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Top 35 Graphic Novels, Comics & Manga:
October 2018
‘Tis the season for publishing more books than any other time in the year to catch ‘the Christmas/Gift-Giving’ market, so this October overflows with intriguing titles. Take a look at my A to Z of suggestions, from which I have selected these highlights, opening with two ambitious British-created graphic novels. Square Eyes comes from Anna Mill & Luke Jones, former runners-up in the Observer/Jonathan Cape/Comica Graphic Short Story Prize with the four-page story of the same time, which they have finally completed as a dizzying dystopian parable. Rachael Ball’s Wolf is mesmerising allegory about childhood grief.
Autobiography is also to the fore in these Euro-comics translations, marking the debuts in English of Frenchman Edmond Baudoin’s personal, book-length slices of life (his biography of Dalí from SelfMadeHero came out two years ago), and of Nora Krug from Germany, who I will be interviewing at The British Library in October.
Writer Ram V is finding remarkable collaborators, many from India, for his multiple projects, of which Grafity’s Wall looks like the strongest and most significant. It’s also very special when a new work by Jon McNaught arrives, inviting us to share his close observation and subtle print-based sequences of changing time, nature, weather and feelings.
And for sheer bravura and panache, Typex has set himself no limits on his in-depth meditation of Warhol’s life and art, surely the graphic biography of the year. Much more Comics Reading for Pleasure below…
Amongst the Liberal Elite:
The Road Trip Exploring Societal Inequities Solidified by Trump (RESIST)
by Elly Lonon & Joan Reilly
powerHouse Books
$19.95
The publisher says:
Getting woke is hard. As this couple is discovering the under 45’s regime, it takes more than listening to NPR on our daily commutes and watching Jon Stewart cameos on our phones in bed while we sip craft beer from artisanal glassware made by at-risk women on another continent to make us global citizens. That won’t stop Alexandra and Michael from trying, though. Based on the successful McSweeney’s column, Amongst the Liberal Elite takes readers on a cross-country road trip with Alex and Michael, romantic partners whose voices will resonate with fans of shows such as Portlandia, Parks and Recreation, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. The couple decides to use their tax refund to reconnect with their fellow Americans via a cross-country road trip and, more specifically, better understand how Trump won the election. In a quest to visit The World’s Largest Frying Pan (of which there are six in the U.S.), Alex and Michael embark on a journey marked with personal and societal realisations. Arguments about topics ranging from mom-shaming to misogyny related to their pet cat, unsuccessful attempts at yoga meditations in small spaces, and anticlimactic touristic attractions that deepen their gloom about the nation, bring Alex and Michael clarity about what it means to resist. Amongst the Liberal Elite is the political satire we’ve all been waiting for–one that offers comic relief from ourselves. 156pgs B&W hardcover.
Andy: The Life And Times Of Andy Warhol
by Typex
SelfMadeHero
£24.99 / $34.99
The publisher says:
From the 32 canvas Campbell’s Soup Cans to the Marilyn Diptych, Andy Warhol’s silk-screen prints are the epitome of Pop Art: witty, gimmicky and unafraid of repetition. Obsessed with consumerism and the cult of celebrity, Warhol (1928-1987) exalted the “surface of things” – and yet he was a man of deep complexity. In Andy, Typex captures the remarkable life of the king of Pop Art, from his working-class upbringing in Pittsburgh to the dizzying heights of his celebrity. Spanning Warhol’s early career as a commercial illustrator, his relationship with the Velvet Underground, and the development of his own instantly recognisable style, Andy is an exhilarating portrait of a transcendent artist and a master self-promoter. 568pgs colour paperback.
