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Top 22 Graphic Novels, Comics & Manga:
March 2022
I invite you to take a browse through the upcoming comics titles in Engish heading our way in March or shortly thereafter. It’s been a long time coming, but Jordan Crane’s heart-rending, heart-lifting book stands out as a major highlight, as does Kate Schneider’s sensitive study…
As for vanished and now recovered classics, there are some rich pickings, led by a two-in-one volume by British-born Martin Vaughan-James…
And at long last a full reprint of the extraordinary 1949 magazine TOPS, which could have totally rewritten American comics history, and the first English translation of the almost-lost graphic biography made in Argentina of Che Guevara…
Finally, two manga gems, a single-volume compendium drawn by Jiro Taniguchi and, highly recommended, the first of four double-volumes of a brave, searing analysis of contemporary roles and pressures between the sexes by Akane Torikai…
I hope these and other PG Tips listed below will pique your interest. Wishing you a Happy New Year of further exploration and enjoyment of the 9th Art together!
Alfred Hitchcock: Master of Suspense
by Noël Simsolo & Dominique Hé
NBM
$44.99
The publisher says:
In 1960, the film Psycho traumatised viewers around the world. Never before had the angst or the suspense been so well presented in cinema. But where does the talent of this Alfred Hitchcock come from, the one now nicknamed the ‘Master of Suspense’? To find out, we must first go back to his youth, in England, during the first half of the 20th century. Having grown up in a Catholic family - a religious originality that will be felt in a large part of his cinema - ‘Hitch’ is an atypical Englishman who, very early on, has a taste for telling stories. The temptation to work for the cinema will not be long in coming, first as a graphic designer at Islington Studios in London, where his visual talent will lead him to make his debut behind the camera, as an assistant and then as a full director. It is also here that he will meet Alma Reville, his assistant and wife who will accompany him throughout his storied career, including the jump to the big time in Hollywood. Discover the life of undoubtedly one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. The in-depth story of a colourful, demanding and quite simply extraordinary artist. Noël Simsolo is a French comedian, movie director, novelist, historian of movies and well-established writer of comics. Amongst others, he’s also written a bio of Sergio Leone. Dominique Hé is a widely published French comic artist and illustrator. 320pgs colour hardcover.
Button Pusher
by Tyler Page
First Second
$21.99 / $14.99
The publisher says:
A memoir-driven realistic graphic novel about Tyler, a child who is diagnosed with ADHD and has to discover for himself how to best manage it. Tyler’s brain is different. Unlike his friends, he has a hard time paying attention in class. He acts out in goofy, over-the-top ways. Sometimes, he even does dangerous things — like cut up a bus seat with a pocketknife or hang out of an attic window. To the adults in his life, Tyler seems like a troublemaker. But he knows that he’s not. Tyler is curious and creative. He’s the best artist in his grade, and when he can focus, he gets great grades. He doesn’t want to cause trouble, but sometimes he just feels like he can’t control himself. In Button Pusher, cartoonist Tyler Page uses his own childhood experiences to explore what it means to grow up with ADHD. From diagnosis to treatment and beyond, Tyler’s story is raw and enlightening, inviting you to see the world from a new perspective. Tyler Page is an Eisner-nominated cartoonist and educator. He has worked with a mix of national and international clients and publishers, in addition to publishing nine books of his own. Tyler lives in Minneapolis, MN with his wife, author/illustrator Cori Doerrfeld, and their two very blonde children. His most recent book, Raised on Ritalin, was called “essential reading for medical students and those involved in helping address the challenges of ADHD” by the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. http://www.stylishvittles.com 256pgs colour hardcover / paperback.
Corona Bible
by Pier Dola
Fantagraphics Underground
$50.00
The publisher says:
Pier Dola’s second graphic novel, an incendiary 500-page behemoth, satirizes humanity’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. When one man, too terrified to leave his ratty apartment during the pandemic, turns exclusively to social media for human contact, his quarantine routine disintegrates into madness. Thus kicks off a hilariously withering social critique of an entire planet filled with masses of humanity suffering from a dearth of compassion, decency, and empathy. Nothing escapes Dola’s manic, trenchant stare as he takes on a vast array of contemporary social deformities ― anti-vaxxers, conspiracy theorists, xenophobes, the alt right, the woke left, evangelical fanatics, corporate power mongers, racists, fascists, neo-Nazis, gerontophobes, nihilistic revelers, Boris Johnson, and the death of the social contract. And yet there are still those rare moments of human idealism and striving amidst the moral, spiritual, and physical carnage. As one man says, consolingly, to another: “Although in these dark times of selfish fear it seems that goodness doesn’t exist in our hearts, there are still good people. Maybe they are the minority, but those rare islands are the ones that make it bearable to swallow the oceans of shit formed by the armies of assholes that surround us.” A rare moment of hope and optimism in an otherwise scabrous and coruscating portrait of humanity in a death spiral. Pier Dola was born in Zielona Gora, Poland in 1965. His father was a sailor on oil tankers and Pier grew up reading comics from South America, which is why his greatest influences are Doctor Mortis, the multi-genre series of comics created by the writer and actor Juan Marino Cabello, and the works of Alberto Breccia and Carlos Nine. He left Italy at age 20 and lived as a beggar in Italy, France, Germany, and, finally, Holland. He was a squatter until he married. He has a 12 year old son and currently works as a dishwasher. His debut book, From Granada to Cordoba (Fantagraphics Underground Press), published in 2021. 500pgs colour paperback.
Elephant / The Projector
by Martin Vaughn-James
New York Review Comics
$49.95
The publisher says:
Two surreal graphic novels about technology, corporatisation and alienation in the modern world by a cult-favourite comics innovator. In 1968, the British artist and writer Martin Vaughn-James emigrated to Canada. Over the next eight years, he proceeded to produce some of the most mesmerising and inventive works in comics, light-years ahead of his contemporaries. Among them were Elephant and The Projector, linked graphic novels that guide the reader (and a bespectacled Everyman) through landscapes built out of both the everyday and the nightmarish. Jam-packed superhighways, plummeting horses, vast urban wastelands, colossal businessmen, demented cartoon animals and interstellar oranges are just a small part of Vaughn-James’s prophetic vision of society’s turn away from the natural world to the artificial. Together for the first time in a single volume, designed and edited by Seth and with an introduction by Jeet Heer, Elephant and The Projector stand as a reminder that we have yet to catch up to Vaughn-James. Martin Vaughn-James (1943–2009) was a British painter and cartoonist best known for his captivating, stylistically daring graphic novels—Elephant, The Projector, The Park and The Cage—all published in the 1970s, when Vaughn-James lived in Canada. He contributed to numerous magazines during his lifetime and wrote two prose novels, Night Train and The Tomb of Zwaab. 212pgs B&W hardcover.
