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Top 33 Graphic Novels, Comics & Manga:
June 2021
The creators of this global medium can continue to surprise us, as you can see in my pick of the most exciting, interesting titles due out in June or sometime not too long after, subject to current circumstances. Creator making their debut graphic fictions in English this month include Zuo Ma from China and from the UK, crime-writer Val McDermid and artist Kathryn Briggs…
It’s also a thrill to see Manuele Fior from Italy with the first of two volumes of his most daring fantasy…
On the non-fiction front, these three comics powerfully address hidden or under-reported histories and current affairs…
Great geniuses of comics enjoy a welcome revival, from Winsor McCay, dazzlingly reinvoked by Frank Pé, to Yoshiharu Tsuge, who transformed manga forever…
Eagerly awaited, Alan Moore’s most recent longform comic finally gets a single-volume compendium…
And the past still needs to be discovered. Two perceptive, erudite comics historians, David Kunzle and Dan Nadel, invite us to explore vibrant and little-known facets of mid-19th century British comics and Chicago’s Black cartooning scene from 1940 to 1980. Lots of surprises in store for you - I hope some of these pique your interest.
1956 Book 1: Sweet Sweet Little Ramona
by Steve Lafler
Cat-Head Comics
$9.95
The publisher says:
Notorious alt comix legend Steve Lafler delivers readers to the bright lights and glamour of Manhattan in 1956 with Jack, Susie and Ramona. In the new graphic novel 1956 Book One: Sweet Sweet Little Ramona, they cut deals in the Garment District by day and haunt the legendary Jazz Clubs of 52nd St. by night. Jack and Susie, junior buyers for the McCurdy’s chain of department stores, are ambitious kids trying to make their mark as they vie for the position of Chief Buyer. And hey, maybe they happen to fall in love on the side? We’ll see! Ramona hails from Texas, a young trans woman looking to be herself in the atmosphere of 1950s New York City. It ain’t easy! She descends into working the streets to support herself, while she dreams of becoming a fashion model. Against this backdrop, our cast of players congregate in the jazz clubs at night and begin to scheme. Are they competing with each other? Or do they work together to realise their dreams? 1956 Book One is inspired by Lafler’s dad, who passed away a year ago. Don Lafler was a young buyer for McCurdy’s in the 1950s, working hard and playing hard in pursuit of his dreams. He did go on to become Chief Buyer, and so much more. This book is dedicated to him. Steve Lafler is a graphic novelist specialising in low-brow humour peppered with piercing transcendental revelations about, um, strong coffee and stuff like that. He is best know for his Bughouse graphic novels, set in an indigo insect noir Manhattan of the 1950s; Be-Bop is king while a band of buggy musicians struggle with addiction. In February 2019, Lafler released Lucha Bruja, his graphic novel set in Oaxaca, Mexico. 56pgs B&W paperback.
1984: The Graphic Novel
by George Orwell, adapted & illustrated by Fido Nesti
Houghton Mifflin
$22.00
The publisher says:
War is Peace * Freedom is Slavery * Ignorance is Strength. One of the most influential books of the twentieth century gets the graphic treatment in this first-ever adaptation 1984 by George Orwell. In 1984, London is a grim city in the totalitarian state of Oceania where Big Brother is always watching you and the Thought Police can practically read your mind. Winston Smith is a man in grave danger for the simple reason that his memory still functions. Drawn into a forbidden love affair, Winston finds the courage to join a secret revolutionary organisation called the Brotherhood, dedicated to the destruction of the Party. Together with his beloved Julia, he hazards his life in a deadly match against the powers that be. With evocative, immersive art from Fido Nesti, this vision of George Orwell’s dystopian masterpiece provides a new perspective for longtime fans but is also an accessible entry point for young readers and adults who have yet to discover the iconic story that is still so relevant today. George Orwell (1903–1950) was born in India and served with the Imperial Police in Burma before joining the Republican Army in the Spanish Civil War. Orwell was the author of six novels as well as numerous essays and nonfiction works. Fido Nesti, born in São Paulo, Brazil, is a self-taught artist who has worked in illustration and comics for more than twenty-five years. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Playboy, Runner’s World and Americas Quarterly, among other publications. He has also collaborated on illustrating various book covers for a range of publishing houses. 224pgs colour hardcover.
Alone in Space: A Collection
by Tillie Walden
Avery Hill
$32.95
The publisher says:
In her first collection of short comics stories, Hugo-nominated cartoonist Tillie Walden opens windows into strange new worlds with all the stylish visual panache and stunning emotional resonance of her widely lauded graphic novels. In The End of Summer, Lars is battling illness and boredom in a secluded castle at the start of an endless winter with a giant cat to keep him company and fraying family bonds to test his strength. In I Love This Part, two small-town girls kill time and try to muddle through school when an unexpected romance blooms. And the surreal A City Inside recounts one woman’s life from childhood on, in a poetic tale about coming-of-age when you think you’re past all that. Also includes never-before collected early sketches, webcomics, and short comics such as What It’s Like To Be Gay In An All-Girls Middle School, which shot Tillie to fame on both sides of the Atlantic. Tillie Walden is a cartoonist and illustrator from Austin, Texas. She first published 3 original graphic novels with Avery Hill Publishing before going on to create her Eisner Award-winning graphic memoir Spinning. After Spinning she created On A Sunbeam which was originally published as a webcomic. Her latest graphic novel Are You Listening? won the Eisner for Best Graphic Novel in 2020 and her first picture book is due out in 2021. She currently lives in Lebanon, New Hampshire and teaches at the Centre For Cartoon Studies. 320pgs part-colour hardcover.