Belonging: A German Reckons With History and Home
by Nora Krug
Scribner / Particular Books
$30.00 / £22.00
The publisher says:
A revelatory, visually stunning graphic memoir by award-winning artist Nora Krug, telling the story of her attempt to confront the hidden truths of her family’s wartime past in Nazi Germany and to comprehend the forces that have shaped her life, her generation, and history. Nora Krug was born decades after the fall of the Nazi regime, but the Second World War cast a long shadow throughout her childhood and youth in the city of Karlsruhe, Germany. For Nora, the simple fact of her German citizenship bound her to the Holocaust and its unspeakable atrocities and left her without a sense of cultural belonging. Yet Nora knew little about her own family’s involvement in the war: though all four grandparents lived through the war, they never spoke of it. In her late thirties, after twelve years in the US, Krug realises that living abroad has only intensified her need to ask the questions she didn’t dare to as a child and young adult. Returning to Germany, she visits archives, conducts research, and interviews family members, uncovering in the process the stories of her maternal grandfather, a driving teacher in Karlsruhe during the war, and her father’s brother Franz-Karl, who died as a teenage SS soldier in Italy. Her extraordinary quest, spanning continents and generations, pieces together her family’s troubling story and reflects on what it means to be a German of her generation. Belonging wrestles with the idea of ‘Heimat’, the German word for the place that first forms us, where the sensibilities and identity of one generation pass on to the next. In this highly inventive visual memoir—equal parts graphic novel, family scrapbook, and investigative narrative—Nora Krug draws on letters, archival material, flea market finds, and photographs to attempt to understand what it means to belong to one’s country and one’s family. A wholly original record of a German woman’s struggle with the weight of catastrophic history, Belonging is also a reflection on the responsibility that we all have as inheritors of our countries’ pasts. 288pgs part-colour hardcover.
Daisy Blackwood: Pilot For Hire Vol.1: The Cursed Island
by Ryan Howe
Soaring Penguin Press
$12.99
The publisher says:
With her plane hijacked by a mysterious stranger, Daisy finds herself caught between a madman and his relentless pursuer, both jockeying for possession of the box he carries and the bizarre contents it holds. 94pgs B&W paperback.
Distant Worlds Vol. 1: Episode 1
by Leo & Icar
Cinebook
£6.99 / $11.95
The publisher says:
18 year old Paul, his mother and his sister land on Altair-4, a recently established human colony. They expect to be reunited with Paul’s father there and start a new life, but he doesn’t show up to welcome them at the spaceport… Later, they are rescued from a gang of thugs by a Stepanerk, a member of a sentient alien species. An encounter that will prove invaluable to Paul when he decides to go and look for his father… 48pgs colour paperback.
Flem
by Rebecca Rosen
Conundrum Press
$20.00
The publisher says:
When Julia meets a group of radical feminist performance artists in a Brussels squat, she is convinced by their political perspective and enchanted by their counter-cultural lifestyle. But has she found her tribe… or lost her mind? Flem, by newcomer Rebecca Rosen, takes the reader on a colour-coded journey into the dark heart of the “other” Brussels. 80gs colour paperback.
Frankenstein
by Junji Ito
Viz Media
$22.99
The publisher says:
Junji Ito meets Mary Shelley! The master of horror manga bends all his skill into bringing the anguished and solitary monster-and the fouler beast who created him-to life with the brilliantly detailed chiaroscuro he is known for. Also included are six tales of Oshikiri-a, high school student who lives in a decaying mansion connected to a haunted parallel world. Uncanny doppelgangers, unfortunately murdered friends, and a whole lot more are in store for him. Bonus: the Ito family dog - thrill to the adventures of Non-non Ito, an adorable Maltese. 408pgs B&W hardcover.
Grafity’s Wall
by Ram V, Anand RK & Irma Kniivila
Unbound
£14.99
The publisher says:
When an aspiring street artist by the name of Grafity watches the tenements outside his home being razed, he finds an unlikely canvas at the one wall still left standing in the debris. Over the next weeks, he begins creating a mural on the wall, one that chronicles the lives of his friends: a local low-level fixer named Jay who harbours dreams of being a rapper. A brilliant and awkward boy named Chasma who writes love letters between shifts waiting tables at a local Chinese restaurant. And Saira, an aspiring actress with ambitions so fierce that they threaten to consume her and all those around her. As the mural progresses, the story gives us glimpses into these incandescent lives, their hopes and dreams both inspired and impeded by the impossible city that they live in. 144pgs colour hardcover.