Free Pass
by Julian Hanshaw
IDW / Top Shelf
$19.99
The publisher says:
Free Pass is an intoxicating tale of liberty, suppression and shame, set in the sticky place where sex, politics and technology come together. George Orwell said “You are free to be a drunkard, an idler, a coward, backbiter, a fornicator. You are not free to think for yourself.” Huck and Nadia are enjoying their twenties: working in Big Tech and developing an adventurous sex life. As they discuss their fantasies, including the possibility of swapping partners and drafting a “free pass” list, they take pride in their honest and transparent relationship. But when it comes to politics, Huck is leading a double life. As a national election looms, he grows more and more uncomfortable with his company’s unelected authority over internet discourse. When the couple receives a bizarre gift — a cutting-edge humanoid sex A.I. that can morph into anyone with an internet presence — their worlds of fantasy, trust and consent are blissfully thrown into chaos. In a society growing more divided each day, Huck struggles with the pressure to uphold the boundaries of a binary world at work while everything is collapsing at home. Julian Hanshaw won the Observer Jonathan Cape Comica Short Story Award in 2008. His graphic novels include the Prix Europa-winning The Art Of Pho, as well as I’m Never Coming Back and Cloud Hotel. Julian also contributed to and co-edited the anthologies I Feel Machine and I Feel Love. His graphic novel Tim Ginger was shortlisted for The British Comic Award and the LA Times Book Prize. He has animated on BAFTA-winning shows and his own animation won The Golden Reels in Los Angeles. Julian lives on the south coast of the UK. 192pgs colour paperback.
GoST111
by Mark Eacersall, Henry Scala & Marion Mousse
Ablaze
$24.99
The publisher says:
Winner of the Angoulême 2021 Fauve Polar SNCF prize for “Best Thriller”. A dizzying dive into the world of police informants. A model father but unemployed, Goran Stankovic accepts a shady job, gets arrested and has no other choice but to collaborate by becoming an informant. Stuck between thugs and the police, in a world of manipulation, Goran will have to play a perilous double game to get out of it. GoSt111 is as much a perilous thriller as a vertiginous dive into the unknown world of the informants of the police. A chiseled and hyperrealistic dark story, brought to life by the expressive line of Marion Mousse. Co-written by screenwriter Mark Eacersall, and Henri Scala, who was Commissioner of the National Police for more than 20 years. 200pgs colour hardcover.
Hakim’s Odyssey: From Turkey to Greece
by Fabien Toulmé, translated by Hannah Chute
Graphic Mundi
$29.95
The publisher says:
What choices would you make to reunite your family? “You know, Haidi, we’re going on a trip. A really big trip to find our way to Mama.” In exile and far from his homeland, Hakim finds a bit of hope in the birth of his son. But between unstable jobs and selling what he can in the streets, it’s hard to survive―and impossible for the family to stay together. Reluctantly separated from the woman he loves and alone with his child, Hakim will have to overcome incredible odds and seemingly impossible obstacles to reunite his family, which leads him to make the most difficult decision of his life. Captivating and deeply moving, this second book of the critically acclaimed Hakim’s Odyssey follows the true story of a Syrian refugee as he tries to find his way in Turkey and then makes the perilous trek to what he hopes will be a more settled life in Europe. In addition to the three-part Hakim’s Odyssey series, Fabien Toulmé is also the creator of Ce n’est pas toi que j’attendais and Les Deux Vies de Baudouin.The first volume in the Hakim’s Odyssey series, From Syria to Turkey, is now available from Graphic Mundi. 264pgs colour hardcover.
Headland
by Kate Schneider
Fantagraphics
$24.99
The publisher says:
In Headland, artist Kate Schneider pays tribute to her departed grandmother. A quietly powerful work of graphic medicine by a promising new comics talent. Following a stroke, 95-year-old Ruth wakes up in a cold, unfamiliar hospital. To escape her grim surroundings, she retreats into a wilderness within her mind. In this interior world she befriends a tortoise who accompanies her on a journey into the unknown. As the days pass, Ruth’s hold on the material world wanes and she moves deeper into her own landscape. In Headland, artist Kate Schneider pays tribute to her departed grandmother, presenting with deeply felt empathy a perspective little represented in popular literature. Drawn with soft pencils and lush colours, this graphic novel explores the tensions between safety and autonomy, language and silence, holding on and letting go. Kate Schneider is an artist, writer and therapist living and working in Philadelphia. Her previous book was Dew Drop Diary (F.I.N.E. Editions, 2021). 184pgs colour paperback.
Keeping Two
by Jordan Crane
Fantagraphics
$29.99
The publisher says:
20 years in the making, the long-awaited graphic novel masterpiece from acclaimed cartoonist Jordan Crane. A young couple is stuck in traffic, reading a book aloud to each other to pass the time. The relationship is already strained, but between the encroaching road rage, and a novel that hits way too close to home, tensions are running especially high by the time they arrive back at their apartment. When one of them leaves to get takeout and a movie, each of the young lovers is individually forced to confront loss, grief, fear and insecurities in unexpected and shocking ways. Crane’s formal use of the comics medium ― threading several timelines and the interior and exterior lives of its protagonists together to create an increasing, almost Hitchcockian sense of dread and paranoia ― is masterful. But as the title hints, there are dualities at its core that make it one of the most exciting works of graphic literary fiction in recent memory, a brilliant adult drama that showcases a deep empathy and compassion for its characters as well as a visually arresting showcase of Crane’s considerable talents. Keeping Two is ostensibly a story about loss, but by the end, it just might also be about finding something along the way ― something that had seemed irredeemable up to that point. In that way, it’s also a deeply romantic book. Cartoonist Jordan Crane has been one of the most quietly influential comics-makers of the past quarter-century – in multiple senses of the word: as a cartoonist, a designer, an editor, a publisher, a printmaker, an advocate, an archivist and more. But Keeping Two is his biggest project in close to two decades and will be one of the most anticipated graphic novels of 2022. Jordan Crane is a cartoonist living in Los Angeles, CA with his wife and kids. Crane first emerged in 1996 with the iconic comics anthology NON, which he edited, designed, printed, contributed to and published. His previous book was the all-ages graphic novel The Clouds Above (2008). 316pgs colour hardcover.
