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Top 20 Graphic Novels, Comics & Manga:
Janury 2024
It might seem too soon to be writing about 2024, but the New Year is approaching and publishers already have their next schedule of titles in the pipeline. My highest recommendations go to Igort’s profoundly moving reportage adapted from the first-hand accounts he received via telephone of the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Also urgently relevant is this bold, astrologically-themed graphic biography of the remarkable Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei…
Back after a seven year break, Marguerite About and Clément Oubrerie reconnect us with the 1970 in the Ivory Coast….
Manuele Fior transport us across time and continents, between Egypt and Berlin, and an unfolding romance…
Julie Delporte candidly and carefully confesses the lessons life and love have taught her…
While Taiyo Tatsumoto brings Tokyo and its manga industry and culture vividly to life in his latest series. These and plenty more forthcoming titles I’ve picked for you below promise some fine reading ahead. Join me here month-by-month to find out what else next year will bring.
Aya: Claws Come Out
by Marguerite Abouet & Clément Oubrerie, translated by Edwige Dro
Drawn & Quarterly
$24.95
The publisher says:
Abidjan’s favourite daughter returns in the 7th volume of writer Marguerite Abouet’s beloved series. Long-time creative team Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie make a stunning comeback after a lengthy twelve-year hiatus. The seventh instalment in the Aya series takes us all back to Yop City home to the hustle and bustle of the Ivory Coast. As Solibra’s newest intern, clear-eyed college student Aya finds an unexpected adversary in the beer giant’s brand-new head of HR. Her friend Moussa, heir apparent to the company’s CEO Mr. Sissoko vies for his father’s attention while struggling to tone down his tendency to party. After being outed, Albert must find a new place to stay and grapples with the realities of insufficient student housing. His old flame Inno discovers first-hand how difficult life can be for undocumented migrants in France. Back at home, Bintou navigates the ups and downs of newfound soap opera stardom. All the while, Didier just wants to take Aya out to dinner if she can ever find the time. Now translated from the French by Edwige Dro, Aya and all her friends greet the bigger, bolder world of the ‘80s in true Abidjan style, delighting fans both old and new with vibrant but too often unseen depictions of middle-class life in Africa. Marguerite Abouet was born in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, in 1971. At the age of twelve, she was sent with her older brother to study in France under the care of a great uncle. She lives in Romainville, a suburb of Paris, where she works as a legal assistant and writes novels she has yet to show to publishers. Aya is her first comic. It taps into Abouet’s childhood memories of Ivory Coast in the 1970s, a prosperous, promising time in that country’s history, to tell an unpretentious and gently humorous story of an Africa we rarely see—spirited, hopeful, and resilient. Clement Oubrérie was born in Paris in 1966. After a stint in art school he spent two years in the United States doing a variety of odd jobs, publishing his first children’s books and serving jail time in New Mexico for working without papers. Back in France, he went on to a prolific career in illustration. With over forty children’s books to his credit, he is also cofounder of the 3D animation studio Station OMD. A drummer in a funk band in his spare time, he still travels frequently, especially to the Ivory Coast. In Aya, his first comic, Oubrérie’s warm colours and energetic, playful line connect expressively with Marguerite Abouet’s vibrant writing. 128pgs colour hardcover.
FATCOP
by Johnny Ryan
Fantagraphics
$29.99
The publisher says:
FATCOP never passes up a possible grift, a chance to use excessive force, or a pit stop at any chain restaurant he passes. He chafes when forced to take a new partner, Pete Rick, to keep him on the up and up. Even when he lucks into a heroic deed, he manages to do so repulsively. But when FATCOP uncovers a child slave ring operating out of the local Trader Joe’s, he may have met his match on the reprehensibility scale. If he’s not careful, it might be a transformative experience that causes him to reconsider his role as a loving partner and father. Well, up to a point, anyway―sometimes a fat cop is just a FATCOP. Johnny Ryan returns to his lowbrow humour roots following his cult classic and violent fantasy series, Prison Pit. Ping-ponging his antihero through an ever-escalating and cascading series of violent, scatological, and wildly imaginative absurdities (most but not all of FATCOP’s own making), Ryan’s brilliance as a visual and verbal gag writer shines on every page of this master class in physical humour and comics storytelling. FATCOP is as hilarious as it is profane, and a welcome return to long-form comics by the cartoonist and animation veteran Johnny Ryan. 192pgs B&W with spot colour hardcover.