Hey, Kiddo
by Jarrett J Krosoczka
Graphix
$14.99/$24.99
The publisher says:
In kindergarten, Jarrett Krosoczka’s teacher asks him to draw his family, with a mommy and a daddy. But Jarrett’s family is much more complicated than that. His mom is an addict, in and out of rehab, and in and out of Jarrett’s life. His father is a mystery - Jarrett doesn’t know where to find him, or even what his name is. Jarrett lives with his grandparents, two very loud, very loving, very opinionated people who had thought they were through with raising children until Jarrett came along. Jarrett goes through his childhood trying to make his non-normal life as normal as possible, finding a way to express himself through drawing even as so little is being said to him about what’s going on. Only as a teenager can Jarrett begin to piece together the truth of his family, reckoning with his mother and tracking down his father. 320pgs colour paperback/hardcover
I Moved To Los Angeles To Work In Animation
by Natalie Nourigat
Boom! Studios
$9.99
The publisher says:
When artist Natalie Nourigat left her life in Portland to move to Los Angeles and pursue a job in animation, she realised that despite her research, nothing truly prepared her for the wild world that awaited in the studios of Southern California. This autobiographical how-to graphic novel explores the highest highs and lowest lows of pursuing a dream in animation. Brushed with a dose of humour and illustrated advice about salaries, studio culture, and everything in between, I Moved to Los Angeles to Work in Animation is the unique insider experience you wonft find anywhere else. 112pgs colour paperback.
Jane Austen: Her Heart Did Whisper
by Manuela Santoni
Lerner Publishing Group
$9.99
The publisher says:
In a time of formal dances, courtyard courtships, and strict ideas about a woman’s role in the world, Jane Austen looked at the England around her and created unforgettable art. Before she was the beloved author of Pride and Prejudice and other classic novels, Jane Austen was a young woman wrestling with society’s expectations and challenges of the heart. Her own story involves choices that changed literary history – and perhaps even the choice to walk away from love. This graphic imagining of Jane Austen’s youth includes her creative awakening and her much-speculated-upon encounters with Tom Lefroy, a brash law student. Jane Austen: Her Heart Did Whisper is a vision of the thrills and pains of young romance, the bonds of sisterhood, and the decisions that make a person who she is. 96pgs B&W paperback.
Jim Osborne: The Black Prince of the Underground
by Jim Osborne
Fantagraphics Underground
$25.00
The publisher says:
While many cartoonists in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s were “turning on, tuning in, and dropping out,” Jim Osborne was cut from a much darker cloth, delving into the extreme underbelly of American popular culture with unsettling comics about murder, conspiracy, and demons, both figurative and literal. Jim Osborne: The Black Prince of the Underground includes a biography of Osborne by Dennis Dread and collects all of the artist’s stories and illustrations from formative publications like Yellow Dog, Bijou Funnies and National Lampoon, many republished here for the first time in decades. 132pgs B&W paperback.
Kingdom
by Jon McNaught
Nobrow Press
£16.99
The publisher says:
A journey through the in-between places of the British landscape to the bleak coast, Kingdom follows a family on their holiday to a small caravan park, where teenager Andrew explores the dunes, and half-remembered stories from the past are shared. Once again, Jon McNaught creates a beautiful graphic novel that makes the ordinary, extraordinary. 188pgs colour hardcover.
Lost Soul, Be At Peace
by Maggie Thrash
Candlewick Press
$18.99
The publisher says:
A year and a half after the summer that changed her life, Maggie Thrash wishes she could change it all back. She’s trapped in a dark depression and flunking eleventh grade, befuddling her patrician mother while going unnoticed by her father, a workaholic federal judge. The only thing Maggie cares about is her cat, Tommi… who then disappears somewhere in the walls of her cavernous house. So her search begins, but Maggie’s not even really sure what she’s lost, and she has no idea what she’ll find. Lost Soul, Be at Peace is the continuation of Maggie’s story from her critically acclaimed memoir Honor Girl, one that brings her devastating honesty and humour to the before and after of depression. 192pgs colour hardcover.