Key Terms in Comics Studies
by Erin La Cour, Simon Grennan & Rik Spanjers
Palgrave Macmillan
$34.63
The publisher says:
Key Terms in Comics Studies is a glossary of over 300 terms and critical concepts currently used in the Anglophone academic study of comics, including those from other languages that are currently adopted and used in English. Written by nearly 100 international and contemporary experts from the field, the entries are succinctly defined, exemplified, and referenced. The entries are 250 words or fewer, placed in alphabetical order, and explicitly cross-referenced to others in the book. Key Terms in Comics Studies is an invaluable tool for both students and established researchers alike. Dr Erin La Cour is Assistant Professor in English Literature and Visual Culture at the Free University Amsterdam, Netherlands. Dr Simon Grennan is Leading Research Fellow at the University of Chester, UK. Dr Rik Spanjers is Lecturer in Dutch Language and Culture at Utrecht University, Netherlands. 391pgs B&W paperback.
Life of Che: An Impressionistic Biography
by Héctor Oesterheld, Alberto Breccia & Enrique Breccia, translated by Erica Mena & Pablo Turnes
Fantagraphics
$19.99
The publisher says:
Published in 1969, this Argentine graphic biography about Ernesto “Che” Guevara was an instant bestseller. Banned by a military dictatorship, and almost lost, it has never been available in English ― until now. Life of Che is one of the most anticipated entries in Fantagraphics’ The Alberto Breccia Library. Originally released as part of a graphic biography series in January 1969, it came out in Argentina only a year after Ernesto “Che” Guevara had died and reached an audience beyond comics readers. In the 1970s, the military government raided its publisher, destroying the means to reprint the book. The comic was presumed to be lost to history, until a publisher in Spain restored it in 1987. It has never been translated into English until now. The book begins in Bolivia in 1967, then flashes back through Che’s life ― his childhood, his radicalising motorcycle trip with Alberto Granado, his taking up of arms in Guatemala, his meeting with Fidel Castro, and his subsequent military and political maneuvres, ending in a fade-out to his death. Alberto Breccia and his son, Enrique, drew Life of Che. Enrique draws the Bolivia passages in a woodcut style, while Alberto depicts the flashbacks in his trademark, expressionistic black-and-white. It is primarily set in the field and with the people. Héctor Germán Oesterheld (The Eternaut) blends his authorial voice with Che’s first-person. Life of Che is imbued with a sense of immediacy, as both Che and, eventually, Oesterheld would meet their ends by a military government backed by the American CIA. As Pablo Turnes writes in his afterword, it is “the testament of someone consciously marching toward his revolutionary death.” Héctor Germán Oesterheld (HGO) (born July 23, 1919; “disappeared” by the military and presumed dead 1977), was a pioneering Argentine graphic novel and comics writer. Notable works include his science-fiction series El Eternauta, as well as Life of Che, a biography of Che Guevara. Alberto Breccia (b. 1919; Montevideo, Uruguay; d. 1993, Buenos Aires, Argentina) is an influential, internationally acclaimed comics artist and cartoonist. His career began in the 1940s, during the golden age of Argentine comics. From 1962–1964, he drew Mort Cinder, written by Héctor Germán Oesterheld, which is considered a masterpiece of the form. He took a break from comics to teach and co-found the interdisciplinary art school IDA (Instituto de Directores de Arte) but returned in 1968 to draw graphic biographies of Che Guevara and Eva Perón, and a reboot of Oesterheld’s seminal 1959 graphic novel, The Eternaut. Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s ― when Argentina suffered under a series of military dictatorships ― and beyond, Breccia drew serialised comics for the European market, working with and adapting writers such as Poe, Lovecraft, Borges, Trillo, Sasturain, and many others. In 2021, he was inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame. Enrique Breccia (b. 1945, Buenos Aires) is a politically active Argentine cartoonist, best known to American audiences for his Swamp Thing run for DC’s Vertigo imprint. In addition to DC, he has worked for Marvel, Fleetway, Delcourt and many other global comics publishers; he has also adapted literary works by Lovecraft, Melville, and others. His career began in 1968, when he assisted his father, Alberto Breccia, on the bestselling graphic biography Life of Che. Other notable projects include his art for the Alvar Mayor character (written by Carlos Trillo), and The Sentinels series with Xavier Dorison. Breccia currently lives in Italy. Pablo Turnes is Doctor of Social Sciences at the Gino Germani Research Institute, University of Buenos Aires. Erica Mena is a Puerto Rican poet, translator and book artist, who holds an MFA in poetry from Brown University and an MFA in literary translation from the University of Iowa. Their English translation of the Argentine graphic novel The Eternaut won a 2016 Eisner Award. 88pgs B&W hardcover.
Loved and Lost: A Relationship Trilogy
by Jeffrey Brown
IDW / Top Shelf
$29.99
The publisher says:
A pioneer of 21st-century graphic memoir, Jeffrey Brown captures timeless insights into love, intimacy, and vulnerability in three unforgettable relationship portraits. Twenty years ago, young painter Jeffrey Brown grew frustrated with the expectations of the art world and wanted desperately to make something real. In a single sketchbook, working directly in ink, he began recording his memories of a recent long-distance relationship, matching the emotional frailty of the young lovers with painfully honest writing and art. As that book, Clumsy, struck a chord with readers and spawned the follow-ups Unlikely and Any Easy Intimacy, Brown’s work proved a watershed for the emerging form of the graphic memoir. Chronicling the awkward mess of romantic relationships in unsparing and explicit detail, these works also reflect the fragmentary nature of memory, the risk of opening ourselves to pain, and the giggly rush of falling in love. Now collected into one volume for the first time, A Relationship Trilogy is a bittersweet reminder of the everyday joy, heartbreak and humour that — despite everything— keep us coming back for more. Collects Clumsy, Unlikely and AEIOU or Any Easy Intimacy. Before he became known for his bestselling Star Wars books such as Darth Vader and Son and Jedi Academy, Ignatz and Eisner award-winning cartoonist Jeffrey Brown focused on intimate autobiographical portrayals of everyday life and young love. Brown grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan with dreams of drawing comics, but left his hometown in 2000 to pursue his MFA at the School of the Art Institute. He lives in Chicago with his wife and two sons. 608pgs B&W paperback.