Bad Dreams
by Janek Koza
Centrala
£15.00 / $22.00
The publisher says:
Bad Dreams is a collection of bitter stories about the desire to get away from tiresome reality. Nine characters portrayed by Janek Koza, shivering like the author’s line, struggle with frustrating work, boredom, failed relationships, or the nightmare of insomnia. Trying to change their fate, they immerse themselves in dreams and reach their small moments of fulfilment, which illuminate the darkness of gloomy Polish daily life. However, making them come true leaves the characters in stagnation and loneliness. With his naturalistic approach, Koza outlines an image of problems and desires, grimaces and raptures, of a cross-section of our society, from twenty-somethings to fifty- year-olds. One cannot know if their bad dream begins when they put their head on a pillow or when they open their eyes after a night’s delusions. Janek Koza looks on those that we turn our eyes from, so we’ll stop deceiving ourselves that we’re any different from them. Janek Koza paints, directs animations and films and creates comics. He was born on April 1st, 1970 in Wrocław, Poland. Koza’s works have been presented at a wide range of exhibitions, at the Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw, Łódź Art Museum and at the National Museum in Poznań. The artist has authored more than one hundred animated films, widely showcased in Poland and abroad, for instance at: WRO Art Center in Wrocław, Łódź Art Museum, National Museum in Poznań, Animamundi in Brazil and Image Forum in Tokyo. 80pgs colour hardcover.
Celestia
by Manuele Fior, translated by Jamie Richards
Fantagraphics
$29.99
The publisher says:
This highly anticipated new graphic novel from Manuele Fior (The Interview and 5,000 KM Per Second) showcases his singular talents as a once-in-a-generation visual artist and a deeply empathetic writer who uses science fiction to look to the future of humanity. The “Great Invasion” originated from the sea. It moved north across the mainland. Many fled, while some took refuge on a small concrete island called Celestia, built over a thousand years ago. Now cut off from the mainland, Celestia has become an outpost for criminals and other misfits, as well as a refuge for a group of young telepaths. Events push two of them, Dora and Pierrot, to flee the island and set sail to the mainland. There, they discover a world on the precipice of a metamorphosis, though also a world where adults are literally prisoners of their own fortresses, unintentionally preserving the “old world” at a time when a new generation could guide society towards a better humanity. Celestia is the most ambitious and successful graphic novel to date by one of the world’s most exciting storytellers. Manuele Fior was born in Cesena, Italy in 1975 and currently lives in Paris. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Le Monde and La Republica. He was nominated for an LA Book Prize. Jamie Richards is an Italian-to-English translator from Southern California currently based in Milan, Italy. She holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Oregon and an MFA in Literary Translation from the University of Iowa. 272pgs colour hardcover.
Cover Not Final: Crime Funnies
by Max Huffman
AdHouse Books
$9.95
The publisher says:
In this collection of intertwined stories, paranoid conspiracy and soft-boiled noir bubbles under every aspect of daily life― and at the centre of it all is Career Criminal, the tuxedo’d conduit between our square world and its cosmic underbelly. Max Huffman is from the school of Gary Panter. He graduated from the School of Visual Arts in 2016 with a BFA in Cartooning. When he’s not drawing, Max is the Print Graphic Designer for Cat’s Cradle and the Small Press Director at Peel Gallery. His work has been featured on The Comic Journal’s Best of 2020. He lives in Carrboro, NC. 64pgs colour paperback.
Crash Site
by Nathan Cowdry
Fantagraphics
$24.99
The publisher says:
A black comedy of high order, this debut graphic novel doubles as a psychological drama set in the heart of the Amazon jungle and featuring an absurdist cast of drug traffickers ― including a young woman, a codependent talking dog, and an anthropomorphic pair of sociopathic underwear. Crash Site, the debut graphic novel from British cartoonist Nathan Cowdry, is the story of Rosie, a young drug trafficker who uses her lovelorn talking dog, Denton, to mule drugs across international lines. When Rosie and Denton’s return flight to England goes down and they find themselves stranded in the Amazon basin (with fifty grand worth of coke in Denton’s stomach), well, getting busted becomes the least of their concerns as they try to find their way out. Did we mention that Rosie is also wearing a pair of anthropomorphic underwear she calls Pants Dude, and that he may have other plans for her and Denton? Crash Site is a darkly funny, character-driven graphic novel that calls to mind the sense of humour of Simon Hanselmann, with a Tarantino-level appetite for gratuitous acts of sex and violence and use of flashbacks to allow the story to unfold. Cowdry’s confident storytelling skills, attractive artwork and sense of comedic timing makes Crash Site a winning recipe for fans of adult humour. Nathan Cowdry is an illustrator and cartoonist from Brighton, England. His work has been featured on It’s Nice That and appeared in Now: The New Comics Anthology. 130pgs colour hardcover.
Dope Rider: A Fistful of Delirium
by Paul Kirchner
Tanibis
$32.00
The publisher says:
Dope Rider is back in town! After a 30-year hiatus, Paul Kirchner brought back to life his iconic, bony stoner hero whose first adventures were a staple of the psychedelic counter-culture magazine High Times in the 1970s and 1980s. The new stories collected in this book were all created after 2015 and despite the years, Dope Rider has stayed essentially the same, still smoking his ever-present joint, getting high and chasing metaphysical dragons through whimsical realities in meticulously illustrated and colourful one-page adventures. Fans of the original Dope Rider comics will still find the bold graphical innovations, dubious puns and wild dreamscapes inspired by classical painting and Western movies that were some of Dope Rider’s trademark. This time though, Kirchner draws from a much larger panel of influences, including modern pop – and pot – culture (lines and characters from Star Wars as well as references to Denver as the US weed capital can be found here and there) and a wider range of artistic references, from Alice in Wonderland to 2001: A Space Odyssey to Ed Roth’s Kustom Kulture. Native American culture and mythology, only hinted at in the classic adventures, are also much more present in the form of Chief, one of Dope Rider’s new sidekicks. Kirchner’s playful, tongue-in-cheek humour binds together all these influences into stories that mock both the mundane and the nonsensical alike. Paul Kirchner was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1952. He attended the Cooper Union in New York City. He started his career in the 1970s as an assistant to Wally Wood. His original Dope Rider stories are collected among other early works in the book Awaiting the Collapse. He also created The Bus, a surrealistic monthly strip published in Heavy Metal magazine from 1979 to 1985 and illustrated the graphic detective novel Murder by Remote Control written by Janwillem van de Wetering. Paul Kirchner went back to comics during the 2010s with The Bus 2 in 2015 and Hieronymus & Bosch in 2018. He continues to insist he has never used drugs, not even for research purposes. 132pgs colour hardcover.
