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Top 31 Graphic Novels, Comics & Manga:
May 2022
Some rich pickings to choose from this month and from far and wide. To kick off, two distinctive insights into growing up gay in Japan and Chile…
The cup of graphic biographies doth truly runneth over, but at its best this genre can be revelatory, as in this splendidly illuminated account of the young Beethoven’s formative years…
...and inspirational, as in this record from over a century ago of women factory workers uniting for their rights…
Multi-levelled graphic fiction this month offers these three authors at the top of their game…
And these two socially committed reportage docu-comics arrive in English from Colombia…
These and more prospects below are vying for your attention and reading pleasure, arriving all being well from May 2022 onwards. Thanks for joining me month-by-month for this PG Tips service!
2120
by George Wylesol
Avery Hill Publishing
£16.99 / $26.95
The publisher says:
You’re Wade, a schlubby middle-aged computer repairman, sent to fix a computer in a vacant, nondescript office building. When you get inside, the door locks behind you, and you can’t get out. Now the adventure begins! You have to explore this building and try to find your way home. The building is huge on the inside with a lot of sprawling hallways and empty rooms but your only hope is to uncover clues and try to work out the mystery this whole experience hangs on. Presented as a blend of classic choose-your-own-adventure stories and point-and click-escape games, 2120 offers readers the chance to explore these liminal spaces and, at the same time, take an existential journey of discovery. George Wylesol is an illustrator/designer/writer from Philadelphia, living and working in Baltimore. He has an MFA in Illustration Practice from Maryland Institute College of Art. 300pgs colour paperback.
Amazona
by Canizales, translated by Sofía Huitrón Martínez
Graphic Universe / Lerner
$12.99
The publisher says:
Andrea, a young Indigenous Colombian woman, has returned to the land she calls home. Only nineteen years old, she comes to mourn her lost child, carrying a box in her arms. And she comes with another mission. Andrea has hidden a camera upon herself. If she can capture evidence of the illegal mining that displaced her family, it will mark the first step toward reclaiming their land. This socially conscious thriller from graphic novelist Canizales examines the injustices of his home country in a stark, distinctive style. Canizales is a Colombian author and illustrator whose books have been translated into numerous languages. His work has earned several awards including the Cuatrogatos Foundation prize for his picture book Guapa. He lives in Mallorca, Spain. 96pgs colour paperback.
A Visit to Moscow
by Rabbi Rafael Grossman, adapted by Anna Olswanger & Yevgenia Nayberg
West Margin Press
$19.99
The publisher says:
Powerful and moving, A Visit to Moscow is inspired by the true experience of an American rabbi who travels to the Soviet Union in the 1960s, a dangerous time of uncertainty and fear for Jews in the nation. In 1965, an American rabbi travels to the Soviet Union to investigate reports of persecution of the Jewish community. Moscow welcomes him as a guest—but provides a strict schedule he and the rest of his group must follow. One afternoon, the rabbi slips away. With an address in hand and almost no knowledge of the Russian language, he embarks on a secret journey that will change his life forever. Inspired by the true experience of Rabbi Rafael Grossman, A Visit to Moscow captures the formidable perseverance and strength of the Jewish people during the “Let My People Go” movement, a modern exodus that is often overlooked. Anna Olswanger first began interviewing Rabbi Rafael Grossman and writing down his stories in the early 1980s. She is the author of the middle grade novel Greenhorn, based on an incident in Rabbi Grossman’s childhood and set against the backdrop of the Holocaust. She is also the author of Shlemiel Crooks, a Sydney Taylor Honor Book and PJ Library Book, which she wrote after discovering a 1919 Yiddish newspaper article about the attempted robbery of her great-grandparents’ kosher liquor store in St. Louis. She is a literary agent and represents a number of award-winning authors and illustrators. Anna lives in New Jersey with her husband. The late Rabbi Rafael Grossman was a respected leader at some of the nation’s most distinguished Jewish organisations, including Baron Hirsch Synagogue, the Beth Din of America, the Rabbinical Council of America, and more. He received several honours and awards for his leadership and work in the Jewish community, and was also a recognised orator and writer whose work was published in The Jewish Press. In 1965, Rabbi Grossman traveled to the Soviet Union as part of a rabbinical delegation to visit Jewish victims of government-sponsored anti-Semitism. Profoundly moved by the experience, he often wrote and spoke about his time there after returning to the United States. His story inspired the graphic novel A Visit to Moscow. Yevgenia Nayberg is an award-winning illustrator, painter and set and costume designer. As a designer, she has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the National Endowment for the Arts/TCG Fellowship for Theatre Designers, the Independent Theatre Award, and the Arlin Meyer Award. She has received multiple awards for her picture book illustrations, including three Sydney Taylor Medals. Her debut author/illustrator picture book, Anya’s Secret Society, received a Junior Library Guild Gold Selection Award. Her artwork can be found in magazines and on posters and music albums. Originally from Kiev, Ukraine, Yevgenia now lives and draws from her studio in New York City. 72pgs colour hardcover.
Bauhaus: A Graphic Novel
by Valentina Grande & Sergio Varbella
Prestel
$24.95
The publisher says:
The main character of this extraordinary graphic novel is not a person but an idea—the school of Bauhaus, which arose in the wake of World War I, and emerged as the fundamental reference point for virtually every avant-garde artistic movement that followed. Visually arresting illustrations and engaging texts place the novel’s protagonist squarely in the middle of the twentieth-century debate on the relationship between technology and culture. The novel is divided into three chapters that trace the evolution of the Bauhaus, as its centre moved across Germany—from Weimar to Dessau to Berlin—and as its philosophy responded to this economically, politically and intellectually highly charged era in Europe. Sergio Varbella’s inventive drawings bring to life the theories of founder Walter Gropius, as well as the basic design ideals of unity and equity. Valentina Grande’s thoughtful texts highlight crucial moments within the movement’s history and in the lives of principal figures such as Klee, Kandinsky, Albers, and Mies van der Rohe. The perfect introduction to a radical but highly influential chapter in the history of design, this novel shows how the Bauhaus school broke down barriers and built up ideals that are still applied today. Valentina Grande has written the texts of graphic novels about the lives of J. D. Salinger and Raymond Carver. Sergio Varbella is a graphic designer and illustrator. He contributed the illustrations to the graphic novel Little Women, a reimagining of Alcott’s novel. 128pgs colour hardcover.