Mr. Lightbulb
by Wojtek Wawszczyk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
Fantagraphics
$29.99
The publisher says:
In this electrifying graphic novel debut, Polish animator and cartoonist Wojtek Wawszczyk uses magical realism to tell a moving tale of finding light in a life full of darkness. Mirroring the world we live in, the protagonist of this graphic novel comes from a broken home. However, in this case, the term is quite literal. Due to freak accidents at the steelworks where his parents work, his mom is snapped, his dad is flattened. As if that wasn’t enough to deal with, one day, he suffers his own life-changing experience: mistakenly swallowing a glob of molten metal gives him the strange power to radiate heat and light ― like a lightbulb. As he grows up, evolving from Bulb Boy to Mr. Lightbulb, he finds that his unique abilities can be a curse and a blessing; while they alienate him from others, they also allow him to shine. At once surrealist, comedic, heartbreaking, bitterly sarcastic and deeply sincere, Mr. Lightbulb is an essential work of comics autobio. With bold, expressive ink strokes and brilliant use of visual metaphor, Wojtek Wawszczyk renders an affecting self-portrait, as his protagonist balances challenging family dynamics with his creative ambitions and desire to forge his way in the world. This book, which clocks in at over 600 pages, combines a grand scope with brisk plotting, adding up to a tour de force of artistry and honesty. Wojtek Wawszczyk (b. Cieszyn, Poland, 1977) is a director, screenwriter, animator and artist. He is the creator of the award-winning animated films Headless, Mouse and Penguin. He also worked as a special effects animator for the Oscar-nominated movie I, Robot. Wawszczyk co-directed the full-length animated feature George the Hedgehog. Since 2011, he has been one of the leaders of the Human Ark animation studio in Warsaw. He currently works as a screenwriter and director and is in the process of completing another full-length feature, Diplodocus. He lives in Warsaw, Poland. Antonia Lloyd-Jones has translated works by many of Poland’s leading contemporary novelists, including Nobel Prize-winner Olga Tokarczuk, Jacek Dehnel, Mariusz Szczygiel and Artur Domoslawski. She has been an advisor for the Emerging Translator Mentorship Program and co-chair of the UK Translators Association. In 2018, she was honoured with Poland’s Transatlantyk Award for the most outstanding promoter of Polish literature abroad. 624pgs B&W hardcover.
My Wandering Warrior Existence
by Nagata Kabi
Seven Seas
$14.99
The publisher says:
Nagata Kabi, the award-winning creator of My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness, embarks on a search for romance in this brand-new diary comic. Nagata Kabi’s groundbreaking autobiographical work has captivated audiences around the globe, starting with the viral online comic about identity that would become the graphic novel My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness. Readers from all backgrounds have been moved by the author’s ability to capture complex emotions through her art and text, giving insight into feelings they may have struggled to articulate themselves. Nagata Kabi’s memoirs, including the Eisner-nominated My Solo Exchange Diary and new release My Alcoholic Escape From Reality, have explored themes of physical and mental illness, sex and sexuality, family and independence. Follow the newest instalment of this trailblazing series with My Wandering Warrior Existence, Nagata Kabi’s exploration of longing for love and marriage. 128pgs B&W paperback.
Not all Cacti Have Spines
by Mosi
Centrala
$10.00
The publisher says:
Just like a house plant, friendship is something that needs to be taken care of to keep it alive. Luísa and Rita have been best friends since they can remember, but as they get older, something begins to threaten their bond. What does it mean to know someone? What does it take to keep our memories true? Not all Cacti Have Spines is a short story about friendship, plants, growing up but also growing apart. ‘Luísa and I met in primary school and we’re best friends since then. We have always been a little different, that’s why I think we complement each other. But I like to believe that I know her better than anyone. Luísa brought a lily that day. And she wasn’t wearing earrings.’ Joana Mosi (1994) is a visual artist, author and educator. She graduated in Painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts of Lisbon and is currently finishing her master’s degree in Film. She has authored a number of comic books, some of which have won distinctions, including the autobiographical mini series Altemente (ComicHeart, 2016) and Not all Cacti Have Spine (2017, Octopus). In 2020, she was included in the international anthology Kus with the project “Everything’s Gonna Be Okay”. In the last two years, Joana has focussed a large part of her activity on initiatives and projects related to comics, education and literacy. She has collaborated with several institutions, including the National Reading Plan and the international projects ReadON and Comics for Education (KUS). She was the coordinator of the Concept Art course at ETIC in Lisbon for three years and is the present Comics teacher at Nextart, also in Lisbon. Since 2020 she has been collaborating with The Animation Workshop in Viborg (Denmark). 24pgs colour hardcover.