Mattéo, Book One: 1914-1915
by Jean-Pierre Gibrat
IDW Publishing / EuroComics
$14.99
The publisher says:
A beautifully drawn and deeply emotional graphic novel trilogy following the singular destiny of a man caught up in the fervent passions of a tumultuous period that begins with the Great War of 1914. In a small town at the foot of the Pyrenees on the French Mediterranean, lifelong friends are called to arms, except for Mattéo, who, as the son of Spanish refugees, is exempt from service. Yet when his fellow villagers-including Juliet, the woman he loves-express disdain for his pacifism, he embarks on an epic adventure that will have a resounding impact on all their lives. From the creator of the 2018 Eisner-nominated Flight of the Raven. 64pgs colour hardcover.
Mazeworld: Collector’s Edition
by Alan Grant & Arthur Ranson
Rebellion
£19.99 / $29.99
The publisher says:
From one of 2000 AD‘s most visionary creative teams comes the complete fan-favorite Mazeworld saga in a larger, deluxe collector’s edition. Thirty years after the British parliament suspended the death penalty, the gallows have returned and Adam Cadman finds himself being the first person to be hanged since 1964. But as his life drains away, Adam is transported to a strange, new dimension, populated by warriors and mystical beasts: the bizarre Mazeworld. 192pgs colour paperback.
My New York Marathon
by Sebastian Samson
Humanoids
$19.95
The publisher says:
Sebastian, a quiet and shy teacher, gets lost in the memories of his boyhood, when he was a strong and successful runner. On a whim, he decides to challenge his ageing body and crumbling spirit and run the New York Marathon. From the streets of France to the streets of Brooklyn, Sebastian pushes himself past limits he didn’t even know he had. A humorous and poignant autobiographical tale and a love letter to the landscapes and panoramas of New York as well as a testament to the triumph of the human spirit. 192pgs B&W paperback.
On A Sunbeam
by Tillie Walden
First Second / Avery Hill Publishing
$21.99/ $32.99 / £24.99
The publisher says:
An epic graphic novel about a girl who travels to the ends of the universe to find a long lost love, from acclaimed author Tillie Walden. Throughout the deepest reaches of space, a crew rebuilds beautiful and broken-down structures, painstakingly putting the past together. As Mia, the newest member, gets to know her team, the story flashes back to her pivotal year in boarding school, where she fell in love with a mysterious new student. When Mia grows close to her new friends, she reveals her true purpose for joining their ship – to track down her long-lost love. An inventive world, a breathtaking love story, and stunning art come together in this new work by award-winning artist Tillie Walden. 544pgs colour paperback/hardcover
Petit: The Ogre Gods Book One
by Hubert & Bertrand Gatignol
Lion Forge / Magnetic Collection
$24.99
The publisher says:
Petit is the littlest giant in a hierarchy of giants, merely the size of a human, whom the rest of the clan consider simple food and labor. Torn between his savage family instincts and his human empathy, he must discover his place in the world and the kingdom’s future… 176pgs B&W hardcover.
Piero
by Edmond Baudoin, translated by Matt Madden
New York Review Comics
$17.95
The publisher says:
Edmond Baudoin has long been one of the most revered and influential figures in European comics, renowned for his slashing, expressive brushwork and narrative experimentation. NYR Comics presents the first English translation of his most intimate and accessible book, his graphic memoir of growing up with his beloved brother, Piero. Whether stuck in bed with whooping cough or out exploring in the woods, the two brothers draw together endlessly. They confront Martians, battle octopuses, stage epic battles between medieval castles, and fly high over the earth. Inevitably, they begin to grow apart, and their shared artistic life is replaced by schoolwork, romance, dances, motorcycles, and the struggle to decide what sort of people they want to be. Piero is a delicate, exuberant testament to the joys of childhood, and a bittersweet account of what it means to become an adult - and an artist. 140pgs B&W hardcover.