How War Begins: Dispatches from the Ukrainian Invasion
by Igort, translated by Jamie Richarda
Fantagraphics
$29.99
The publisher says:
“The collapsing bodies look like marionettes. The clouds of dust captured by drones have a surreal beauty. The crumpling buildings look like houses of cards. Even so, it’s upsetting, panic-inducing. How can you not think about the human lives, just like your own, buried under that rubble?” In this real-time work of graphic journalism (posted serially on Facebook), the cartoonist Igort uses the medium of comics to depict the telephone testimonies of Ukrainians as Russia invaded in 2022. In vignettes that grow ever more horrifying—infiltrating spies, bombed cities, recorded accounts of children whose parents were murdered in front of their eyes, and more—Igort also relays the events that led up to the invasion, such as the torture and killing of human rights activists. He tells stories of individual struggle and suffering with no resolutions because they are still happening: Of Tetiana, who fled in the middle of the night with her children and whose car broke down on the steppe. And Maksim, who lived in Belgium and went for a five-day family visit and who could not return home, when his mother died of COVID, due to martial law. In art styles that veer from cartoon simplicity to photorealism, depending on what the moment demands, Igort paints portraits and scenes of ordinary people trying to survive among almost 10,000 civilian deaths. How War Begins is an important document of the past, the present, and the future. Igort (Igor Tuveri) is a prolific award-winning Italian cartoonist and the founder of Oblomov Press, a comics publisher. He is best known for his graphic novel 5 is the Perfect Number, which won the Book of the Year award at the Frankfurt Book Fair. He is also a film director and directed the movie adaptation in 2019. His previous works of graphic journalism include The Ukrainian and Russian Notebooks: Life and Death Under Soviet Rule and Japanese Notebooks: A Journey to the Empire of Signs. 168pgs colour hardcover.
Hypericum
by Manuele Fior
Fantagraphics
$29.99
The publisher says:
Teresa’s life has always been a comfortable straight line, with every goal set for herself achieved right on schedule. It comes as little surprise when she wins a prestigious scholarship to help mount an exhibition in Berlin celebrating the discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb by Howard Carter in 1922. A straight line, on the other hand, is totally absent from the personal geometry of Ruben, a fellow young Italian who never finished his art studies and views Berlin as his personal playground. When Teresa and Ruben meet, fate will forever change the trajectory of their existence. Hypericum follows in parallel Carter’s discovery in Egypt and Teresa and Ruben’s passionate yet tormented love affair, set in 1990s Berlin. Between Egypt and Berlin, the two eras confront and intertwine in a story that has at its centre the hypericum, or St. John’s wort, a plant with unusual properties… This sublimely romantic journey into Egyptian grandeur, the vibrations of youth, and the anxieties of the heart is a masterpiece of graphic fiction by one of the world’s great contemporary graphic novelists, about how the strongest bonds are created by the passage of time. Manuele Fior was born in Cesena (Italy) in 1975 and currently lives in Venice. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Le Monde, and La Republica. 144pgs colour hardcover.