One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer: Three Tales of John Lee Hooker
by Gabe Soria, John Lee Hooker, Kyle Baker, Evan Cagle & Chris Brunner
Z2 Comics
$19.99
The publisher says:
Legendary bluesman John Lee Hooker lived more life in one of his songs than the collective lifetimes of many. Spanning several decades of the American experience, One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer tells three tales of Hooker’s storied life through the perspective of those who lived within his massive orbit, weaving textured and interpretative stories that rise to the lofty creative heights of his music and fall to the gritty reality of trying to thrive in several unforgiving eras. Known for the popular online role-playing game Sword & Backpack, Gabe Soria is best known in the kidlit community for reinventing the choice-driven book genre with his four-book series, Midnight Arcade. He has also written several comic books for DC Comics, including Batman ‘66. Gabe also collaborated with friend Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys on The Murder Ballads comic book. Cartoonist Kyle Baker has authored over 15 graphic novels and illustrated hundreds more in a career which extends over three decades long . His animation has appeared on MTV, Showtime, Disney channels and Cartoon Network. He has contributed as a writer and artist to shows such as Phineas and Ferb and Looney Tunes. He recently completed an ad campaign for Nike featuring Kevin Durant. His cartoons have appeared in Vibe, The New Yorker, Spin, Mad and numerous other magazines, including countless Marvel and DC comics. Baker is the winner of 8 Eisner Awards, 4 Harvey Awards, and an Inkpot Award and Glyph Award, and others. A pioneer in the Graphic Novel format since the 1980’s, works such as Nat Turner, Why I Hate Saturn and King David helped define and evolve the medium. In addition to licensing and products, his work now expands into digital realms with new apps, streaming animation and game design. 124pgs colour paperback.
Orochi: The Perfect Edition, Vol. 1
by Kazuo Umezz
Viz Media
$26.99
The publisher says:
A deluxe edition of Orochi, featuring all nine of the classic interconnected short stories by horror master Kazuo Umezz, the creator of The Drifting Classroom. A mysterious young woman slithers her way into the lives of unsuspecting people like the legendary multi-tailed serpent for which she is named—Orochi. Umezz’s classic horror manga opens with “Sisters,” in which Orochi affects the lives of two wealthy siblings who couldn’t be more alike…or more different. Next, in “Bones,” Orochi helps a man come back to life after a terrible accident, but resurrection can be a deadly business… Kazuo Umezz started drawing professionally in the 1950s and is considered the most influential horror manga artist ever. His many horror and sci-fi/horror works include Cat Eyed Boy, Orochi, The Drifting Classroom, Senrei (Baptism), My Name is Shingo (winner of the Prix du Patrimoine in 2018 at the Angoulême International Comics Festival), The Left Hand of God/Right Hand of the Devil and Fourteen. His popular gag series Makoto-Chan and Again prove that Umezz is also an accomplished humour cartoonist. Umezz’s weird style, incredible ideas and sometimes terrifying imagery have made him a fixture of Japanese pop culture, and his work has been adapted into movies, anime and collectibles. 320pgs B&W hardcover.
Paris
by Andi Watson & Simon Gane
Image Comics
$24.99
The publisher says:
This is a new and expanded edition of Paris (2007, Slave Labor) with artwork created specially for this volume. Juliet, a penniless American art student travels to the city of light to study painting. To pay her way, she paints portraits of wealthy debutantes. One of her subjects is Deborah, a young English woman suffocated by the narrow expectations of her aristocratic family. Juliet is equally confined by the rigid academic structure of her art education and finds an unlikely kindred spirit in Deborah. Juliet and Deborah’s love for art brings them together, even as their friends and family try to drive them apart. A fairy tale romance where the old and new worlds collide, drawn by Simon Gane, the artist behind Eisner-nominated Ghost Tree and They’re Not Like Us, and written by Andi Watson, author of The Book Tour, Kerry and the Knight of the Forest and the forthcoming Punycorn. 156pgs colour hardcover.
Policing the City: An Ethno-Graphic
by Didier Fassin, Frédéric Debomy & Jake Raynal, translated by Rachel Gomme
Other Press
$25.99
The publisher says:
Adapted from the landmark essay Enforcing Order, this striking graphic novel offers an accessible inside look at policing and how it leads to discrimination and violence. What we know about the forces of law and order often comes from tragic episodes that make the headlines, or from sensationalised versions for film and television. These gripping accounts obscure two crucial aspects of police work: the tedium of everyday patrols under constant pressure to meet quotas, and the banality of racial discrimination and ordinary violence. Around the time of the 2005 French riots, anthropologist and sociologist Didier Fassin spent fifteen months observing up close the daily life of an anticrime squad in one of the largest precincts in the Paris region. His unprecedented study, which sparked intense discussion about policing in the largely working-class, immigrant suburbs, remains acutely relevant in light of all-too-common incidents of police brutality against minorities. This new, powerfully illustrated adaptation clearly presents the insights of Fassin’s investigation, and draws connections to the challenges we face today in the United States as in France. Didier Fassin is a French anthropologist and sociologist. He is the James D. Wolfensohn Professor of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and in 2019 was appointed to the Annual Chair in Public Health at the Collège de France, where he delivered the lecture “The Inequality of Lives.” He has conducted research in Ecuador, Senegal, South Africa and France, particularly on moral and political issues around health and humanitarianism as well as immigration and asylum as part of a program of the European Research Council. His previous books include Prison Worlds, The Will to Punish and Death of a Traveller. Frédéric Debomy is a graphic-novel writer born in Fontenay-aux-Roses, France, in 1975. He has written book-length essays and nearly a dozen graphic novels, including several works on Myanmar. He is the former president of Info Birmanie, an organization dedicated to raising public awareness about the lack of democracy in Myanmar. Jake Raynal studied applied arts at Paris’s printing academy, the École Estienne, and has been making comics since 1994. He is the creator of a series of fantastical chronicles that was first published by the French-Belgian comics magazine Fluide Glacial and later turned into three books: Combustion Spontanée, Esprit Frappeur and Les Nouveaux Mystères. He also collaborated with Claire Bouilhac on the Melody Bondage series and the Francis series. Cambrioleurs, his first foray into adventure comics, came out in 2013, followed in 2017 by a volume of the Little Comics Library of Knowledge devoted to Les Situationnistes. Rachel Gomme is a translator and artist based in London, England. She has translated many works of social science as well as art history and literary texts. As an interdisciplinary artist, she creates and writes about performance, presents work, and teaches in the United Kingdom and internationally. 112pgs colour hardcover.