Eve
by Una
Virago Press / Little Brown
£14.99
The publisher says:
Eve is a powerful novel of mothers and daughters, and how we imagine our future, from the acclaimed author of Becoming Unbecoming. In the near future, in a world that seems just like our own, Eve grows up in a loving family that is increasingly threatened by a society which seems to be sleepwalking into totalitarianism. After a catastrophe that changes everything, Eve must set off on her own to try to survive and find a new way to live. Eve is a book of mothers, daughters, human relationships, trust and community, human weakness, conflict, hopeful futures and painful pasts. It is speculative fiction that feels incredible timely: Una explores the rise of authoritarianism on both the political right and left and images where it might all lead. Una is the graphic author of Becoming Unbecoming (2015, Myriad Editions), On Sanity: One Day in Two Lives (2016, Becoming Press) and Cree (2018, Mayfly Press). 240pgs colour paperback.
Jacky Fleming, author of The Trouble with Women says:
This is a disturbing and necessary book for our times, because it leaves us with a question. In EVE, Una describes a society in crisis, a dystopia which grows ever more familiar as we turn the pages. The characters are people we know, their conversations are words we’ve heard, their fears and anxieties are our own. Una has held up a chilling mirror for us, and leaves us with a choice - what kind of world will we make for ourselves? It could go either way….
Farewell Brindavoine
by Jacques Tardi, translated by Jeena Allen
Fantagraphics
$19.99
The publisher says:
The French cartooning master Tardi’s first solo graphic novel is a riotous action-adventure comedy. Paris, 1914. In one auspicious night, Lucien Brindavoine’s humdrum life is thrown into wild disarray. Out of the blue, a strange old man visits Brinvadoine’s flat and implores him to go to Istanbul to seek his destiny. No sooner are these fateful words spoken than a shot is fired through the window and the man is murdered by a mysterious assailant. Thus kicks off a madcap adventure wherein the mild-mannered dilettante Brindavoine races to the Middle East ― by boat, plane, and jeep ―with cutthroat assassins threatening him at every turn. After much ado, he encounters an iron city in the desert where an eccentric American billionaire will decide his fate. The first solo graphic novel by Tardi, Farewell, Brindavoine showcases the French cartooning master’s signature blend of dark humour, brutal violence and beguiling mystery. For Tardi fans, an essential early work; for newcomers, a thrilling primer to the Tardi oeuvre. Tardi is a pioneering European cartoonist. His Adele Blanc-Sec series was adapted into a feature by Luc Besson, and he was behind the recent animated film April and the Extraordinary World. His comics are award-winning (including the U.S.‘s Eisners). He lives in Paris with his wife, the singer Dominique Grange, and their cats. Jenna Allen is a freelance translator based in Colorado. 64pgs colour hardcover.
Harriet Tubman: Toward Freedom - The Center for Cartoon Studies Presents
by Whit Taylor & Kazimir Lee
Little Brown
$19.99 / $12.99
The publisher says:
This illuminating graphic novel biography about Harriet Tubman sheds new light on one of American history’s bravest heroes. Harriet Tubman did something exceptionally courageous: she escaped slavery. Then she did something impossible: she went back. She underwent some thirteen missions to rescue around seventy enslaved people, using and expanding a network of abolitionists that became known as the Underground Railroad. She spent her life as an activist, speaking out for Black people and women’s suffrage. This modern account of her trip to save her brothers is detailed and authentic. Illustrated with care for the historical record, it offers insight into the life and mind of Tubman, displaying her as a woman with an unshakeable desire to break the chains of an unjust society. It is a perfect anti-racist narrative for our times and deepens an understanding of just what freedom means to those who must fight for it. Whit Taylor is an Ignatz Award-winning cartoonist, editor and writer from New Jersey. She has authored many comics, including the graphic novel Ghost Stories, and is a regular contributor to The Nib. Kazimir Lee is an animator, cartoonist and illustrator, who has lived for almost equal amounts of time in Malaysia, the UK and the US, now residing in Brooklyn, New York. http://www.cartoonstudies.orgThe Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS), America’s premier cartooning school, was founded in 2005 and is located in downtown White River Junction, Vermont. 112pgs colour hardcover / paperback.
It’s Life As I See It: Black Cartoonists in Chicago 1940-1980
edited by Dan Nadel
New York Review Comics
$24.95
The publisher says:
Originally published by Chicago’s Black press, long neglected by mainstream publishing, and now the subject of an exhibition by the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, these comics showcase some of the mid-twentieth century’s finest Black cartoonists. Between the 1940s and 1980s, Chicago’s Black press—from The Chicago Defender to the Negro Digest to self-published pamphlets—was home to some of the best cartoonists in America. Kept out of the pages of white-owned newspapers, Black cartoonists found space to address the joys, the horrors and the everyday realities of Black life in America. From Jay Jackson’s anti-racist time travel adventure serial Bungleton Green, to Morrie Turner’s radical mixed-race strip Dinky Fellas, to the Afrofuturist comics of Yaoundé Onli and Turtel Onli, to National Book Award–winning novelist Charles Johnson’s blistering and deeply funny gag cartoons, this is work that has for far too long been excluded and overlooked. Also featuring the work of Tom Floyd, Seitu Hayden, Jackie Ormes and Grass Green, this anthology accompanies the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago’s exhibition Chicago Comics: 1960 to Now selected and edited by Dan Nadel, and is an essential addition to the history of American comics. With essays by Charles Johnson and Ronald Wimberly and cover by Kerry James Marshall. Dan Nadel is Curator at Large of the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, UC Davis. He is the author and editor of several books, including Art Out of Time: Unknown Comic Visionaries, 1900–1969; Gary Panter and New York Review Comics’s Return to Romance: The Strange Love Stories of Ogden Whitney (with Frank Santoro). He lives in Brooklyn, New York. Charles Johnson is a novelist, essayist, literary scholar, philosopher, cartoonist, screenwriter and professor emeritus at the University of Washington in Seattle. A MacArthur fellow, he won the National Book Award for his novel Middle Passage in 1990. Ronald Wimberly was born in Washington, D.C. His books include Prince of Cats. He is the editor of the art newspaper LAAB. Published in conjunction with the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, on the occasion of Chicago Comics: 1960s to Now, June 19– October 3, 2021, curated by Dan Nadel. 200pgs B&W paperback
It’s Not What You Thought It Would Be
by Lizzy Stewart
Fantagraphics
$24.99
The publisher says:
A poignant coming-of-age story, this debut graphic novel follows two young women on their path to adulthood. In her graphic novel debut, English cartoonist Lizzy Stewart chronicles the lives of two close friends from adolescence to adulthood. As the years go by, life nudges them in directions that they never could have expected until finally, in their thirties, they hardly recognise the women they have become. Their situations have changed, from the sleepy countryside to bustling London, but their relationships and perspectives have also gradually shifted over time. In a series of interconnected vignettes, Stewart focuses on the ordinary, slice-of-life moments ― teenagers climbing up and lounging on a rooftop, friends catching up over pints at the pub, a woman riding the night bus home ― and charges these scenes with a quiet intensity. Through keen observation and an ear for naturalistic dialogue, she reveals the complex natures of her characters, from their confidence to their insecurities, as they experience the joys and pains of growing up. Drawn in a variety of different styles, from watercolour to coloured pencil to pen and ink, the style of this book echoes the evolution of the characters within. Lizzy Stewart is an illustrator and children’s book author based in London. 168pgs colour hardcover.