In Utero
by Chris Gooch
IDW / Top Shelf Productions
$24.99
The publisher says:
Akira meets Aliens, and Annihilation means Evangelion, in this coming-of-age monster tale from award-winning graphic novelist Chris Gooch. Twelve-year-old geek Hailey is dumped unceremoniously by her mum at a holiday camp in a dilapidated shopping mall. Alienated from the other kids, she connects with an eerie older teen named Jen… but soon dark horrors awaken, and the two new friends are caught up in a terrifying battle between two monstrous creatures who have been lying dormant for years. One of Australia’s most acclaimed young graphic novelists, Chris Gooch expertly crafts a taut and intimate thriller about mothers and daughters, the monstrous and the mundane, and the power of friendship in the midst of violence. Chris Gooch is a cartoonist based out of Melbourne, Australia. His first graphic novel, Bottled, was published by Top Shelf in 2017, followed by a short story collection, Deep Breaths (2019) and second graphic novel Under-Earth (2020). All three books received a Ledger award for excellence in Australian comics, while Under-Earth additionally received the Aurealis Award for Best Graphic Novel and was named one of the American Library Association’s Best Graphic Novels for Adults. 248pgs colour paperback.
It Rose From The Tomb
by Pete Normanton
TwoMorrows Publishing
$31.95
The publisher says:
Rising from the depths of history comes an all-new examination of the 20th Century’s best horror comics, written by Peter Normanton (editor of From The Tomb, the UK’s preeminent magazine on the genre). From the pulps and seminal horror comics of the 1940s, through ones they tried to ban in the 1950s, this tome explores how the genre survived the introduction of the Comics Code, before making its terrifying return during the 1960s and 1970s. Come face-to-face with the early days of ACG’s alarming line, every horror comic from June 1953, hypodermic horrors, DC’s Gothic romance comics, Marvel’s Giant-Size terrors, Skywald and Warren’s chillers, and Atlas Seaboard’s shocking magazines. The 192-page full-colour opus exhumes Bernie Wrightson’s darkest constructs, plus artwork by Frank Frazetta, Neal Adams, Mike Kaluta, Steve Ditko, Matt Fox, Warren Kremer, Lee Elias, Bill Everett, Russ Heath, The Gurch, and many more. Don’t turn your back on this once-in-a-lifetime spine-chiller—it’s so good, it’s frightening! 192pgs colour paperback.
Kalevala
by Sami Makkonen
Ablaze
$29.99
The publisher says:
A stunning comic adaptation of the Finnish national epic the Kalevala, which inspired J.R.R. Tolkien to write Silmarillion and Lord of the Rings. The story tells the adventures and fates of wizard Väinämöinen, warrior Lemminkäinen, black-smith Ilmarinen and other larger than-life-characters looking for love, riches and magic in the far-away lands of the ancient North. The world of Kalevala is lyrical, harsh and totally unique. The Kalevala graphic novel is masterfully adapted by Sami Makkonen, best known for his four volumes of the Eisner Award nominated Hatter M series, which has made the New York Times best-selling list. Makkonen has also received the Sarjas Award for Best Fantasy Comic and has been nominated for a number of other awards, including the Ghastly Awards for horror work. 168pgs colour paperback.
King in Limbo Vol.1
by Ai Tanaka
Viz Media
$21.99
The publisher says:
From the creator of Apple Children of Aeon comes a gripping, six-volume thriller manga about trauma, healing, friendship, and what it means to be “sick” or “healthy.” A must for fans of suspenseful, complex manga like Naoki Urasawa’s Monster and Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu’s The Promised Neverland. Eight years have passed since the sickness known as “the Sleep” ended millions of lives. Now, after a dangerous procedure that involves diving into patients’ memories has ended the pandemic, Petty Officer Adam Garfield wakes up in a hospital to find an IED has taken one of his legs. But Adam’s plan to retire from U.S. Navy service and cash in his pension to goof around with his younger siblings is shattered when he receives secret word that the sleeping sickness has returned, and it’s his job to coax back the mysterious man who helped cure it the first time: a man known by the codename “King.” Omnibus edition includes Parts 1 and 2. Manga artist Ai Tanaka debuted in the Kodansha magazine ITAN in 2010 before winning broad acclaim for her three-volume series Apple Children of Aeon. 336pgs B&W paperback.