Quaco: My Life in Slavery
by Ineke Mok & Eric Heuvel, translated by students from The University of Sheffield’s Centre for Dutch and Flemish Studies
Uitgeverij L
£9.95
A story from the Dutch history of slavery. Quaco was just a boy when he was ruthlessly kidnapped by human traffickers around 1770. After a long journey on foot, he was sold to the captin of a slave ship. Quaco managed to survive the harrowing ocean crossing, and eventually landed in Paramaribo on the estate of the wealthy plantation owner and administrator Walter Kenndy. Quaco became Kennedy’s footboy and was later ‘lent’ to the army captain John Gabriel Stedman, whose task was to hunt down Marrons (runaway slaves). Along the way, Quaco is exposed to the hard life of the plantations. The military missions put Quaco in a moral quandary, and on top of it he risks losing his true love Afua. Quaco was one of the millions of Africans who fell victim to the trans-Atlantic slave trade. His life story is partly based on John Gabriel Stedman’s illustrated memoirs of his time as an army captain in Suriname. Cartoonist Eric Heuvel, the creator of adventure comics such as January Jones and Bud Broadway, gained international recognition with his educational graphic novels about the Second World War. Over half a million copies of A Family Secret, The Search and The Return found their way into schools worldwide.In 2012, Heuvel was awarded the prestigious oeuvre prize for graphic novelists, the Stripschapsprijs (Comic Strip Prize), the most prestigious comics award in the Netherlands. His educational comic, Nieuwe vrienden (New Friend) focuses on prejudice and also received an award. Ineke Mok develops teaching materials on topics such as sexual diversity, racism and anti-semitism. Together with Els Schellekens, she developed lessons and a teachers’ guide to go with Eric Heuvel’s educational graphic novel The Return. She is co-author of the real-life story of Jacquelina, slavin van plantage Driesveld (Jacquelina: Slave of plantation Driesveld) (NiNsee/KIT, 2010). She also wrote the information booklet for the exhibition Kind aan de ketting – opgroeien in slavernij (Child in Chains – growing up in slavery) (NiNsee 2009). With Dineke Stam, she developed Hoezo, Haarlem & de slavernij? (What do you mean, Haarlem and slavery?) (2013), which consisted of a city tour, an exhibition and a set of lectures. Ineke Mok also writes about Quaco on her blog (in Dutch). 80pgs colour paperback.
Rave
by Jessica Campbell
Drawn & Quarterly
$22.95
The publisher says:
A queer coming-of-age story, complete with secret cigarettes, gross gym teachers and a lot of church. It’s the early 2000s. Lauren is fifteen, soft-spoken and ashamed of her body. She’s a devout member of an evangelical church, but when her Bible-thumping parents forbid Lauren to bring evolution textbooks home, she opts to study at her schoolmate Mariah’s house. Mariah has dial-up internet, an absentee mom and a Wiccan altar―the perfect setting for a study session and sleepover to remember. That evening, Mariah gives Lauren a makeover and the two melt into each other, in what becomes Lauren’s first queer encounter. Afterward, a potent blend of Christian guilt and internalised homophobia causes Lauren to question the experience. Author Jessica Campbell (XTC69) uses frankness and dark humour to articulate Lauren’s burgeoning crisis of faith and sexuality. She captures teenage antics and banter with astute comedic style, simultaneously skewering bullies, a culture of slut-shaming and the devastating impact of religious zealotry. Rave is an instant classic, a coming-of-age story about the secret spaces young women create and the wider social structures that fail them. 168pgs colour hardcover.
Sensei’s Pious Lie Vol.1 (of 4)
by Akane Torikai
Vertical Comics
$24.95
The publisher says:
Torikai’s work is a frank and nuanced examination of the emotional and practical effects of sexual violence, rendering the messy realities in gorgeously refined linework and dialogue far more naturalistic than most manga. The author veers away from blunt indictment to paint one of the most complex and fascinating psychological portraits of both rapist and victim in any medium. Very much not just for manga fans, Sensei’s Pious Lie will appeal to readers of graphic novels and literary fiction in general. 24-year-old Misuzu Hara is a shy, introverted high school teacher, content to play the passive role of observer…until her quiet life is shaken to its foundations by two men: one her friend’s fiancé, the other her own student. In Sensei’s Pious Lie, Akane Torikai weaves a complex web of sex, ambivalence, desire and violence that combines to produce one of the most nuanced and affecting explorations of the intersection between power and gender available in any medium. Debuting in 2004, Torika has released over 10 works and was an assistant for Minoru Furuya for a year and a half. In 2014, Oyaho Okaeri (Good Morning Welcome Home) ranked #9 on the 2014 this manga is amazing (female) list. Sensei’s Pious Lie will be Torikai’s debut work in English. 382pgs B&W paperback.
Sevenoaks
by Kevin Sacco
Amaze Ink / Slave Labor
$24.95
The publisher says:
In the summer of 1966, aspiring artist Kevin Sacco learns that his family is moving from New York City to London-and that he will be attending Sevenoaks, a traditional boarding school in the English countryside. At first considered a “Yank” outsider with limited academic or sports acumen, Sacco gradually comes to experience and understand this life of rugby, cold showers, new friendships and discipline. Letters between Sacco and his best friend in New York serve to compare his cloistered life at Sevenoaks to the life that he would be living back home: a life touched by drugs, anti-war sentiments and racial unrest. From the author of Josephine and White Night. 180pgs B&W paperback.
Superheroes, Orphans & Origins: 125 Years in Comics
by Laura Chase, curator, The Foundling Museum
Unicorn
£20.00
The publisher says:
Many of the most inspiring characters in comics and graphic novels began their epic journeys as orphaned or abandoned children. In these stories, the loss of a parent inflicts challenges that even superpowers cannot easily resolve. For over a century and millions of readers, the comic strip is a space in which this narrative has been continuously reimagined. Superheroes, Orphans & Origins: 125 Years in Comics offers a richly illustrated and thought-provoking exploration of the representation of orphans, foundlings, adoptees and foster children in sequential art. Surveying 125 years of creative practice and an international cast of characters, this book examines how care-experience is depicted in early comic strips like Little Orphan Annie, celebrated superhero narratives including Superman and Batman, and popular Japanese manga, among other examples. The complex issues and identities that feature in these stories are considered from a variety of perspectives, ranging from art historical to activist. Contributing authors include Lemn Sissay, MBE and award-winning artists Carlos Giménez and Lisa Wool- Rim Sjöblom, all drawing inspiration from their own experiences in care. Bringing together critical essays, candid conversations and outstanding artwork, this book encourages a new way to experience comics. This book is published on the occasion of the first major exhibition to focus on the representation of care experience in comics, produced by the Foundling Museum in London (April – August 2022). 144pgs colour paperback.
