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I really liked What It Is.  I read it mostly on the train ride back from New Hampshire after Thanksgiving, which gave me funny looks from various people that ended up sitting next to me.  I swear people look down upon anything that isn't a thick novel with small type.  This girl next to me at one point was reading a novel the size of my head.  I'm not knocking it, I like novels too, but geez I wanted to invite her to read a little of my illustrated-identity-questioning book.  Anyhow, I liked the parts that were philosophical, like "to follow a wandering mind means having to get lost. can you stand being lost?" or "what makes something meaningful?"  I like her questions approach, and it's something I've done before when I'm confused.  When I was 13 or so I wrote a whole page of questions about love (ha, how corny).  But I like that approach because one question leads to another, which does get you somewhere.  But you don't have to answer any of the questions, so you can ask impossible ones.  The exercises that we did in class did lead to the final project Laryssa and I eventually came up with.  As for the last question in the prompt above, I think Lynda Barry's procedure can be used for critical essay writing.  I think every piece of writing should start with a question.  I mean really, every writing does.  Even a critical essay comes from something that you wanted to explore.  And writing more questions off the original question probably would lead to a better critical essay.