Lunar New Year Love Story
by Gene Luen Yang & LeUyen Pham
First Second
$25.99 / $17.99
The publisher says:
She was destined for heartbreak. Then fate handed her love. Val is ready to give up on love. It’s led to nothing but secrets and heartbreak, and she’s pretty sure she’s cursed—no one in her family, for generations, has ever had any luck with love. But then a chance encounter with a pair of cute lion dancers sparks something in Val. Is it real love? Could this be her chance to break the family curse? Or is she destined to live with a broken heart forever? Lunar New Year Love Story is a heartwarming YA graphic novel rom-com about fate, family and falling in love, from superstars Gene Luen Yang and LeUyen Pham. Gene Luen Yang writes, and sometimes draws, comic books and graphic novels. He was named a National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature by the Library of Congress in 2016, and advocates for the importance of reading, especially reading diversely. His graphic novel American Born Chinese, a National Book Award finalist and Printz Award winner, has been adapted into an original series on Disney+. His two-volume graphic novel Boxers & Saints won the LA Times Book Prize and was a National Book Award Finalist. His nonfiction graphic novel, Dragon Hoops, received an Eisner award and a Printz honour. His other comics work includes Secret Coders (with Mike Holmes), The Shadow Hero (with Sonny Liew), and Superman Smashes the Klan and the Avatar: The Last Airbender series (both with Gurihiru). In 2016, he was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow. LeUyen Pham has illustrated more than one hundred books for children, including the Caldecott Honor book Bear Came Along by Richard T. Morris and the bestselling Princess in Black series by Shannon and Dean Hale. She is the co-creator, along with Shannon Hale, of the bestselling graphic memoirs Real Friends, Best Friends, and Friends Forever. Her own books include The Bear Who Wasn’t There and Big Sister, Little Sister. A graduate of the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, LeUyen lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two sons. 352pgs colour hardcover / paperback.
Portrait of a Body
by Julie Delporte, translated by Helge Dascher & Karen Houle
Drawn & Quarterly
$29.95
The publisher says:
A portrait of flourishing desire in a body ever-changing. As she examines her life experience and traumas with great care, Delporte faces the questions about gender and sexuality that both haunt and entice her. Deeply informed by her personal relationships as much as queer art and theory, Portrait of a Body is both a joyous and at times hard meditation on embodiment a journey to be reunited with the self in an attempt to heal pain and live more authentically. Delporte’s idyllic coloured pencil drawings contrast with the near urgency that structures her confessional memoir. Each page is laden with revelation and enveloped in organic, natural shapes rocks, flowers, intertwined bodies, women’s hair blowing in the wind captured with devotion. The vitality of these forms interspersed with Delporte’s flowing handwriting hold space for her vivid and affecting observations. Skilfully translated by Helge Dascher and Karen Houle, Portrait of a Body provokes us to remain open to the lessons our bodies have on offer. Julie Delporte was born in Saint-Malo, France, in 1983. She presently resides in Montreal, Canada, and Portrait of a Body is her fourth graphic novel after This Woman’s Work (2019), Everywhere Antennas (2015), and Journal (2014). She holds a degree in cinema studies and was a fellow at the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, Vermont. When she’s not working on comics, she makes ceramics, writes poetry and essays, and works on risograph and silkscreen projects. She loves animals, plants, and sometimes humans. 268pgs colour paperback.
Scott Shaw!s Comix & Stories
by Scott Shaw!
About Comics
$30.00
The publisher says:
For over fifty years, SCOTT SHAW! has been writing and drawing allegedly funny stuff for mainstream comics sold on spinner racks (including Sonic the Hedgehog, Captain Carrot and The Simpsons), underground comix sold in head shops—and almost everything in between. Finally, here’s the first collection starring the award-winning cartoonist’s most notorious characters (including Scott himself!), with over 200 pages of offbeat stories, plus surprises and silliness from the depths of his archives! 335pgs B&W paperback.
Shell Collection
by Ron Regé, Jr.
