Any East Sider will tell you that the neighborhood is changing, and while it would be hard not to admit that this progress has its benefits, most will also rattle off a laundry list of places they miss and reasons the area used to be better. However, unlike most residents, instead of just talking about it, artist and loyal East Austinite Michael Schliefke has documented his neighborhood’s gentrification in a series of comic books starring a pretty typical white guy turned superhero fighting to preserve his beloved ‘hood. While Schliefke may not dress up in a Mexican wrestling costume and terrorize East Side hipsters like the hero in his comics, he has found his own way to preserve the area’s history. Through a series of three, soon to be four, comic books, written and released over the past four years, Schliefke captures the changes happening on Austin’s East Side, recording businesses and buildings and even communities that have come and gone.

From the anger and frustration that the main character expresses in the loosely autobiographical comics, it is easy to imagine Schliefke as another bitter hipster who just happened to get to the neighborhood before the next few waves arrived. But when we meet at his house, tucked away on a quiet, tree-lined block near Holly Street, his passion for his art and the East Side outweigh any bitterness he may feel.

Originally from Upstate New York, Schliefke has lived in Austin for nine years, always on the East Side. His first place was further north, on Cherrywood and Manor, an area that he describes as almost unrecognizable now, long before El Chilito and when Mueller’s was the place to go for barbecue. After that he moved to Bolm Studios with Shea Little, Jana Swec and Joseph Phillips. They made a living space and a working space in the warehouse, and Schliefke describes it as that “rugged, studio-lifestyle of an artist.” He lived there for almost four years, volunteering for the East Austin Studio Tour. Over the years, he has managed to support himself on the East Side without taking a day job, but he did have to start renting a more affordable studio in North Central Austin. There he paints and draws and teaches around 14 private art classes a week. “Years ago you used to be able to just find a giant warehouse on the East Side, split it up and go for it, but those spaces are no longer easily available and not affordable,” he explains.

For the past four years, he has been working on his comics, The Tales of The Really White Vigilante. While the stories and characters are entertaining, it is the illustrations and the settings, the closed restaurants like Gene's New Orleans Style Poboys and Taco Sabroso, that carry the message about what is being lost and gained through the area’s rapid development. Schliefke does not imagine that the gentrification is going to stop or even slow, but says, “I think the secret is to be cool with everything and not go in and do something crazy, like build a giant house on your property or be a complete idiot to everyone around you. Adapt to the neighborhood. Let the neighborhood change you, instead of you changing the neighborhood.”

Schliefke, who also witnessed gentrification in Boston, explains, “Artists are the first ones in, and then a salon or coffee shop opens, bars, then condos. Then everyone’s out, moving to a new part of town.” But he is hopeful for Austin. “However long this has been going on — eight years now, whatever — it still hasn’t killed East Austin yet. Which is pretty nice.” As the characters in his comics do, he recognizes both the pros and cons of the development of the East Side, and he is here until the rent goes up.