Blacksad: They All Fall Down: Part 1
by Juan Díaz Canales & Juanjo Guarnido, translated by Diana Schutz
Dark Horse
$19.99
The publisher says:
The long-awaited return of hardboiled feline P.I. Blacksad in the latest tour de force from the multiple-award-winning duo of writer Juan Díaz Canales and artist Juanjo Guarnido. After a seven-year hiatus, this worldwide noir bestseller returns to American shores with a brand-new two-part storyline. Detective John Blacksad deals with the mob, the unions and mid-century “master builder” Lewis Solomon, who plans to pave over New York City’s green spaces, come hell or high water. While Blacksad must navigate from the lofty world of 1950s theatre all the way to the city’s seedy depths, Solomon looms above it all in pursuit of his own dreams—but at what cost? Meanwhile, Weekly finds himself in the hot seat just as an old flame comes back to burn his pal Blacksad. Born in Madrid in 1972, Juan Díaz Canales began his career at 18 for the Spanish animation studio Lápiz Azul, where he and Juanjo Guarnido first met. After Guarnido moved to Paris, the two traded ideas about the project that became Blacksad, a series of graphic albums written by Díaz Canales as a 1950s noir. The writer now juggles scripting for comics and animation as well as directing for television. While Blacksad was Canales’s first published comics work, he has collaborated with several artists, most recently with Antonio Lapone on the Eisner-nominated Gentlemind, co-written with Díaz Canales’s wife Teresa Valero. Juanjo Guarnido was born in Granada, Spain, in 1967. After meeting Juan Díaz Canales at the Lápiz Azul animation studio, Guarnido moved to Paris in 1993 to join the Walt Disney Studios satellite in Montreuil, where he worked as an animator. While there, Guarnido began drawing his first graphic album, working long-distance with Díaz Canales toward the 2000 publication of Blacksad: Somewhere within the Shadows. The overwhelming success of the title has allowed Guarnido to take on other projects, like Sorcelleries with writer Teresa Valero and the recent best-selling Les Indes Fourbes with writer Alain Ayroles. 64pgs colour hardcover.
Bootblack
by Mikaël
NBM
$24.99
The publisher says:
By the author of the critically acclaimed Giant: on the German front, in the spring of 1945: the war leaves only death and destruction in its wake. To escape the horror of the present, Al, an American soldier, the only survivor of his unit, immerses himself in the memories of his New York life. Son of German immigrants, born in the United States, he was not yet ten years old when, in one night, under the approving eyes of anti-immigrant Americans, he lost his parents and his home in a terrible fire. Turning his back on his origins, Al has no choice but to live on the streets; he becomes a Bootblack, a shoe shiner. With his friend Shiny, they somehow manage to survive by sticking together. Six years later, in 1935, they meet Buster and the ambitious Diddle Joe. And then there’s Maggie, the girl Al is in love with and whose esteem he ardently longs for. And this, even as she makes it clear to him that they do not live in the same world. New York offers no future for the poor, Al understood that. He is therefore determined to earn more money, whatever the means. But he does not imagine, at that point, that the war which threatens will soon give him an appointment with his past… An autodidact, the French-Canadian Mikael has illustrated award-winning children’s books and realised graphic novels since 2001. Amongst his awards are 2 Grand Prizes of the City of Quebec (2015, 2016) and a special mention of the jury for youth at Ouessant, France. Since 2006 he has turned to adult comics, some in collaboration with other writers and artists. 128pgs colour hardcover.
But I Live: Three Stories of Child Survivors of the Holocaust
Edited by Charlotte Schallié, illustrated by Barbara Yelin, Gilad Seliktar & Miriam Libicki
New Jewish Press
$29.95
The publisher says:
An intimate co-creation of three graphic novelists and four Holocaust survivors, But I Live consists of three illustrated stories based on the experiences of each survivor during and after the Holocaust. David Schaffer and his family survived in Romania due to their refusal to obey Nazi collaborators. In the Netherlands, brothers Nico and Rolf Kamp were separated from their parents and hidden by the Dutch resistance in thirteen different places. Through the story of Emmie Arbel, a child survivor of the Ravensbrück and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps, we see the lifelong trauma inflicted by the Holocaust. To complement these hauntingly beautiful and unforgettable visual stories, But I Live includes historical essays, an illustrated postscript from the artists, and personal words from each of the survivors. As we urgently approach the post-witness era without living survivors of the Holocaust, these illustrated stories act as a physical embodiment of memory and help to create a new archive for future readers. By turning these testimonies into graphic novels, But I Live aims to teach new generations about racism, antisemitism, human rights and social justice. Charlotte Schallié is a professor and chair in the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies at the University of Victoria. Barbara Yelin studied illustration at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences. In 2014, Yelin published the award-winning graphic novel Irmina. Gilad Seliktar is an acclaimed graphic novelist and children’s book illustrator. Miriam Libicki holds an MFA in Creative Writing and is an award-winning graphic novelist. 200pgs colour hardcover.