Fantagraphics Underground
$29.99
The publisher says:
Shell Collection is a compendium of comics and drawings from the first 75 issues of Ron Regé, Jr.‘s minicomics series, The Shell of the Self of the Senses. In 2016, Regé began this monthly, subscription only series, with circa 100 copies or so published from month to month, in an effort to return to his 1990s self-publishing roots. This is the first time any of this work has been collected, with newly added colour - Shell Collection brilliantly showcases Regé‘s poetic voice, his deeply humane worldview, and his sui generis visual vocabulary, all of which has made him one of the most distinctive stylists in comics. Ron Regé, Jr. is an artist and musician (Lavender Diamond) living in Echo Park, CA. xxxpgs colour hardcover.
A Simple Truth
by Kevin Sacco
Amaze Ink / Slave Labor Graphics
$14.95
The publisher says:
For a couple wanting a child nothing is impossible, but their path takes them on a dreadful journey that pulls them away from all that is familiar into the uncharted waters of international adoption. Kevin Sacco’s masterful and beautifully rendered drawing poignantly tells the story about the personal heartache and courage it takes to bring a child home. Sacco’s art takes on a wonderful exuberance as he communicates the joy of becoming a parent. A Simple Truth is a touching and informative story that reflects the work of a graphic novelist at his caring best. Kevin Sacco was born in New York , but when his family moved to London he finished his schooling in England. He moved back to New York and works in advertising as a storyboard artist. His previous graphic novels include Sevenoaks, White Night: An Adman’s Story, and Josephine. 96pgs B&W paperback.
Sunshine Patriots
by Howard Chaykin
Fairsquare Comics / Alien Books
$19.90
The publisher says:
You think you’ve read everything about Hollywood? Think Again! And when legendary creator Howard Chaykin is in the director’s chair, expect the unexpected. Follow the adventures of two former members of Roosevelt’s Rough Riders cavalry, who arrive in Hollywood in 1913 and find themselves caught in the web of a dangerous new world. As the first Sicilian mobsters make their way to the City of Angels, the two heroes find themselves recruited as mercenaries for the movie studios and drawn into the cutthroat world of cinema, with a front- row seat to the building of a new American empire. With its action-packed narrative and exciting new historical setting, Sunshine Patriots is a must-read for fans of the Western genre and anyone interested in the early days of Hollywood and the formation of one of the most important facets of modern American culture. Written, drawn and delivered by Howard Chaykin (Hey Kids, Comics!, American Flagg, ...). 108pgs colour hardcover.
Tezukomi Vol.1 (of 2)
by Osamu Tezuka & various
Magnetic Press
$24.99
The publisher says:
An anthology of short stories based on some of the many popular creations of legendary Japanese mangaka Osamu Tezuka, as illustrated by a collection of some of the greatest comic creators in Europe. This larger 300-page hardcover edition is presented in traditional manga reading order, right to left. This first volume includes “The Mouse” by Sourya, based on Ayako; “The Moon Rabbit” by Brice Cossu and Valerie Mangin, based on Buddha; “A Taste for Blood” by Philippe Cardona and Florence Torta, based on Dororo; “The Cursed” by Mathieu Bablet, based on Metropolis; “The Eyes of Pandora” by Victor Santos, based on MW; “Love at First Sight” by JD Morvan and ScieTronc, based on Midnight; “Doppelganger” by Belen Ortega and Victor Santos, based on Barbara; “The Parchment of the Cat” by Kenny Ruiz, based on My Songoku; and “Catalante” by Mig, based on Unico. 300pgs B&W hardcover.