Pinky & Pepper Forever
by Ivy Atoms
Silver Sprocket
$12.00
The publisher says:
After Pinky’s lethal performance art piece, her devoted girlfriend Pepper follows her into death, only to find that in Hell, Pinky is… thriving?! Pinky & Pepper Forever is a dark comedy full of furry fun and gay Catholic guilt. Follow these two puppygirls’ relationship and artwork on Earth and in their new life along the River Styx. 60pgs colour paperback.
Run Book 1
by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, Afua Richardson & Nate Powell
Abrams ComicArts
$24.99
The publisher says:
Told in multiple parts, Run is the next chapter of civil rights history after the March saga, bringing to life the true story of John Lewis and many of his colleagues in the movement after the historic success of the Selma campaign. Days after the Voting Rights Act is signed into law, the Ku Klux Klan mounts its largest hooded protest march in years. Events such as this are a dangerous reminder of the external forces in our society assembling to undo the hard-won protections at the ballot box, forces who have studied the tactics of the movement and are now prepared to weaponise them. Powerfully necessary in these times, Run Book One is the story of John Lewis’s struggle to lead the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), one of history’s most important nonviolent organisations, as it loses the support of much of the federal government and many of its most important allies. How can SNCC, an organisation built on consensus, integration, and nonviolence, survive in the face of powerful disagreements over black political power, white inclusion, the war in Vietnam, and the role of nonviolent civil disobedience in the movement? Run is the story of loss, and in the ashes of John Lewis’s role in the civil rights movement, he finds his future in public service. 160pgs B&W hardcover.
Snowbird
by Erin K. Wilson
Silver Sprocket
$20.00
The publisher says:
Erin K. Wilson is trying to save the planet while she herself is unraveling. Using magical realism and manga inspired illustrations, she tries to find hope for a world that just seems hopeless, sneaking in moments of beauty and friendship that become the framework for redemption. 136pgs part-colour paperback.
Square Eyes
by Anna Mill & Luke Jones
Jonathan Cape
£18.99
The publisher says:
“Look – anyone who invents something really great has a moment where they think it’s going to destroy the world.” For the first time in her life, Fin is off the network. A few months ago, she was the inventor of a programme so powerful, so unusual that she was untouchable. Until she wasn’t. Meanwhile, people have started disappearing from the streets of the city and the technology she created might be implicated. Square Eyes is a graphic novel about a future where the boundaries between memory, dreams and the digital world start to blur. It’s a kaleidoscopic mystery story which asks: in a city built on digital illusion, who really holds the power? What is weakness? And when is it most dangerous? 256pgs colour hardcover.
Sugar
by Serge Baeken
Soaring Penguin Press
£14.99
The publisher says:
Sugar is the Baekens’ cat. Sugar is a lyric, engaging, enthralling graphic observation of the cats that have lived with Serge and his family over the years. In learning about the life of Sugar, we learn about the life of Serge Baeken. Now available in English, Serge Baeken’s acclaimed graphic novel is a comic dedicated to cats, with stories about the life of cats, seen with the eyes of a cat. For comic lovers. And for all cat lovers. 92pgs B&W paperback.
Superman Isn’t Jewish (But I Am Kinda)
by Jimmy Bermon & Emilie Boudet
Humanoids
$14.95
The publisher says:
Benjamin would always proudly say, “I’m Jewish. Like Superman!” Assuming that Judaism is some kind of super power and Hebrew is akin to the Kryptonian language, Benjamin believes each of his family members is a superhero. Until, like Krypton, his world is shattered. After learning of the link between being circumcised and his religion, Ben decides to hide his heritage from everyone. Caught between the desire to avoid disappointing his Jewish father and his desire to understand his Catholic mother, Ben has to find a way to abandon his secret identity for a very public one. Humorous, timeless and universal, this personal and poignant story of acceptance and understanding shows how we all must learn to love the hero within ourselves. 112pgs colour paperback.