Dog Biscuits
by Alex Graham
Fantagraphics
$34.99
The publisher says:
Social justice, “woke” culture, social media, gender dynamics and insouciance intersect in this pandemic-inspired graphic novel about the repercussions of making mistakes. It’s July 2020 in Seattle. Gussy struggles to keep his dog biscuit boutique afloat while a global pandemic rages unchecked. The loneliness of lockdown and social distancing drives his employee Rosie to betray her principles. Rosie’s roommate Hissy is at a personal crossroads. A love triangle emerges as they find themselves tangled in a web of police brutality, protests, drugs, dating apps and Covid chaos. Taking place over the course of just a few days, this is a snapshot of humanity ― okay, animals ― in crisis. Alex Graham’s pandemic-inspired graphic novel was initially serialised six panels at a time on Instagram during the lockdowns of 2020 and became one of the most talked about comics of the year; this hardcover edition will remain a timeless work long after the pandemic ends. Winner of the 2021 Cartoonist Studio Prize, Best Webcomic. Alex Graham is a painter and cartoonist from Denver, Colorado, currently residing in Seattle. 416pgs one-colour hardcover.
Gay Giant
by Gabriel Ebensperger
Street Noise Books
$19.99
The publisher says:
A child who feels like an outsider in a world that’s set against him. A boy who sings on the playground instead of playing soccer, who likes Barbies, and whose secretly favourite car is the one called Tutti Frutti. Gabriel Ebensperger shares with us his struggles with his own inadequacy, his feelings of guilt, and above all, his fear that his “difference” will be discovered. The vibrant bright pink pages of Gay Giant paint a picture of what it was like to grow up being gay in the ‘90s, through the voice of an endearing character, who on the way to becoming an adult realises that the rejection of the world is never over, and that true acceptance comes from within yourself. Gabriel Ebensperger is an artist and a writer who lives by the sea in Chile. He works as an illustrator, a graphic designer and an art director. His work has been featured in several Chilean and international publications. Gay Giant is his debut graphic novel. 272pgs bright pink paperback.
Georgia O’Keeffe
by María Herreros
SelfMadeHero
$19.99
The publisher says:
A graphic biography of Georgia O’Keeffe, one of the most significant artists of the 20th century, known for her paintings of enlarged flowers and renowned for her contribution to modern art. Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986), the American artist known for her paintings of enlarged flowers, New York skyscrapers and New Mexico landscapes, was one of the most significant artists of the 20th century. During her lifetime, which spanned almost a century, she became widely recognised for her enormous contribution to modern art. Drawing mainly from O’Keeffe’s letters, which are depicted in this biography, artist María Herreros delves into O’Keeffe’s deepest self: a tireless traveler, a nature lover, a strong and emancipated woman who carved her own determined path through life and did it her way. María Herreros has a degree in fine arts from the University of Valencia. She is an illustrator, muralist and comic book creator. Involved in artistic and social projects all over the world, she focuses on gender equality and social justice. Herreros has collaborated with brands such as Coca-Cola and Reebok, and has exhibited her works in galleries in Barcelona, Madrid, Berlin, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, New York and Seoul. Her most recent collaboration on an illustrated book was Viva la Dolce Vita, with Máximo Huerta (Lunwerg, 2019). She lives in Madrid. 128pg colour paperback.
Golden Boy: Beethoven’s Youth
by Mikael Ross, translated by Nika Knight
Fantagraphics
$29.99
The publisher says:
Ludwig van Beethoven created music that moves and inspires us to this day; his very name sparks a melody in the ear. But are you born a genius? This graphic biography asks: “Who was Beethoven before he became ‘Beethoven?’ Master cartoonist Mikael Ross (The Thud) tells the story of Beethoven from 1778 to his first major public appearance in Vienna in 1795. It begins when the family is living a difficult life in Bonn. Father Johann battles with alcoholism and is deep in debt. Only young Ludwig and his talent at the piano offer any hope for the future ― if only he would stop composing his own pieces and just play what’s expected of him. Author Ross was asked to do a small comic for the Beethoven Society. Through this opportunity, he discovered the diaries of the baker’s son that lived downstairs from Beethoven’s family, the content of which inspired Golden Boy. As in his previous book, The Thud, Ross skilfully mixes humour with empathy and pure social drama, crafting a coming-of-age story that transcends its biographical subject matter. His colourful, expressive style and mastery of the language of comics are perfectly suited to the tall task of capturing Beethoven’s timeless music visually. A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. Mikael Ross is a Berlin-based cartoonist and tailor. Ross was the recipient of the very first graphic novel scholarship from Berlin’s Senate Department for Culture and Europe. 194pgs colour hardcover.
Hendrix: Electric Requiem
by Gianluca Maconi & Mattia Colombara
Ablaze
$24.99
The publisher says:
A compelling trip in the mind and the life of the legendary guitarist. An exhilarating ride from the difficult beginnings in the South, plagued by racism, through global stardom and the excessive lifestyle of a rockstar. A rockstar who, even with all his experiences, never forgot where he came from. Penciled by bestselling artist Gianluca Maconi, this gripping tale of music, personal demons and thirst for glory is a must-have for any Jimi Hendrix fan. 144pgs colour hardcover.
Hummingbird Heart
by Travis Dandro
Drawn & Quarterly
$29.95
The publisher says:
Still reeling from the death by suicide of his drug-addicted father, Travis moves in with his grandmother to become her caretaker as she battles cancer. Meanwhile, he tries to live a typical teen life of pulling pranks, occasional shoplifting, dating, and endless drives through the twisting backroads of Central Massachusetts with Nirvana’s Nevermind as the soundtrack. When the police intervene after a prank backfires, the boys realise that their time as children is rapidly disappearing and they may never fully understand each other as they move apart. After his Lynd Ward Prize-winning graphic novel, King of King Court, explored the power that parents hold over their children’s emotional lives, Travis Dandro employs his signature dream imagery and crass humour to tell the story of teenage independence and resilience as he prepares to head off to art school. Hummingbird Heart is a detailed and stylish account of a time of great uncertainty. Dandro’s densely crafted pages create a deeply emotional experience as his story swings from character confrontation to finely wrought domestic detail―a slapstick cafeteria-destroying brawl gives way to the beautifully rendered flight of the impossible hummingbird. Travis Dandro was born in 1974, in Leicester, Massachusetts. He started publishing his first comic strip, Twerp, in the local newspaper when he was thirteen years old, earning $15 a week. After graduating from Montserrat College of Art in 1996, Dandro continued drawing comics, his work appearing in dozens of college newspapers across the United States and Canada. He also self-published Journal, which was a notable comic in the 2010 and 2012 editions of The Best American Comics. His first book was King of King Court. Dandro lives in Maine with his wife and three sons. 368pgs B&W hardcover.