Jim Lives: The Mystery of the Lead Singer of The Doors
by Paolo Baron & Ernesto Carbonetti
Image Comics
$16.99
The publisher says:
Amid the intense colours of a foreign land, Jim Lives is the story of a man searching for his son–a correspondent for a popular American newspaper–who vanished into thin air after sending one last, enigmatic message: “Jim Morrison isn’t dead. He’s hiding out in Italy. I saw him with my own eyes. I’ll call you tomorrow and tell you everything…” Come along with the creators of Paul is Dead as they reveal the second chapter in their “conspiracy trilogy:” a new, fascinating vision of the most mysterious legend in the history of rock that envisions what happened “When the Music’s Over.” 128pgs colour paperback.
Kane & Able
by Shaky Kane & Krent Able
Image Comics
$12.99
The publisher says:
British comic book wise guys, Kane and Able, serve up a summer dump cake of genre-busting mischief and masked mayhem in this oversized anthology of never-before-published strips. Slip in and out of subconsciousness with the Astonishing Shield Bug! Surf the Fleshwave with Black Fur in “Who Fears The Deathroach?”! Journey into the sub-basement in the gasoline-tinged “Dustmites”! Ride into the Creepzone with Nightmare and Sleepy in the aptly named “Creepzone”! 72pgs colour paperback.
Little Nemo
by Frank Pé, after Winsor McCay
Magnetic Press
$19.99
The publisher says:
The classic comic strip character Little Nemo, created by the legendary Winsor McCay in 1905, is given brand new life through a collection of beautiful and whimsical new adventures by celebrated author Frank Pé. Artist Frank Pé pays tribute to Little Nemo and the cast of mythical characters created by Windsor McCay in 1905. The celebrated artist plunges into their universe with delight, inviting readers to stroll through his own poetic and whimsical imagination. A century later, he breathes new life into this wonderful world. A masterful reinterpretation in the style of a dreamlike journey that sings an ode to nature and childhood. 80pgs colour hardcover.
Marie Curie: A Quest for Light
by Frances Andreasen Østerfelt, Anja Cetti Andersen & Anna Blaszczyk
IDW Publishing
$17.99
The publisher says:
Marie Curie’s exceptional life and groundbreaking research changed the world, expanding scientific understanding, and creating new opportunities for women, as explored in this lavishly illustrated graphic biography endorsed by the Curie Estate. Curie’s unique drive—against all odds—to understand Nature’s ways and laws led to ground-breaking discoveries, which revolutionised medical theory and practice. She was the first female Nobel Prize winner and, to date, the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two categories; first physics and later in chemistry. Authorised by the Curie Estate, Marie Curie: A Quest For Light presents a special collaboration between author Frances Andreasen Østerfelt; the internationally acclaimed Danish astrophysicist Anja Cetti Andersen; and features delightful illustration by artist Anna Blasczcwyk. Together they have made Curie’s fascinating story accessible to young readers. Frances Andreasen Østetfelt is Dr. odont., an essayist and doll maker. Østerfelt has studied Marie Curie’s life and work for many years, which was the inspiration behind Marie Curie: A Quest for Light. Østerfelt’s co-author is Anja C. Andersen - Professor of the newly founded chair of ‘Public Understanding of Science’ and a researcher in cosmic dust. Anja has written an impressive volume of ‘accessible’ essays on scientific and technical issues. Anna Blaszczyk is a Polish illustrator and animator and has won a number of awards for her short film animations. 136pgs colour paperback.
My Own World
by Mike Holmes
First Second
$19.99 / $12.99
The publisher says:
Mike Holmes, the artist behind the hit series Secret Coders and Wings of Fire, delivers his solo debut: My Own World, a middle grade memoir-inflected fantasy graphic novel. Life is difficult for nine-year-old Nathan. All he dreams of is hanging out with his older brother, watching Raiders of the Lost Ark and enjoying summer vacation far away from the neighbourhood bullies. When he overhears his parents talking about a family crisis, he seeks sanctuary from his troubles. In an abandoned lighthouse, Nathan discovers a portal to a berry-colored world where time has little meaning and he, finally, is in control. There, his imagination takes him on wondrous adventures, across seas and through the air, with new extraordinary friends of his own creation. In his magical hideaway, Nathan is safe from the anxieties of his life―but can he bring himself to face the real world? Mike Holmes has drawn for the comics series Secret Coders, Bravest Warriors, Adventure Time and the viral art project Mikenesses. His books include the True Story collection (2011), This American Drive (2009), and Shenanigans. He lives with a cat named Ella, who is his best buddy. 240pgs colour hardcover / paperback.