The Comic Book History of Professional Wrestling
by Aubrey Sitterson & Chris Moreno
Ten Speed Press
$18.99
The publisher says:
From the host of the critically acclaimed pro wrestling podcast Straight Shoot, this graphic novel history of wrestling features the key grapplers, matches, and promotions that shaped this beloved sport and form of entertainment. As a pop culture phenomenon, professional wrestling, with its heroic babyfaces and villainous heels performing suplexes and powerbombs in pursuit of championship gold, has conquered audiences in the United States and around the world. Now, writer/podcaster Aubrey Sitterson and illustrator Chris Moreno form a graphic novel tag team to present wrestling’s complete illustrated history. The book covers wrestling’s progress from the carnival days of the Gold Dust Trio to the dominance of the WWF/WWE to today’s diverse independent wrestling scene, and it spotlights wrestling’s reach into Mexico/Puerto Rico (lucha libre), the U.K. (all-in), and Japan (puroresu). 184pgs colour paperback.
The Girl Who Married A Skull and Other African Stories
by Mary Cagle & Kel McDonald
Iron Circus
$15.00
The publisher says:
Have you heard the one about the skull who borrowed body parts to pass himself off as a complete human so he could trick the village beauty into marriage? Well, what about when Frog and Snake’s daughters had a play date? Okay, okay. But surely you’ve heard the story about the crocodiles who held a vote on whether or not to eat a man that had saved one of their lives? No? Wow. Have we got some stories for you. 209pgs B&W paperback.
The Highest House
by Mike Carey & Peter Gross
IDW Publishing
$24.99
The publisher says:
To be born a slave is in fact not a fatality. And facts can be changed. In the country of Ossaniul, there is a fortress that is as disproportionate as it is inaccessible: the Highest House. Its masters, the noble family of Aldercrest, reign over a veritable army of slaves. At the bottom of the ladder, young Moth performs the most thankless tasks and has little hope of living past childhood. Until the day he meets Obsidian, a mysterious prisoner of the House who whispers to him in his sleep. If Moth does what he asks, Obsidian will give him fortune and glory. And there’s every indication that Obsidian can make good on his promises. Will Moth accept the offer? Through a subtle alternate history, The Highest House takes us to a fictional country reminiscent of the Balkan kingdoms of the 16th century. Mike Carey and Peter Gross (Lucifer, The Unwritten) draw from this context a captivating fantasy narrative that reflects on the human soul, the corrupting power of slavery, and the inequalities of class, all from the different perspectives of the House’s many inhabitants. Both immediate and timeless, Highest House is a multifaceted fantasy sure to stay with readers long after the final page has turned. 160pgs colour oversized paperback.
The Mental Load
by Emma
Seven Stories Press
$18.95
The publisher says:
In her first book of comic strips, Emma reflects on social and feminist issues by means of simple line drawings, dissecting the mental load, ie all that invisible and unpaid organising, list-making and planning women do to manage their lives, and the lives of their family members. Most of us carry some form of mental load – about our work, household responsibilities, financial obligations and personal life; but what makes up that burden and how it’s distributed within households and understood in offices is not always equal or fair. In her strips Emma deals with themes ranging from maternity leave (it is not a vacation!), domestic violence, the clitoris, the violence of the medical world on women during childbirth, and other feminist issues, and she does so in a straightforward way that is both hilarious and deadly serious.. If you’re not laughing, you’re probably crying in recognition. Emma’s comics also address the everyday outrages and absurdities of immigrant rights, income equality, and police violence. Emma has over 300,000 followers on Facebook, her comics have been. shared 215,000 times, and have elicited comments from 21,000 internet users. An article about her in the French magazine L’Express drew 1.8 million views – a record since the site was created. And her comic has just been picked up by The Guardian. Many women will recognise themselves in The Mental Load, which is sure to stir a wide ranging, important debate on what it really means to be a woman today. 224pgs colour paperback.