Hyperthick
by Steve Aylett
Floating World Comics
$15.95
The publisher says:
With Aylett’s surreal satire at full blast, Hyerthick collects the 3-issue comic series that Alan Moore described as “a new dimension of poetic genius.” Follow Benny the Hen, Su Pesto, Biloxi Blake and Fox Grave as they lurch from one fulfilling fiasco to another. Wall-to-wall trickster figures face off in a lateral drench of comedic honesty. What is the Memphis Conjecture? Are owls to blame? Where do characters go when they run out of bends to go around? Lucid dream or psychedelic stoicism? Ignite your chemistry and discover the heart of the spiral narrative. In Clownsurround! Plus bonus material. Steve Aylett is the author of The Caterer comic and many SF satire books including LINT, Slaughtermatic, Novahead and Heart of the Original. He is from Bromley, South London. 104pgs colour paperback.
I’m a Terminal Cancer Patient but I’m Fine
by Hilnama
Seven Seas Entertainment
$14.99
The publisher says:
After being diagnosed with terminal colon cancer, the creator documents her physical and emotional journey through treatment in this powerful memoir manga. At 38 years old, Hilnama, a manga artist, is diagnosed with colon cancer. Never one to lose hope or give in to despair, she begins cancer treatments despite the deadly diagnosis. But when going through such a gruelling process, it can be difficult to keep a positive outlook… When faced with the struggles and trials of life, Hilnama turns to what she knows: writing and creating manga again, drawing herself as a rabbit in a world of humans and hospitals. This poignant and down-to-earth account of diagnosis, treatment and living with terminal disease will be a reference for positivity and perseverance for years to come. Hilnama began her career as an erotic manga artist and began working on I’m a Terminal Cancer Patient, but I’m Fine after her colon cancer diagnosis. 160pgs B&W paperback.
Iphigenia in Aulis
by Euripides, adapted by Edward Einhorn & Eric Shanower
Image Comics
$16.99
The publisher says:
High King Agamemnon faces the most crushing dilemma of his life. Kill his beloved eldest daughter? Or forfeit victory in the Trojan War? A father’s secret plot clashes with a girl’s romantic dreams in this chilling classic play from Ancient Greece. The most powerful dramatic script by Euripedes springs to life anew in a fresh adaptation by writer Edward Einhorn (Paradox in Oz, Fractions in Disguise, The Marriage of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein) with Age of Bronze art by Eisner Award-winning Eric Shanower (Age of Bronze, Oz Graphic Novels, Little Nemo: Return to Slumberland). 136pgs B&W paperback.
Jacob’s Apartment
by Joshua Kemble
Graphic Mundi / PSU Press
$21.95
The publisher says:
Some questions can shake even the strongest faith. At first glance, college roommates Jacob and Sarah seem like polar opposites. Jacob is a Christian; Sarah is an atheist. Sarah is a drinker, and Jacob, a teetotaler. But they have been friends for years, finding commonality in their shared dream to create art. Jacob’s world is turned upside down when his father dies, causing him to question his faith. Meanwhile, Sarah wrestles with her own demons, searching for solace in one-night stands after her boyfriend (and professor) leaves her for a job in New York. A coming-of-age graphic novel in the vein of Ghost World and Fun Home, Jacob’s Apartment weaves together the threads of spiritual faith, identity, purpose, love and loss to create an engrossing world in which waking and sleeping dreams collide. Joshua Kemble is a full-time art director, freelance illustrator and Xeric Award-winning cartoonist. He writes and illustrates his own comic books, while creating freelance illustrations for t-shirts, magazines and other media. His illustration clients have ranged from Scholastic to Random House, and his comic work has been published in various anthologies and self-published mini-comics. An unabashed comic book geek, Joshua was born in 1980 in Tarzana, California, and grew up in the Antelope Valley. He received his BFA and MFA in Illustration from California State University of Long Beach and resides in Lancaster, CA, with his wife and fellow artist, Mai S. Kemble, and son Benjamin. He occasionally teaches college art courses in design and illustration, was co-host of illustration podcast Big Illustration Party Time, and now co-hosts both The Artcasters and 48-Hour Art Check. He is a member of the Los Angeles Chapter of the National Cartoonist’s Society. 136pgs colour paperback.
Lost Lad London Vol. 1 (of 3)
by Shinya Shima
Yen Press
$15.00
The publisher says:
“Life changes with just one event.” A murder on the London Underground and a mysterious bloody knife draw a regular university student and a grizzled New Scotland Yard detective into a web of crime and suspense… The mayor of London has been killed by someone on the subway. Al, an ordinary college student who happened to get on the same train, and Ellis, a detective with a reason, are involved in the investigation of the murder case. The incident draws them together, and a strange fate begins to turn around. Shima Shinya co-wrote the first volume of the Star Wars: The High Republic: The Edge of Balance manga series with Justina Ireland. 210pgs B&W paperback.