The Asiri Vol.1
by Roye Okupe, Samuel Iwunze, Toyin Ajetunmobi, Sunkanmi Akinboye, Etubi Onucheyo
Dark Horse
$19.99
The publisher says:
An afrofuturistic graphic novel that’s X-Men meets Attack on Titan from the creators at YouNeek Studios (Iyanu: Child of Wonder, Malika: Warrior Queen). The Asiri Volume 1 begins an epic science fantasy about an ancient, advanced West African civilisation of space explorers that once colonised Mars and strove for galactic stability. Enhanced by an inner power called “Inkra,” the Asiri can manipulate technology in ways never seen. However, their golden age comes to a devastating halt after a mysterious enemy invades from deep space. Now, a once-thriving civilisation is thrust into chaos as loyalty quickly becomes a liability. Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Roye Okupe is an award-winning filmmaker, author, speaker and entrepreneur whose passion for comics and animation led him to found YouNeek Studios in 2012. Under that umbrella, Roye wrote, produced and directed several animated productions including, but not limited to, the award-winning and critically acclaimed Malika - Warrior Queen Animated Short. These productions have allowed Roye to attain many prestigious recognitions such as being #5 on Ventures Africa‘s list of 40 African innovators to watch (2016) as well as being part of NewAfrican Magazine’s 100 most influential Africans two years in a row (2016 & 2017). In August 2015, Roye’s debut graphic novel: E.X.O. The Legend of Wale Williams Part One was received with critical acclaim and has since been featured on CNN, Forbes, The New York Times, NBC, The Guardian, ABC7, BBC, The Huffington Post, Mashable and more. 128pgs colour paperback.
Tihku
by /Kutikuti
Living the Line
$20.00
The publisher says:
Visions of Nordic introspectiveness, occult pocket watches, suburban drifting, untamed forests and butterfly appreciation all come together in a sticky weave of cutting-edge Finnish comics storytelling. Tihku is a joint work by twelve artists and the first part in a series. Kutikuti is an association and collective of about sixty contemporary comic artists living in Finland. Artists contributing to this volume are: Terhi Adler, Terhi Ekebom, Esko Heikkilä, Jyrki Heikkinen, Ivanda Jansone, Joonas Järvi, Tiina Lehikoinen, Hanneriina Moisseinen, Lauri Mäkimurto, Jyrki Nissinen, Kati Rapia and Katja Ronkanen. ‘Tihku’ is Finnish for drizzle. In meteorology, drizzle is a precipitation of very small droplets with a diameter of approximately 0.1 mm. Although it is perfectly visible on spectacle lenses, it is too light to draw circles in puddles. Drizzle results from the condensation of clouds. 104pgs colour paperback.
Tokyo These Days Vol. 1
by Taiyo Matsumoto
Viz Media
$28.00
The publisher says:
The winner of multiple Eisner Awards, author Taiyo Matsumoto explores the relationships between a manga editor, manga creators, art, and the rhythm of life these days. After 30 years as a manga editor, Kazuo Shiozawa suddenly quits. Although he feels early retirement is the only way to atone for his failures as an editor, the manga world isn’t done with him. On his final day as an editor, Shiozawa takes a train he’s ridden hundreds of times to impart some last advice to a manga creator whose work he used to edit. Later, he is drawn to return to a bookshop at the request of a junior editor who wants his help dealing with an incorrigible manga creator who used to be edited by Shiozawa and now refuses to work with anyone else. For Shiozawa, Tokyo these days is full of memory and is cocooned in the inescapable bonds among manga creators, their editors, art, and life itself. Taiyo Matsumoto is best known to English-reading audiences as the creator of the Eisner Award–winning Tekkonkinkreet, which in 2006 was made into an animated feature film of the same name directed by Michael Arias. In 2007, Matsumoto was awarded a Japan Media Arts Festival Excellence Award, and in 2020 he won his second Eisner Award for the English publication of Cats of the Louvre. 216pgs B&W hardcover.
Xino Vol.1
by various
Oni Press Inc.
