its fourth print run, and Cash has already been tapped for a follow-up issue. 

And Cash already has some Nancy experience. In 2024, the Billy Ireland Cartoon Museum in Columbus, Ohio, threw a weekend-long celebration called Nancy Fest. Among the panels and an exhibition of Bushmiller’s work, which included a gigantic Nancy mascot suit, Cash was announced as a guest artist for a month-long run of the strip. “I think it’s one of the best newspaper comic strips of all time,” said Cash. “And I’m just so honored that I get to put my own little spin on it.”

Assistant Professor Beth Hetland (BFA 2009), who is also the graduate coordinator for SAIC’s new Comics MFA and a published cartoonist herself, remembers first meeting Cash as a student—and tracking her success ever since. “Every time I see a new update, catch wind of the next thing she's working on, or run into her at a comic show I can't help but beam ear to ear,” Hetland said. In her classrooms, students now bring Cash’s work up as an inspiration. “It is heart-warming to see this full circle moment and witness her impact on my current generation of students,” she said. 

Today, Cash is living in Philadelphia, where she has an apartment outfitted with a Risograph printer, an Epson scanner, and all the other tools she needs for her comics homebase. She’s still getting in the rhythm of producing a daily strip—plus working on her graphic novel, new issues of PeePee-PooPoo, freelance illustration work, and more projects she’s not at liberty to discuss quite yet. And she’s gearing up to come back to SAIC in a new capacity: as a teacher.

During Cash’s first summer in Chicago, she took the Summer Comics Intensive with Jeremy Tinder. It was one of the first comics classes she took, and it was formative: she made friends, honed her style, and ended the whole project with a Garfield punchline. 

This summer, she’ll return to campus to co-teach that very seminar. “It’s the same class I took a decade ago,” she said. “So I’m pretty excited. It was a good time and space for me to work on comics. This summer, I hope that students are able to have fun and make comics that they like.” ■