Mr. Boop
by Silver Sprocket
$39.99
The publisher says:
The beloved webcomic collected in its entirety for the first time in a beautiful deluxe edition. Author Alec Robbins is deeply in love with his wife, 1930s cartoon superstar Betty Boop. And wouldn’t you know it, she loves him back! It’s the perfect marriage, and nothing will ever go wrong. They’ll be happy together forever and nothing will ever come between them―not other famous cartoon characters, not intellectual property law, and certainly not Alec’s own towering insecurities. Basically, they’re just both really happy together and everything’s good and nice and that’s the end of it. No more questions. Don’t even bother reading this comic. Absurdist humour, a middle finger to corporate IP, and a sweetly romantic heart blend together into one of the most inventive comics of the Twitter age. Alec Robbins is a writer, artist, game developer, filmmaker, and husband to cartoon sex symbol Betty Boop. His other work includes the video game Heartbreak High: A Break-Up Simulator and his new sci-fi heist comic CRIMEHOT. He’s been lucky enough to work on cult TV comedies like Adult Swim’s The Eric Andre Show, Netflix’s I Think You Should Leave, IFC’s Comedy Bang! Bang! and TBS’ The Dress Up Gang. He is most well-known for his webcomic Mr. Boop, about how he is married to his hot wife, Betty Boop. He really is married to Betty Boop. That’s real. 384pgs B&W hardcover.
Museum of Mistakes
by Uncivilized Books
$29.95
The publisher says:
For almost two decades, Julia Wertz has been documenting her life’s most intimate, absurd and amusing moments through a whimsical and hilarious diary comic book called The Fart Party. Wertz retells childhood antics that end in scars and swears. She tracks, in real-time, her young adulthood as she forgot her college graduation, traveled cross country via train, and drank her way through a harsh break-up. After receiving much acclaim (and controversy), The Fart Party became a series of self-published mini-comics, eventually collected into two volumes, published by Atomic Books. Long out of print, Museum of Mistakes collects anything and everything that is The Fart Party. PLUS: numerous pages of Julia’s early comic work, unpublished and previously uncollected comics, short stories, illustrations, process pages, hate mail, sketchbook pages, tear stains and more. This massive tome begs the question, “what is a Fart Party?” And the answer is… you’ll have to read to find out! Julia Wertz is the cartoonist behind the autobiographic comic books The Fart Party vol 1 and vol 2 (Atomic Books, 2007/2009) Drinking at the Movies (Random House, 2010), The Infinite Wait and Other Stories (Koyama Press, 2012), and Tenements, Towers & Trash (Hachette, Oct 2017) Her work appears regularly in The New Yorker and the New York Times. She currently lives in Petaluma, California. 528pgs colour paperback.
One Eight Hundred Ghosts
by G. Davis Cathcart
Fantagraphics
$14.99
The publisher says:
A team of socialite scenesters moonlight as astral-projecting, art-thieving, time-travellers based in 1980 and concoct a heist to steal… Michael Jackson’s Thriller? Using otherworldly technology to enter the future and repurpose the intellectual property of a popular yet evil artist in order to change its cultural trajectory, Cedric and his team realise that society will face a conundrum that only they can rectify: accept the work of a sonic genius despite any abusive behaviour, or release the work themselves, stripping the artist of the pivotal success that would later enable horrible crimes. Ultimately, the team decides to save the decade’s defining cultural touchstone before it ever happens: Michael Jackson’s Thriller. One Eight Hundred Ghosts is the brilliant debut graphic novella from cartoonist G. Davis Cathcart, printed in an oversized, full colour format best suited to showcase Davis’s detailed cartooning and eye-popping page designs. 32pgs colour paperback.
Our Colors
by Gengoroh Tagame, translated by Anne Ishii
Pantheon
$32.50
The publisher says:
A mesmerising coming-of-age and coming-out graphic novel by the genius writer-artist of the Eisner Award–winning breakout hit My Brother’s Husband. Set in contemporary suburban Japan, Our Colors is the story of Sora Itoda, a sixteen-year-old aspiring painter who experiences his world in synaesthetic hues of blues and reds and is governed by the emotional turbulence of being a teenager. He wants to live honestly as a young gay man in high school, but that is still not acceptable in Japanese society. His best friend and childhood confidante is Nao, a young woman whom everyone thinks is (or should be) his girlfriend, and it would be the easiest thing to play along—she knows he’s gay but knows, too, how difficult it is to live one’s truth in his situation. Sora’s world changes forever when he meets Mr. Amamiya, a middle-aged gentleman who is the owner and proprietor of a local coffee shop and is completely, unapologetically out as a gay man. A mentorship and platonic friendship ensues as Sora comes out to him and agrees to paint a mural in the shop, and Mr. Amamiya counsels Sora about how to deal with who he is. But it won’t be easy. Mr. Amamiya paid a high price for his freedom of identity, and when a figure from his past suddenly appears, the situation becomes a vivid example of just how complicated life can be. Gengoroh Tagame was born in 1964. In 1994, he co-founded the epochal G-Men magazine, and by 1996 he was working full-time as an openly gay artist. He is the author of dozens of graphic novels and stories that have been translated into English, French, Italian and Korean. His artwork has been exhibited in galleries across Europe and America. My Brother’s Husband earned him the Japan Media Arts Award for Outstanding Work of Manga from Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs. In 2018, the book received the Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition on International Material–Asia. Tagame lives in Tokyo. 528pgs B&W hardcover.
Queer Transfigurations: Boyd Love Media in Asia
edited by James Welker
University of Hawaii Press
$68.00
The publisher says:
The boys love (BL) genre was created for girls and women by young female manga (comic) artists in early 1970s Japan to challenge oppressive gender and sexual norms. Over the years, BL has seen almost irrepressible growth in popularity and since the 2000s has become a global media phenomenon, weaving its way into anime, prose fiction, live-action dramas, video games, audio dramas and fan works. BL’s male–male romantic and sexual relationships have found a particularly receptive home in other parts of Asia, where strong local fan communities and locally produced BL works have garnered a following throughout the region, taking on new meanings and engendering widespread cultural effects. Queer Transfigurations is the first detailed examination of the BL media explosion across Asia. The book brings together twenty-one scholars exploring BL media, its fans, and its sociocultural impacts in a dozen countries in East, Southeast and South Asia―and beyond. Contributors draw on their expertise in an array of disciplines and fields, including anthropology, fan studies, gender and sexuality studies, history, literature, media studies, political science and sociology to shed light on BL media and its fandoms. Queer Transfigurations reveals the far-reaching influences of the BL genre, demonstrating that it is truly transnational and transcultural in diverse cultural contexts. It has also helped bring about positive changes in the status of LGBT(Q) people and communities as well as enlighten local understandings of gender and sexuality throughout Asia. In short, Queer Transfigurations shows that, some fifty years after the first BL manga appeared in print, the genre is continuing to reverberate and transform lives. James Welker is a professor in the Department of Cross-Cultural Studies, Kanagawa University, Yokohama, Japan. 312pgs B&W hardcover.