Night Bus
by Zuo Ma
Drawn & Quarterly
$29.95
The publisher says:
Journey through the countryside in this magical realist debut from an underground Chinese cartoonist. In Night Bus, a young woman wearing round glasses finds herself on an adventurous late night bus ride that constantly makes detours through increasingly fantastical landscapes. Meanwhile a young cartoonist returns home after art school and tries his hand at becoming a working artist while watching over his ageing grandmother, whose memory is deteriorating. Nostalgic leaps take us to an elementary school gymnasium that slowly morphs into a swamp and is raided by a giant catfish. Beetles, salamanders and bug-eyed fish intrude upon the bus ride of the round-glasses woman as the night stretches on. Night Bus blends autobiography, horror and fantasy into a vibrantly detailed surreal world that shows a distinct talent surveying his past. Nature infringes upon the man-made world via gigantism and explosive abundance–the images in Night Bus are often unsettling, not aimed to horrify, but to upset the balance of modern life. Zuo Ma was born in Zhijiang City in 1983. After graduating from the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology in 2005, he began his career as a cartoonist and freelance illustrator. Ma is considered one of the leaders in the nascent Chinese alternative comics scene, that pushes emotion to the forefront of the story while playing with action and dreams. 412pgs B&W paperback.
Politics in the Gutters: American Politicians and Elections in Comic Book Media
by Christina M. Knopf
University Press of Mississippi
$30.00
The publisher says:
More than just escapist entertainment, comics offer a popular yet complicated vision of the American political tableau. From the moment Captain America punched Hitler in the jaw, comic books have always been political, and whether it is Marvel’s chairman Ike Perlmutter making a campaign contribution to Donald Trump in 2016 or Marvel’s character Howard the Duck running for president during America’s bicentennial in 1976, the politics of comics have overlapped with the politics of campaigns and governance. Pop culture opens avenues for people to declare their participation in a collective project and helps them to shape their understandings of civic responsibility, leadership, communal history and present concerns. Politics in the Gutters: American Politicians and Elections in Comic Book Media opens with an examination of campaign comic books used by the likes of Herbert Hoover and Harry S. Truman, follows the rise of political counterculture comix of the 1960s, and continues on to the graphic novel version of the 9/11 Report and the cottage industry of Sarah Palin comics. It ends with a consideration of comparisons to Donald Trump as a super-villain and a look at comics connections to the pandemic and protests that marked the 2020 election year. Politics in the Gutters considers the political myths, moments and mimeses, in comic books―from nonfiction to science fiction, superhero to supernatural, serious to satirical, golden age to present day―to consider how they represent, re-present, underpin and/or undermine ideas and ideals about American electoral politics. Christina M. Knopf is associate professor of communication and media studies at the State University of New York, Cortland. Knopf is a distinguished research fellow of the Eastern Communication Association and author of The Comic Art of War: A Critical Study of Military Cartoons, 1805–2014, with a Guide to Artists. 290pgs B&W paperback.
Providence: Compendium
by Alan Moore & Jacen Burrows
Avatar Press
$29.99
The publisher says:
Finally, the complete Alan Moore masterpiece in one 480 page tome - the Providence Compendium. Providence is Alan Moore’s quintessential horror series. In it, he weaves and reinvents the works of H.P. Lovecraft through historical events. It is both a sequel and prequel to Neonomicon. The Providence Compendium is the complete series, all twelve issues by Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows, in one 480 page volume. 480pgs colour paperback.
Rebirth of the English Comic Strip: A Kaleidoscope 1847-1870
by David Kunzle
University Press of Mississippi
$90.00
The publisher says:
Rebirth of the English Comic Strip: A Kaleidoscope, 1847–1870 enters deep into an era of comic history that has been entirely neglected. This buried cache of mid-Victorian graphic humour is marvelously rich in pictorial narratives of all kinds. Author David Kunzle calls this period a “rebirth” because of the preceding long hiatus in use of the new genre, since the Great Age of Caricature (c.1780–c.1820), when the comic strip was practiced as a sideline. Suddenly in 1847, a new, post-Töpffer comic strip sparks to life in Britain, mostly in periodicals, and especially in Punch, where all the best artists of the period participated, if only sporadically: Richard Doyle, John Tenniel, John Leech, Charles Keene and George Du Maurier. Until now, this aspect of the extensive oeuvre of the well-known masters of the new journal cartoon in Punch has been almost completely ignored. Exceptionally, George Cruikshank revived just once, in The Bottle, independently, the whole serious, contrasting Hogarthian picture story. Numerous comic strips and picture stories appeared in periodicals other than Punch by artists who were likewise largely ignored. Like the Punch luminaries, they adopt in semi-realistic style sociopolitical subject matter easily accessible to their (lower-)middle-class readership. The topics covered in and out of Punch by these strips and graphic novels range from French enemies King Louis-Philippe and Emperor Napoleon III to farcical treatment of major historical events: the Bayeux tapestry (1848), the Great Exhibition of 1851, and the Franco-Prussian War 1870. Artists explore a great variety of social types, occupations and situations such as the emigrant, the tourist, fox hunting and Indian big game hunting, dueling, the forlorn lover, the student, the artist, the toothache, the burglar, the paramilitary volunteer, Darwinian animal metamorphoses and even nightmares. In Rebirth of the English Comic Strip, Kunzle analyses these much neglected works down to the precocious modernist and absurdist scribbles of Marie Duval, Europe’s first female professional cartoonist. David Kunzle, professor emeritus of art history at the University of California, is author of Cham; Father of the Comic Strip: Rodolphe Töpffer; Gustave Doré: Twelve Comic Strips; and Rodolphe Töpffer: The Complete Comic Strips, all published by University Press of Mississippi. 500pgs B&W hardcover.