$17.99
The publisher says:
Because the future is getting weirder everyday, we give you XINO―an intra-ocular lozenge of subversive, surrealist science fiction to cure your awful awareness of it all. Try not to worry―the insertion process will be guided by the megawatt brilliance of comics’ brightest talents as they slowly tune your hopes, dreams, desires, paranoia, alienation, anxiety, and adrenaline to produce the desired results. Join Melissa Flores (The Dead Lucky, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers) and Daniel Irizarri (Judge Dredd) as they surgically activate the hidden dimensions of the human senses; cult phenoms Christopher Condon (That Texas Blood) and Nick Cagnetti (Pink Lemonade) debut the world’s first intravenous video game system; underground radicals Jordan Thomas (Weird Work) and Shaky Kane (Bulletproof Coffin) surveil the suburbs for signs of covert infiltration; plus much, more from a startling cast of megawatt talents, including Phil Hester (Gotham City: Year One), David Lapham (Stray Bullets) and Maria Lapham force our collective psyche into unrecognisable new dimensions; award-winning and bestselling author Alex Segura (Secret Identity) and Zander Cannon (Kaijumax) embark on an intergalactic journey of revenge; François Vigneault (Titan) and Artyom Trakhanov (First Knife) deliver bleeding-edge technology to Paleolithic man; Dan McDaid (DEGA) takes weaponised incompetence to the next level; Connor Willumsen (Bradley Of Him) digs deep into our capacity for self-delusion―which doesn’t seem to be getting any better. 144pgs colour paperback.
Zodiac: A Graphic Memoir
by Ai Weiwei with Elettra Stamboulis & Gianluca Costantini
Tundra Books / Ten Speed Graphic
$28.99 / $22.99
The publisher says:
In this beautifully illustrated and deeply philosophical graphic memoir, legendary artist Ai Weiwei explores the connection between artistic expression and intellectual freedom through the lens of the Chinese zodiac. As a child living in exile during the Cultural Revolution, Ai Weiwei often found himself with nothing to read but government-approved comic books. Although they were restricted by the confines of political propaganda, Ai Weiwei was struck by the artists’ ability to express their thoughts on art and humanity through graphic storytelling. Now, decades later, Ai Weiwei and Italian comic artist Gianluca Costantini present Zodiac, Ai Weiwei’s first graphic memoir. Inspired by the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac and their associated human characteristics, Ai Weiwei masterfully interweaves ancient Chinese folklore with stories of his life, family, and career. The narrative shifts back and forth through the years—at once in the past, present, and future—mirroring memory and our relationship to time. As readers delve deeper into the beautifully illustrated pages of Zodiac, they will find not only a personal history of Ai Weiwei and an examination of the sociopolitical climate in which he makes his art, but a philosophical exploration of what it means to find oneself through art and freedom of expression. Contemplative and political, Zodiac will inspire readers to return again and again to Ai Weiwei’s musings on the relationship between art, time, and our shared humanity. Ai Weiwei leads a diverse and prolific practice that encompasses sculptural installation, filmmaking, photography, ceramics, painting, writing, and social media. Born in Beijing, China, in 1957, he is a conceptual artist who fuses traditional craftsmanship and his Chinese heritage, moving freely between a variety of formal languages to reflect on contemporary geopolitical and sociopolitical conditions. Ai Weiwei’s work and life regularly interact and inform one another, often extending to his activism and advocacy for international human rights. Elettra Stamboulis is a Greek Italian writer and art curator. She has written numerous graphic novels and comics articles that have published in many languages around the world. She specialises in reality-based comics and has curated European exhibitions of the work of Joe Sacco and Marjane Satrapi. As a curator, her work is dedicated to the promotion of artists at risk and she recently has curated exhibitions of work by Zehra Doğan, Badiucao, and Victoria Lomasko. Gianluca Costantini is an Italian cartoonist, comic journalist, and activist. He has contributed to numerous publications and is the author of several graphic novels. He is well know for his drawing related to human rights campaigns all over the world. He collaborates with organisations such as the Committee to Protect Journalists, ActionAid, and SOS Méditerranée. In 2019, he received the Art and Human Rights Award from Amnesty International. 176pgs colour hardcover / paperback.