Radium Girls
by Cy
Iron Circus Comics
$15.00
The publisher says:
It’s 1918 in Orange, New Jersey, and everyone knows the “Ghost Girls.” The proud holders of well-paying jobs at the local watch factory, these working-class young women gain their nickname from the fine dusting of glowing, radioactive powder that clings to their clothes after every shift painting watch dials. The soft, greenish glow even stains their lips and tongues. It’s perfectly harmless… or so claims the watch manufacturer. When teeth start falling out, followed by jawbones, the dial painters become the unprepared vanguard on the frontlines of the burgeoning workers’ rights movement. Desperate for compensation and acknowledgement from the company that has doomed them, the Ghost Girls must fight, not just for their own lives but the future of every woman to follow them. See a 24-page extract (in French) here… 136pgs colour paperback.
Shelterbelts
by Jonathan Dyck
Conundrum Press
$20.00
The publisher says:
Fractures form in a tight-knit Mennonite community, echoing the struggles experienced in small towns across North America. When a non-denominational megachurch opens on the edges of a rural Mennonite community, a quiet―but longstanding―battle begins to reveal itself. For years, the traditionalists in the community have held fast to the values and beliefs they grew up with, while other community members have begun raising important questions about LGBTQ+ inclusion, Indigenous land rights and the Mennonite legacy of pacifism. Through a series of vignettes, Shelterbelts explores the perspectives, experiences and limitations of a wide range of characters who find themselves increasingly at odds with their surroundings. A pastor and his queer daughter learn that a family has left their church because of the “LGBT issue.” Young activists butt heads with a farmer over the construction of a pipeline happening on his fields. A librarian leaves suggestive notes for readers inside popular library books. By pulling these threads together, artist Jonathan Dyck has woven a rich tapestry―one that depicts a close-knit community in the midst of defining its future as it reckons with its past. Jonathan Dyck is an illustrator and cartoonist from Winnipeg, Manitoba,Treaty 1 territory and the homeland of the Métis Nation. 224pgs B&W paperback.
The Blouse
by Bastien Vivès
Ablaze
$24.99
The publisher says:
A student of Classical Literature at the Sorbonne, Séverine is neither beautiful, ugly, brilliant nor mediocre. The young woman lives a banal existence, without brilliance but without drama, alongside a companion who pays her less attention than a television series or video game. After babysitting, she is given a silk blouse that will mysteriously change her life. From that day forward, men give her a different look, loaded with desire. Does the garment have a magic power? Séverine doesn’t know, but she finds that it gives her confidence. And it allows her to take destiny into her own hands… With the grace and the sensuality which he has in particular already demonstrated in A Sister, Bastien Vivès draws a new female portrait completely adult and contemporary in The Blouse. 208pgs colour hardcover.
The Clitoris
by Rikke Villadsen, translated by Misha Hoekstra
Fantagraphics Underground
$29.99
The publisher says:
Set in a surreal dreamscape, The Clitoris is a new graphic novel by Rikke Villadsen that explores sexual identity and gender constructions. A woman has an encounter with a tattooist that leads to pregnancy, and this unexpected event leads her on a journey of self-discovery. Deep in the flickering world of her subconscious, she discovers many potent symbols, poetic wonders, spiritual guides and strange visions — an opium smoking guru, a Marilyn Monroe performance in Korea in 1954, an homage to Tintin in the Soviet Union, to name a few. Along the way, the protagonist comes to terms with her situation and herself and ultimately accepts what she came from. She hurries back home and reunites with the child. Rendered in her raw, immediate graphite style, and delving into her innermost fears desires, and self-doubts, The Clitoris is perhaps Danish cartoonist Rikke Villadsen’s most intimate work to date. A fiercely feminist, playful, ironic and introspective graphic novel that proves Villadsen to be an undeniable creator to follow in the global comics scene. Rikke Villadsen lives and works in Copenhagen. Her first graphic novel, The Sea, was published in 2011, followed up with Cowboy (2020) and The Clitoris (2022), each demonstrating Villadsen’s singular, avant-garde graphic and narrative vision. In 2015, she was the first cartoonist to receive the prestigious Danish Art Council Grant, an honour heretofore bestowed upon novelists and poets. 184pgs B&W paperback.
The Con Artists
by Luke Healy
Drawn & Quarterly / Faber & Faber
$24.95 / £16.99
The publisher says:
A quintessentially millennial tale about friendship and the quest for self-actualisation. This is going to be Frank’s year. He’s going to do it all: find love, become a famous comedian and responsibly parent his plants. But then, Giorgio gets hit by a bus. Self-assured and utterly entitled, Giorgio has always seemed like “Frank, but better.” Moving in with and caring for his estranged childhood friend quickly starts to chip away at Frank’s sense of self, as well as Giogio’s carefully curated online persona. Is Giorgio’s penchant for overindulgence truly aspirational? Or is it ultimately a red flag? The further Frank is pulled into Giorgio’s orbit, the quicker his existential dread blooms. Expectation and reality soon collide in a singular tale about trust and confidence. Luke Healy’s playful, hilarious third graphic novel uses crisp lines and physical comedy to portray an uneasy friendship between two young men on the cusp of adulting. Snippets from Frank’s middling stand-up routines are punctuated by the subtle farce of Healy’s mise-en-scène and the lively, at times scathingly pointed, banter of old friends. The Con Artists is a stylish character study that asks the question of who fools who once everyone is off-camera. Luke Healy was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, where he also received a BA in Journalism. He has an MFA from the Centre for Cartoon Studies in Vermont, USA. He has published three graphic novels: Americana (And the Act of Getting Over It), How to Survive in the North and Permanent Press. Healy’s work has been exhibited in the Museum of Comics and Cartoon Art in Manhattan and his clients include The New Yorker, BBC, Vice and Narratively. 128pgs two-colour paperback / hardcover.