Red Flowers
by Yoshiharu Tsuge
Drawn & Quarterly
$24.95
The publisher says:
The influential cartoonist hits his stride as he celebrates the charms and oddities of rural postwar culture. Yoshiharu Tsuge leaves early genre trappings behind, taking a light, humorous approach in these stories based on his own travels. Red Flowers ranges from deep character studies to personal reflections to ensemble comedies set in the hotels and bathhouses of rural Japan. There are irascible old men, drunken gangsters, reflective psychiatric-hospital escapees and mysterious dogs. Tsuge’s stories are mischievous and tender even as they explore complex relationships and heartache. It’s a world of extreme poverty, tradition, secret fishing holes and top-dollar koi farming. The title story highlights the nuance and empathy that made Tsuge’s work stand out from that of his peers. A nameless traveler comes across a young girl running an inn. While showing the traveler where the best fishing hole is, a bratty schoolmate reveals the girl must run the business because her alcoholic father is incapable. At the story’s end, the traveler witnesses an unusual act of kindness from the boy as the girl suffers her first menstrual cramps ― and a simple travelogue takes on unexpected depth. Red Flowers affirms why Tsuge went on to become one of the most important cartoonists in Japan. These vital comics inspired a wealth of fictionalised memoir from his peers and a desire within the postwar generation to document and understand the diversity of their country’s culture. Yoshiharu Tsuge was born in Tokyo in 1937. Influenced by the realistic and gritty rental manga of Yoshihiro Tatsumi, he began making his own comics. He was also briefly recruited to assist Shigeru Mizuki in the 1960s. In 1968, working for Garo magazine, Tsuge published the groundbreaking story “Neji-shiki” (commonly called “Screw Style” by Western readers), which established Tsuge as an influential manga-ka and a cultural touchstone in the changing Japanese art world. He is considered the originator and greatest practitioner of the “I-novel” method of comics-making. In 2005, Tsuge was nominated for the Best Album Award at Angoulême International and in 2017 won the Japan Cartoonists Association Grand Award. 284pgs B&W hardcover.
Resistance
by Val McDermid & Kathryn Briggs
Profile Books: Wellcome Collection / Grove Atlantic
£18.99 / $17.00
The publisher says:
It’s the summer solstice weekend, and 150,000 people descend on a farm in the northeast of England for an open-air music festival. At first, a spot of rain seems to be the only thing dampening the fun - until a mystery bug appears. Before long, the illness is spreading at an electrifying speed and seems resistant to all antibiotics. Can journalist Zoe Meadows track the outbreak to its source, and will a cure be found before the disease becomes a pandemic? A heart-racing thriller, Resistance imagines a nightmare pandemic that seems only too credible in the wake of COVID-19. Number one bestseller and queen of crime Val McDermid has teamed up with illustrator Kathryn Briggs to create a masterful graphic novel. Val McDermid’s novels have been translated into more than thirty languages, and have sold over sixteen million copies. She has won many awards internationally, including the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year and the LA Times Book of the Year Award. She was inducted into the ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards Hall of Fame in 2009, was the recipient of the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger in 2010 and received the Lambda Literary Foundation Pioneer Award in 2011. In 2016, Val received the Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award at the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival and in 2017 received the DIVA Literary Prize for Crime, and was elected a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Val has served as a judge for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Man Booker Prize, and was Chair of the Wellcome Book Prize in 2017. She is the recipient of six honorary doctorates and is an Honorary Fellow of St Hilda’s College, Oxford. She writes full-time and divides her time between Edinburgh and East Neuk of Fife. Kathryn Briggs is an internationally recognised, award winning graphic novelist and arts educator. She began her comic-making career while pursuing her Masters at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art with a feminist re-imagining of the archetypal Hero Story, “Story(cycle)”. Kathryn launched her independent small press Ess Publications with this ground-breaking comic. Her adaptation of Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 1 won the inaugural Elsinore Award for Graphic Shakespeare in 2016. A fixture of the Scottish Independent Comic scene, Kathryn founded and ran the Ex Libris Book Fair, Dundee’s only independent book fair. Her short comics have been featured in UK comics anthologies such as Treehouse Comic, Dirty Rotten Comics, Meanwhile… and Sliced Quarterly. Her work has been exhibited in both art galleries and colleges in Sweden, Scotland, Japan and the United States. An experienced art educator, Kathryn lectured at her alma mater, Glasgow School of Art, The McManus Museum, Dundee Contemporary Arts, and presented a paper she co-authored at the 2016 Graphic Medicine conference in Dundee. She has also been featured as a panelist at Glasgow Comic Con, where her collection of short comics Magpie was awarded Runner Up for Graphic Novel of the Year in 2018. She is currently a teaching artist for Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia. Forthcoming from Kathryn is The New Chapter Tarot, a wholly original tarot deck illustrated by her, slated to be released Spring 2021 by Liminal 11. In 2018, Kathryn moved back to the greater Philadelphia area, where she grew up. She participates in progressive grassroots community organising, serving as coms director for her local chapter of Pennsylvania Stands Up. She lives with her partner, the most adorable cat on the planet and a growing book collection that will one day swallow them all. 160pgs B&W hardcover.
Tammy & Jinty: Remixed
by various
Rebellion / 2000AD
$17.99
The publisher says:
Collecting the critically-acclaimed Tammy and Jinty specials from 2019 and 2020, this 112-page anthology includes contributions from some of the most exciting female creators working in the industry today. From sports drama through romance and action, featuring strips such as Rocky Race, Boarding School, The Return of Cat Girl and Duckface to name but a few, Tammy and Jinty Remixed pays tribute to the past while blazing a trail for girls’ comics of the future. New characters such as Rocky Race, ace footballer are showcased with updated classic characters like Cat Girl, Bella at the Bar and the Justice of Justine. A range of stories are included, from a mysterious boarding school that caters to just two pupils to action-packed roller derby escapades. This collection also includes exclusive new interviews and features, plus a reprint of the fan-favourite classic Cat Girl strip. 112pgs colour paperback.