The Elephant in the Room
by Kalki Koechlin & Valeriya Polyanychko
Penguin India
$14.95
The publisher says:
Motherhood is the greatest job in the world…right? In this unique graphic narrative, we finally have that candid, funny and relatable book on pregnancy and parenting that mothers, expectant mothers, and anyone even thinking about motherhood have been waiting for. Actor and writer Kalki Koechlin opens up about so much that we don’t talk about-the social stigma of abortions and unmarried pregnancies, the toll that pregnancy takes on a body, the unacknowledged domestic labour of women, the emotional rollercoaster of giving birth, bouts of postpartum melancholy, the unsolicited parenting advice from every corner, and of course the innumerable moments of joy and delight in bringing a real little person into this very weird world. With whimsy and compassion, with uproariously funny art and spellbinding honesty, The Elephant in the Womb blends the deeply private with the blazingly political. It’s an eye-opener for anyone who has ever thought that pregnancy was all about the glow and that motherhood was all about fulfilment. From fixing broken parts to enduring untimely farts, Koechlin’s nuanced prose — gorgeously illustrated by Valeriya Polyanychko — tells us the bare-faced truth about the physiological discomfort and manic expectations that make it a bittersweet experience. With a combination of personal essays and think-pieces, journal entries captured in real time, reflections and anecdotes, this is the motherload! Kalki Koechlin is a French-Indian actor and writer living in Mumbai. She studied drama and theatre at Goldsmiths, and made her screen debut as Chanda in the critically acclaimed drama Dev.D in 2009. She won a FIlmfare award for the same. She is also the recipient of a National Award and Best Actress award at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival for the internationally applauded film, Margarita with a Straw. She has also acted in two of Bollywood’s highest grossing films of their respective years, Yeh Jewani Hai Deewani and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. She hosts a podcast with the BBC called My Indian Life, and is part of several series streaming on Netflix and Amazon. Throughout her career, she has continued to write and perform for the theatre, often with her original material. She won the Hindu Metroplus Playwright Award in 2009 along with co writer Prashant Prakash for Skeleton Woman. Her work often addresses the issues of women’s rights and freedom of speech. She is a feminist and an advocate of children’s rights. Valeriya Polyanychko is a multi-disciplinary visual artist dabbling between the vast expanses of doodles, illustrations, animation and production designs for motion pictures. As a young artist, she was spotted in the small town of Shostka, for finishing her art school exams at the age of just fourteen, whereupon she was offered a scholarship University Of Culture and Art in Kiev, Ukraine. In 2010, she was identified as an upcoming design talent in Ukraine and won a grant prize (Top 10 Young Designers Of Ukraine competition). This offered her the opportunity to travel to Asia. As a lifelong admirer of Asian art forms, she has travelled extensively across India, Vietnam, Nepal, Malaysia and Thailand, adopting much of the vibrant design sensibility into her own aesthetic. She presently lives between India and Ukraine, and can often be found sketching her four cats and three dogs - all of whom she considers her muse. The forest behind her home is her favourite place to daydream. 256pgs black & pink paperback.
The Solitary Gourmet
by Masayuki Kusumi & Jiro Taniguchi
Fanfare Presents / Ponent Mon
$30.00
The publisher says:
‘Thought for Food’. This is the book in which nothing happens but everything is consumed! Like ‘The Walking Man’ at lunch!! What do we learn about Mister Inogashira? He’s a sole, independent trader importing household and fashion goods from France. He is always busy but never rushed as he travels around Japan selling his wares. He’s a private person who, whilst he enjoys the company of women, prefers to remain a bachelor. He smokes cigarettes but never touches alcohol. But above all, he enjoys his food! He is The Solitary Gourmet! Each of the thirty-two chapters explores another dish in another restaurant in another part of town – from Tokyo to Tottori, from Osaka to hospital (yes!) and even ventures to an Algerian restaurant in Paris, eating and observing. This volume collects all 32 chapters serialized over two decades (originally in Fusosha’s monthly ‘Panja’ magazine) and includes the special hospital chapter. Like an exquisite meal, this book should be savored over and over again. One of Japan’s most acclaimed mangakas, Jiro Taniguchi was born August 14th, 1947 in Tottori, Japan. He is the creator of such award winning titles as ‘The Walking Man’, ‘A Distant Neighborhood’, A Journal Of My Father’, ‘A Zoo In Winter’ and many, many more spanning biography, action, adventure, history, slice of life and other subjects. He sadly died February 11th, 2017 aged just 69. Masayuki Kusumi was born July 15th, 1958 in Tokyo, Japan. He is a screenwriter, short story writer, documentary filmmaker, press and television columnist, and musician. He is best known for ‘The Solitary Gourmet’ (1994 - 2015), ‘Hiru No Sento Zake’ (2016) and ‘Samurai Gourmet’ (2017). He continues to live and work in Japan. 344pgs B&W hardcover.
Things We Create
by Axel Brechensbauer
Fantagraphics
$24.99
The publisher says:
A visual guide to fascinating historical facts and philosophical musings on why and how the objects we buy, own, use, see and interact with ― from tanks to iPhones ― come into existence. We all live in a world of objects, yet we rarely stop to think about how and why they came to exist, why they look and feel the way they do, or what shapes our preferences and why we own and use the ones we do. In Things We Create, renowned concept designer, cartoonist and sculptor Axel Brechensbauer pulls back the curtain and provides a visual guide to civilisation’s endless quest for the perfect human-made object. Told in eight chapters covering topics such as “The Need of Objects,” “Recreating Nature, “Objects as Communication,” and “Objects as Power,” Brechensbauer takes the reader on a rollicking tour through the history and creation of objects that comprise our world. He digs into the basics of design, discusses why certain some objects please us while others repel us, considers how the design of one object influences another, reveals how human curiosity keeps in step with technology. He answers questions such as, what makes objects so pleasing to use? Why do we create objects that are so contrary to those that appear in nature? What’s the difference between an object that fills an emotional need and one that fulfils a practical one? What determines if a piece of furniture is a copy, an artefact or art? What is the relationship between shape and emotion? Told with visual verve, wit, humor, and, above all, clarity, Things We Create is both a history of and a metaphysical study of physical objects ― all the stuff we buy, we use, we collect, we need. As befits a book about the beauty and utility of objects, Things We Create is itself both a beautifully designed and executed object and an immensely fun and readable series of comics and diagrams. Axel Brechensbauer is a sculptor, cartoonist and a concept design director at grow. He helps companies such as Volvo, Unilever, Sony and H&M to visualise visions of the future, often with an emphasis on renewable resources. As a sculptor, he has designed mass-market products, immersive environments and sculptural exhibitions around the world. He lives in Malmö, Sweden. 188pgs colour flexibound.