The Five Lives of Hilma af Klimt
by Philipp Deines, with a Foreword by Julia Vosss
David Zwirner Books
$35.00 / £25.00
The publisher says:
Artist Philipp Deines traces the story of now world-famous Hilma af Klint’s unique life and groundbreaking oeuvre through five chapters featuring her development as an artist, her family background and her relationship to the spiritual. Highlighting how she came to her distinctive paintings, her spiritual quest and the friends who helped her, this is a story of the strength it took af Klint to continue as an artist against all odds. Beautifully drawn, brightly coloured and well-researched, this graphic novel is a new way of looking at the story of an artist. Referencing Julia Voss’s new biography of af Klint, Deines presents an accessible and lively introduction for many ages. Biography, art history and contemporary narrative style merge and complement each other in these magnificent visual worlds. Hilma af Klint (1862–1944) is now regarded as a pioneer of abstract art. Though her paintings were not seen publicly until 1987, her work from the early 20th century predates the first purely abstract paintings by Kandinsky, Mondrian and Malevich. Philipp Deines is an artist, illustrator and graphic designer. In 2015 he published Behind the White Cube (Merve Verlag) with Julia Voss. In 2020 he received the Berlin Comic Scholarship and his work was exhibited in the Museum for Communication. In 2021, his work was exhibited at Grisebach in Berlin in the exhibition Stu-stu-stu-studioline. The 5 Lives of Hilma Af Klint (2022) is his first graphic novel. He lives and works in Berlin. Julia Voss is a curator, art critic and professor. Her biography of Hilma af Klint was on the shortlist of the Leipzig Book Fair Prize in 2020 and became a bestseller. She headed the Visual Arts Department of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung for ten years and has been teaching art history as an honorary professor at Leuphana University in Lüneburg since 2015. She lives in Berlin with her husband Philipp Deines and two children. 120pgs colour hardcover.
The High Desert: Black. Punk. Nowhere.
by James Spooner
Mariner Books
$26.00
The publisher says:
A formative coming-of-age graphic memoir by the creator of Afro-punk: a young man’s immersive reckoning with identity, racism, clumsy teen love and belonging in an isolated California desert and a search for salvation and community through punk. Apple Valley, California, in the late eighties, a thirsty, miserable desert. Teenage James Spooner hates that he and his mom are back in town after years away. The one silver lining—new school, new you, right? But the few Black kids at school seem to be gang-banging, and the other kids fall on a spectrum of micro-aggressors to future Neo-Nazis. Mixed race, acutely aware of his Blackness, James doesn’t know where he fits until he meets Ty, a young Black punk who introduces him to the school outsiders—skaters, unhappy young rebels, caught up in the punk groundswell sweeping the country. A haircut, a few Sex Pistols, Misfits and Black Flag records later: suddenly, James has friends, romantic prospects and knows the difference between a bass and a guitar. But this desolate landscape hides brutal, building undercurrents: a classmate overdoses, a friend must prove himself to his white supremacist brother and the local Aryan brotherhood through a show of violence. Everything and everyone are set to collide at one of the year’s biggest shows in town…Weaving in the Black roots of punk rock and a vivid interlude in the thriving eighties DIY and punk scene in New York’s East Village, this is the memoir of a budding punk, artist, and activist. James Spooner is an accomplished tattoo artist, illustrator and filmmaker. He directed the seminal documentary Afro-Punk. Spooner is also the co-founder of the Afro-punk Festival. Spooner’s work has appeared in NPR, Vice, The Village Voice, The New Yorker, Vibe, Fader, MTV, NBC News and Variety. He is an ongoing guest curator for the Broad Museum in Los Angeles and previously programmed for the Brooklyn Academy of Music. 368pgs B&W hardcover.
The Music of Marie
by Usamaru Furuya
One Peace Books
$25.95
The publisher says:
Pirito is a utopia protected by the mechanical goddess Marie, who looms large as she orbits the skies above. Down in the factory town of Gil, Pipi’s heart yearns for Kai, but as the only one who can hear Marie’s ever-present music, will he be able to accept Pipi’s affection? Delve into the beginnings of Usamaru Furuya’s soaring fantastical worldview with this masterful, early work from the prolific creator who brought you Lychee Light Club, Genkaku Picasso, No Longer Human and more! Now collected as one volume, The Music of Marie, a story of sublime love, will pluck at your heartstrings until the very end. Usamaru Furuya’s career began with the serialisation of Palepoli in avant-garde manga magazine Garo in 1994. Since then he has continued to create a multitude of work, and his delicate art, dynamic style and transcendent power of expression has attracted a cult following. Usumaru’s well-known works over the years include Lychee Light Club, Innocents Boys’ Crusade, Suicide Club, Teiichi: Battle of Supreme High, Amane+Gymnasium and Lunatic Circus. In addition, his manga 51 Ways to Save Her was the basis for the 2009 animated series Tokyo Magnitude 8.0. 528pgs B&W paperback.