The Art of Enric
by Manel Dominguez Navarro
FPG
$49.00
The publisher says:
Enric (aka Enric Torres-Prat) is said by many to be the best Vampirella artist! This book contains approximately 100 of Enric’s fabulous Vampirella oil paintings, half of which have never before been published. Enric has long been a fan favorite among comics and illustration fans, most of whom were introduced to his work by the incredible cover paintings that he created for Warren Publishing’s Creepy and Eerie magazines, and especially his breathtaking Vampirella magazine covers. With a career spanning more than 50 years, Enric has been involved in almost every area of publishing and fine art, including comics, gallery exhibitions, magazines and paperback books. While equally at home in many different genres - from horror to science fiction, to westerns, and more - Enric is perhaps most revered for his unmatched skills at rendering the female form. His passion and ability for painting beautiful women make his art instantly recognisable, and this book contains hundreds of those wonderful paintings and drawings. This large and comprehensive 352-page hardcover book takes us all on a journey through Enric’s entire career, from his earliest comic book work, right up to his most recent sought-after private commissions, which continue to be in high demand to this day. His popular art for Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella magazines and images of such iconic characters as Conan, Red Sonja, Supergirl, Tarzan and Wonder Woman are all here. Also included is a detailed biography on the artist - a 40-page interview containing many never-seen before photos - which compliments the artwork, by giving us a deep insight into what makes him tick. A signed and limited edition is available at $275. 352pgs colour hardcover.
The Breaker: Omnibus Vol. 1
by Jeon Geuk-jin & Kamaro
Ablaze
$16.99
The publisher says:
The story of The Breaker follows Shiwoon “Shioon” Yi, a timid high school student who becomes the disciple to Chunwoo Han, a martial artist who is an enemy to the secret martial arts society known as the Murim. However, Shioon is naive and unaware of his master’s shady past and the unseen underbelly of the society. How will Chun Woo manage to teach Shioon and help him survive in the world of Murim? Originally published in South Korea by Daewon C.I., The Breaker has already been translated into many other languages such as French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, Polish and more…and now ABLAZE is happy to bring the title to English-language readers worldwide. Praised not only for its thrilling artwork depicting amazing martial arts action, but also its gripping storyline, The Breaker: Omnibus Volume 1 is 400 pages of intense story and art. 400pgs B&W paperback.
The Chandos Betrayal: How Britain Robbed an Island and Made Its People Disappear
by Florian Grosset
Myriad Editions
£16.99
The publisher says:
A shocking graphic novel account of British complicity in the forced exodus of the Chagos Islanders from their homeland to make way for the largest US military air base outside the US mainland. During the cold war, the US government sought to establish an overseas military presence in the Indian Ocean. Between 1965 and 1973 the inhabitants of the Chagos archipelago were forcibly removed from their homeland and dumped in Mauritius and Seychelles. Diego Garcia, the largest island, was leased to the USA by the UK to accommodate the largest US military air base outside the US mainland. The agreement continues until 2036. Grosset’s account of the eviction, and the harsh life faced by the Chagossians after their displacement, looks back to the first generation of slaves who arrived on the archipelago and the lives of their descendants. It charts the present-day diaspora of Chagossians, their fight for the right to return through protests and court cases, and the different strategies still being used to keep them away from their land. A recent ruling by the maritime court of the International Court of Justice upheld an ICJ ruling in February 2019 that the UK should end its control of the Chagos and hand the islands back to Mauritius. Florian Grosset is a graphic designer and illustrator living in Kent. She was born and grew up in Mauritius. 128pgs colour paperback.
Benjamin Zephaniah says:
‘This is a very creative way of telling of a terrible and ongoing atrocity. It is impossible to explore this book and not feel the injustice, and then feel that justice must be done. A copy of this book should be given to every British citizen, young and old, so they can know the evil their governments have done. People of the USA too, this is about you. Together we should say, not in our names.’
The Creators of Batman: Bob, Bill & The Dark Knight
by Rik Worth
White Owl
£15.99 / $24.95
The publisher says:
In the early days 20th century, the emerging medium of comics was beginning to grab the attention of children and adults alike. Then, in the 1930s, superheroes revolutionised the entire industry and culture as we know it. Gotham’s caped crusader, The Batman, swung into this pantheon of demi-gods in 1939 and secured his place as one of the world’s most beloved characters. But do know who created The Dark Knight? Do you know how artist Bob Kane, placed himself at the secret origins of Batman while his co-creator Bill Finger was forced into the shadows? Do you know how comic creators, journalists, and family members fought to have Finger credited for his work? The first prose book to focus both on Finger and Kane, as well as cast of supporting characters from one of the most exciting times in comic book history, The Creators of Batman: Bob, Bill and The Dark Knight gathers everything we know about these two monumental figures and lays their stories side by side. Bringing together the story of these two creators against the exciting background of the American comic’s boom and Batman’s Golden Age. It looks at how Finger and Kane constructed the world of Gotham and its denizens, and grapples with the legacy the creators left behind. Rik Worth is a freelance journalist and writer from the north of England. When he isn’t writing about culture and class he writes comics about history. He has bylines in The Independent, Huffington Post UK and Prospect Magazine. His most recent comic, Hocus Pocus with Richard Wiseman and Jordan Collver, looks at magic, the supernatural and science. This is his first book without cartoons (mostly). 232pgs B&W hardcover.
The Legend of Auntie Po
by Shing Yin Khor
Kokila
$22.99 / $12.99
The publisher says:
Part historical fiction, part magical realism, and 100 percent adventure. Thirteen-year-old Mei reimagines the myths of Paul Bunyan as starring a Chinese heroine while she works in a Sierra Nevada logging camp in 1885. Aware of the racial tumult in the years after the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act, Mei tries to remain blissfully focused on her job, her close friendship with the camp foreman’s daughter, and telling stories about Paul Bunyan—reinvented as Po Pan Yin (Auntie Po), an elderly Chinese matriarch. Anchoring herself with stories of Auntie Po, Mei navigates the difficulty and politics of lumber camp work and her growing romantic feelings for her friend Bee. The Legend of Auntie Po is about who gets to own a myth, and about immigrant families and communities holding on to rituals and traditions while staking out their own place in America. Shing Yin Khor is a cartoonist and installation artist exploring the Americana mythos and new human rituals. A Malaysian-Chinese immigrant, and an American citizen since 2011, they are a cartoonist and installation artist. Their work has been published in The Toast, The Nib, Upworthy, Huffington Post and Bitch Magazine. They makes the road trip adventure comic Tiny Adventure Journal, and the tender queer science fiction comic Center for Otherworld Science. They are also the author of The American Dream? A Journey on Route 66 Discovering Dinosaur Statues, Muffler Men and the Perfect Breakfast Burrito, published by Zest Books. 304pgs colour hardcover / paperback.