TOPS: The Complete Collection of Charles Biro’s Visionary 1949 Comic Book Series
written by Charles Biro, edited by Michael T. Gilbert
Fantagraphics Books
$49.99
The publisher says:
Before EC, before His Name is…Savage!, before underground comix, this volume collects a pioneering attempt ― from the creators of the first true crime comic ― to publish stories aimed at adults in the comic book format. From their inception in 1935, comic books ― starring Superman, Batman, Captain Marvel ― had been primarily written for and aimed at adolescents. There were always the occasional outlier artists who pushed back against the commercial constraints of comic books and envisioned the next evolutionary artistic leap in the artform: Charles Biro was one of those artists. In 1949, the ambitious Biro ― who had previously co-created the realistically brutal comic Crime Does Not Pay ― edited and wrote an oversized comic aimed at adults, called Tops. Like several other radical adult comics projects that would follow, it proved to be a commercial failure and lasted only two Life magazine-sized issues. The original comics have since become a legendary holy grail among comics fans and historians, fetching as much as $6,000 on the collector’s market: written about but rarely seen and never reprinted. Until now. Fantagraphics’ Tops collects both issues of these oversized experimental comics in their entirety. Some of the best craftsmen working in comics at that time drew these pulpy, sexy and melodramatic stories: Dan Barry, George Tuska, and others. It includes two stunning pre-EC crime tales illustrated by Reed Crandall, reminiscent of his Crime SuspenStories work. Actor Melvyn Douglas (believe it or not) takes the reader on a tour of utopia, entitled “How Would You Live Under A World Government?” ― a positive spin on global Socialism! A treasure trove of fascinating and revelatory comics history for scholars and fans, this compilation includes an introduction by the editor, historian and cartoonist Michael T. Gilbert, as well as several other essays providing background on the creation of the series and the publisher, editors, and cartoonists who realised it. It includes a chronicle in essay form of experimental, adult comics endeavours throughout the first half of the 20th century. Tops is a landmark work of historical importance and a mind-boggling reading experience from a bygone era meticulously restored and reproduced in a deluxe hardcover in its originally published dimensions. Charles Biro (1911-1972) was one of the early creative pioneers of the comic book industry. He was instrumental in ushering in the crime genre in 1942 with Crime Does Not Pay, an unusually gritty series that became a target of the anti-comics hysteria of the ‘40s and ‘50s. His longest professional affiliation was with the forward-thinking Lev Gleason Publications, for whom he edited Daredevil (not THAT Daredevil), Crime Does Not Pay and, in 1949, an experiment to produce comics for an adult readership, Tops. Michael T. Gilbert has been a professional cartoonist since 1973, writing and drawing characters as diverse as Superman and Spongebob Squarepants. Gilbert’s signature character remains his creature fighting hero, Mr. Monster, which he created in 1983. Additionally, Michael has written a comic history column for Roy Thomas’s Alter Ego magazine since 1998, and has edited Dark Horse’s 2014 The Secret Files of Dr. Drew reprint volume. He lives in Akron, Ohio. 216pgs colour hardcover.
Two Heads: A Graphic Exploration of How Our Brains Work with Other Brains
by Uta Frith, Chris Frith, Alex Frith & Daniel Locke
Bloomsbury / Scribner
£18.99 / $30.00
The publisher says:
A brilliantly illustrated journey through the wonders and mysteries of the human brain - from a renowned husband-and-wife team of cognitive neuroscientists. Professors and husband-and-wife team Uta and Chris Frith have pioneered major studies of brain disorders throughout their nearly fifty-year career. In Two Heads, their distinguished careers serve as a prism through which they share the compelling story of the birth of neuroscience and their paradigm-shifting discoveries across areas as wide-ranging as autism and schizophrenia research, and new frontiers of social cognition including diversity, prejudice, confidence, collaboration and empathy. Working with their son Alex Frith and artist Daniel Locke, they examine the way that neuroscientific research is now focused on the fact we are a social species, whose brains have evolved to work cooperatively. What happens when people gather in groups? How do people behave when they’re in pairs - either pitted against each other or working together? Is it better to surround yourself with people who are similar to yourself, or different? And, are two heads really better than one? Highly original and ingeniously illustrated, Two Heads provides an expansive understanding of how our brains work, and how they work together. 352pgs colour paperback.
Witches: Complete Collection
by Daisuke Igarashi
Seven Seas
$19.99
The publisher says:
An omnibus of award-winning intergenerational tales of witchcraft from the critically acclaimed creator of Children of the Sea. On a visit to the capital of a small country in the far west of Asia, a British girl named Nicola falls in love. The object of her affections is Mimar, a young man who works at a bazaar — yet despite her attempts, he doesn’t notice her. Back at home in England, the ache of her unrequited love festers. After years spent obtaining wealth, fame and “the secret of the world,” she returns to the bazaar to exact her deadly revenge upon Mimar and those he holds dearest. This story is just one of many in this dramatic collection, which features tales of witchcraft across the globe and even in the far reaches of outer space. Originally published as two volumes in Japan and winner of an Excellence Prize at the 2004 Japan Media Arts Festival, now you can own the entire series in English for the first time in this beautiful omnibus release. Daisuke Igarashi is an award-winning manga creator best known for Little Forest, Witches and Children of the Sea. 408pgs B&W paperback.
Yellow Cab
by Benoît Cohen & Christophe Chabouté
IDW
$19.99
The publisher says:
A burnt out fi