The Rick Trembles Weakly Dispatch
by Rick Trembles
Conundrum Press
$20.00
The publisher says:
A pandemic time capsule by a celebrated underground cartoonist. When COVID-19 hit Montreal, cartoonist Rick Trembles started The Weakly Dispatch, a series of diary comics offering his personal perspective on pandemic life. Trembles’ asthma put him at risk of a serious infection so, like many people, he took careful measures to avoid coming into contact with the virus. He self-isolated for months, surviving on grocery deliveries from friends, DIY workouts (to prevent muscle atrophy) and, of course, comics. Leaving the apartment, however, turned out to be even harder than staying isolated. Initially foiled by stair-painters and coughing neighbours, Trembles quickly discovered a newly perilous world, populated by unmasked people and handshake enthusiasts. The Weakly Dispatch is a wry and vulnerable look at the day-to-day complexities of life during a global pandemic, by the creator of Represented Immobilized. With an introduction by Robert Crumb. 120pgs B&W paperback with poster.
The Treasure of the Black Swan
by Paco Roca & Guillermo Corral, translated by Andrea Rosenberg
Fantagraphics
$29.99
The publisher says:
This thrilling graphic novel, based on real events and which has been adapted into an AMC Plus miniseries (La Fortuna) starring Stanley Tucci, chronicles the intense legal and political battles sparked by the discovery of a priceless shipwreck. May 2007. When an American treasure-hunting company uncovers a shipwreck containing the greatest underwater trove ever found, the world is captivated by their discovery. But over in Spain, a group of low-level government officials surmises that the sunken ship is in fact an ancient Spanish vessel. Thus begins a legal and political thriller, pitting a group of idealistic diplomats against a rich and powerfully connected treasure hunter, in which vital cultural artefacts and hundreds of millions of dollars hang in the balance. Cartoonist Paco Roca and writer Guillermo Corral bring a cinematic flair to this graphic novel, combining threads of Tintin-inspired seafaring adventure, political intrigue, tense courtroom drama and, in the midst of it all, a budding romance. A gripping dramatisation of a little-known, unbelievable true story of money, political power, and cultural heritage. A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. 224pgs colour hardcover.
Ultrasound
by Conor Stechschulte
Fantagraphics
$39.99
The publisher says:
In this graphic novel, which has been adapted into a feature film starring Vincent Kartheiser (Mad Men), Glen and Cyndi become unwitting test subjects in a mind-control experiment after a strange sexual encounter. They search for answers as their own memories become tools for manipulation. Driving home from a wedding late one night during a heavy storm, out of cell range, Glen blows out his tires. He knocks on the door of the only house he sees and is greeted by an uncomfortably friendly middle-aged man, Arthur, and his attractive younger wife, Cyndi. The strange couple pours him a drink, and then more drinks, followed by odd confessions and an unexpected offer that Glen can’t refuse. Where Ultrasound zigs and zags from there is into a dizzying plot involving mind control, government secrets, gaslighting and political intrigue that is always one step ahead of the reader. Stechschulte’s brilliant use of colour and mastery of comics storytelling yields a breathtaking puzzlebox of a sci fi thriller ― the moment you finish, you will want to go back and reread Ultrasound from the start. Ultrasound has also been adapted into an acclaimed feature film directed by Robert Schroeder from a screenplay by Stechschulte. The film earned raves at the 2021 Tribeca Film Fest and is scheduled for theatrical release in March 2022 and will premiere streaming on Hulu in June. Originally serialised in three parts by Breakdown Press as Generous Bosom. Conor Stechschulte grew up in rural Pennsylvania and graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art 2008. He lives in Chicago, IL. 376pgs colour hardcover.
What Remains: Colombia from home and a distance
by Camilo Aguirre
Uncivilized Books
$16.95
The publisher says:
What Remains is an innovative graphic novel that weaves documentary and memoir forms to capture the sociopolitical fabric of Colombia, spanning 200 years. Camilo Aguirre dips in and out of pivotal historical periods, all while skilfully interweaving family histories and anecdotes of students, union workers, and guerilla fighters. He creates a critical, unflinching vision of Colombia that is profoundly mobilising in its search for resolution. Aguirre is hopeful throughout, but he refuses to step into the trap of fictitious optimism. The people and the families represent a detailed composite portrait of life in Colombia, sketched from opposing ends of the political spectrum. Colombia is inextricable from its people’s complex lives and identities, as well as the lives of Aguirre and his family. Aguirre narrates the complexities from a distant Minneapolis. He details the tides of power and politics, from American and corporate interventions to internal hierarchies of wealth and power, and finally to the impact of emerging globalisation and neoliberalism. The criminalisation and persecution of union workers and students propagate amidst these political phases. What Remains poses a question. Aguirre answers through a profoundly personal lens and demonstrates that what remains of Colombia are the rich and varied lives of its people. Camilo Aguirre is a Cartoonist and Fine Artist from Colombia. Aguirre has obtained a Masters in Audiovisual Scriptwriting from UNIR, La Rioja, Spain and an MFA in Visual Arts from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Aguirre has been published in several documentary comics anthologies, including Ciervos de Bronze (La Silueta, 2014), Caminos Condenados (Cohete Comics, 2016), La Palizua (Centro Nacional de Memoria Historica, 2018) and Our Stories Carried Us Here (Green Card Voices, 2021). 188pgs B&W paperback.
World War 3: Battle over Hokkaido
by Motofumi Kobayashi
Antarctic Press
$19.99
The publisher says:
War manga master Motofumi Kobayashi’s (Cat Shit One) hit alternate history manga continues in this what-if war tale of a Soviet invasion of Japan. In the 1990s, Japan’s Self-Defense Forces must battle a Soviet armoured division intent on occupying Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island, in conjunction with the USSR’s invasion of Europe. A first-class battle action story depicting the all-out armed conflict with the West in a world where the Soviet Union did not collapse. Motofumi Kobayashi was the artist of Marvel’s Psychonauts series, the first manga written by a western script team (Alan Grant and Tony Luke) and illustrated by a Japanese artist. Kobayashi has also drawn Cat Shit One, a “Vietnam war” between rabbits and cats. 168pgs Colour & B&W paperback.