The Middle Ages: A Graphic History
by Eleanor Janega & Neil Max Emmanuel
Icon Books
£13.99
The publisher says:
The Middle Ages: A Graphic History busts the myth of the ‘Dark Ages’, shedding light on the medieval period’s present-day relevance in a unique illustrated style. This history takes us through the rise and fall of empires, papacies, caliphates and kingdoms; through the violence and death of the Crusades, Viking raids, the Hundred Years War and the Plague; to the curious practices of monks, martyrs and iconoclasts. We’ll see how the foundations of the modern West were established, influencing our art, cultures, religious practices and ways of thinking. And we’ll explore the lives of those seen as ‘Other’ – women, Jews, homosexuals, lepers, sex workers and heretics. Join historian Eleanor Janega and illustrator Neil Max Emmanuel on a romp across continents and kingdoms as we discover the Middle Ages to be a time of huge change, inquiry and development – not unlike our own. Eleanor Janega is a medieval historian specialising in social history. She is a lecturer at London School of Economics, hosts the ‘Going Medieval’ series on History Hit TV and runs a popular blog of the same name on intersections between medieval history and pop culture. Neil Max Emmanuel is an illustrator who worked for 10 years on the TV show Time Team. He illustrated a children’s book, History Hunters: Saxon Gold, and is currently making medieval art for a historical computer game. 176pgs B&W paperback.
The Secrets of Chocolate: A Gourmand’s Trip Through a Top Chef’s Atelier
by Franckie Alarcon
NBM
$19.99
The publisher says:
Following Jacques Genin for a year, Franckie Alarcon hobnobbed with one of the biggest chefs of Chocolate. Former chef and pastry chef for prestigious restaurants, this super-talented autodidact shares all his passion and knowledge of chocolate and his process for creating recipes. In this docu-comic, we travel with the starry-eyed author, satisfying many a craving from the chef’s amazing atelier above his store, trying his hand as an apprentice, all the way to the Peruvian cocoa plantations where another chef shows how one carefully chooses the beans. Born in the port town of Brest, Brittany, Franckie Alarcon studied graphic arts in Nantes, and after a few years as a graphic artist, decided to go freelance as illustrator and comic artist, realising various graphic novels for prominent French publishers. 112pgs colour hardcover.
Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts
by Rebecca Hall & Hugo Martinez
Simon & Schuster
$26.00
The publisher says:
Part graphic novel, part memoir, Wake is an imaginative tour-de-force that tells the story of women-led slave revolts and chronicles scholar Rebecca Hall’s efforts to uncover the truth about these women warriors who, until now, have been left out of the historical record. Women warriors planned and led slave revolts on slave ships during the Middle Passage. They fought their enslavers throughout the Americas. And then they were erased from history. Wake tells the story of Dr. Rebecca Hall, a historian, granddaughter of slaves, and a woman haunted by the legacy of slavery. The accepted history of slave revolts has always told her that enslaved women took a back seat. But Rebecca decides to look deeper, and her journey takes her through old court records, slave ship captain’s logs, crumbling correspondence, and even the forensic evidence from the bones of enslaved women from the “negro burying ground” uncovered in Manhattan. She finds women warriors everywhere. Using in-depth archival research and a measured use of historical imagination, Rebecca constructs the likely pasts of Adono and Alele, women rebels who fought for freedom during the Middle Passage, as well as the stories of women who led slave revolts in Colonial New York. We also follow Rebecca’s own story as the legacy of slavery shapes life, both during her time as a successful attorney and later as a historian seeking the past that haunts her. Illustrated beautifully in black and white, Wake will take its place alongside classics of the graphic novel genre, like Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis and Art Spiegelman’s Maus. The story of both a personal and national legacy, it is a powerful reminder that while the past is gone, we still live in its wake. Rebecca Hall, JD, PhD, is a scholar, activist, and educator. After graduating Berkeley Law in 1989, she represented low-income tenants and homeless families for eight years before returning to get her PhD in history. She has taught at UC Santa Cruz, Berkeley Law, Berkeley’s history department, and as a visiting professor of law at the University of Utah. She writes and publishes on the history of race, gender, law and resistance as well as articles on climate justice and intersectional feminist theory. Rebecca has been an activist her entire life, fighting for women’s and LGBT rights and against nuclear weapons, Apartheid, and US militarism. She is dedicated to the movement for Climate Justice, and is also currently involved with Black Lives Matter and rapid response support for families facing deportation. She is also working on a collection of essays on the history of “racialised gender” in developing chattel slavery in America, and how this shapes our constructs of race and gender to this day. Dr. Hall’s work has been supported by numerous grants and fellowships, including the American Association of University Women, The Ford Foundation, The Mellon Foundation, and the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. Hugo Martínez is an independent comic artist focused on depicting narratives of struggle, identity and resilience. He is based in New Orleans. 208pgs B&W hardcover.
We Should Meet In Air: A Graphic Memoir on Reading Sylvia Plath
by Lisa Rosalie Eisenberg
Street Noise Books
$16.99
The publisher says:
Sylvia Plath’s writing reaches across decades to teach one young woman the power of her own feelings in this part memoir, part literary biography. Like so many thoughtful and soul-searching young women, as a teenage girl Lisa was transfixed by the writing of Sylvia Plath. In different times, in different places and in different ways, each of them struggles because of how they presented themselves to the world. As the author explored her sexuality and discovered her identity as an LGBTQ woman, she found inspiration and solace in the poetry and prose of this famous writer. Lisa Rosalie Eisenberg is a cartoonist and teaching artist. She is a regular contributor to the com