The Sons of El Topo Vol. 1: Cain
by Alejandro Jodorowsky & José Ladrönn
Boom! Studios
$19.99
The publisher says:
Legendary filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky (The Incal, Metabarons) and virtuosic illustrator José Ladrönn (Cable, Incredible Hulk) deliver a sequel to Jodorowsky’s cult classic film, El Topo. Once a bandit without limits, El Topo is a man with no moral compass, until his journey through the desert brought him to religion and enlightenment. As he became a holy vessel imbued with the power to perform miracles, he left behind his first born son Cain, and brought forth the birth of Abel. Fuelled by resentment, and unable to kill his saintly father, Cain begins the slow pursuit of his half brother in a tale of magic and mayhem. 80pgs colour hardcover.
The Stranger
by Albert Camus & Jacques Ferrandez
Pegasus
$25.95
The publisher says:
A visually stunning adaptation of Albert Camus’s masterpiece that offers an exciting new graphic interpretation while retaining the book’s unique sensibility. The day his mother dies, Meursault notices that it is very hot on the bus that is taking him from Algiers to the retirement home where his mother lived; so hot that he falls asleep. Later, while waiting for the wake to begin, the harsh electric lights in the room make him extremely uncomfortable, so he gratefully accepts the coffee the caretaker offers him and smokes a cigarette. The same burning sun that so oppresses him during the funeral walk will once again blind the calm, reserved Meursault as he walks along a deserted beach a few days later leading him to commit an irreparable act. 144pgs colour hardcover.
The Thirteenth Floor: Vol. 1
by John Wagner, Alan Grant & José Ortiz
Rebellion
£14.99 / $22.99
The publisher says:
Maxwell Tower is a state-of-the art tower block, a bold, experimental council tenement, run by an A.I. called Max. As building superintendent, Max’s primary function is the welfare of his tenants, which he takes very seriously. And if anyone threatens either the residents or the building itself, they can expect a visit to the thirteenth floor, a place where nightmare and reality become one! This beautifully illustrated, darkly comical first volume includes the complete run of the strip from the legendary boy’s comic, Scream! 176 B&W pages.
To Build A Fire
by Jack London & Christophe Chabouté
Gallery 13
$14.99
The publisher says:
Discover the beloved author of White Fang and The Call of the Wild, Jack London’s renowned short story “To Build a Fire” in a new and evocative way from master artist Christophe Chabouté. With his signature “stunning black-and-white art” (Publishers Weekly), Chabouté illustrates London’s gripping story of man versus nature in the harsh and unforgiving Yukon that has enthralled readers for over a century. 64pgs colour paperback.
To Kill A Mockigbird
by Harper Lee & Fred Fordham
Harper Collins / William Heineman
$23.99 / £16.99
The publisher says:
A beautifully crafted graphic novel adaptation of Harper Lee’s beloved American classic. A haunting portrait of race and class, innocence and injustice, hypocrisy and heroism, tradition and transformation in the Deep South of the 1930s, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird remains as important today as it was upon its initial publication in 1960, during the turbulent years of the Civil Rights movement. Now, this most beloved and acclaimed novel is reborn for a new age as a gorgeous graphic novel. Scout, Jem, Boo Radley, Atticus Finch and the small town of Maycomb, Alabama, are all captured in vivid and moving illustrations by British artist Fred Fordham.Enduring in vision, Harper Lee’s timeless novel illuminates the complexities of human nature and the depths of the human heart with humour, unwavering honesty and a tender, nostalgic beauty. Lifetime admirers and new readers alike will be touched by this special visual edition. 288 colour pages.
Wolf
by Rachael Ball
SelfMadeHero
£15.99 / $24.99
The publisher says:
It is the long, hot summer of 1976. Hugo, the youngest child of three, is walking with his father in the woods. There, he comes face-to-face with a wolf - and from that moment on, his life will never be the same again. Soon after, a tragic accident leaves Hugo desolate and disoriented. The family, now grieving and incomplete, moves to a new home. Among Hugo’s new neighbors is the Wolf Man, a dangerous recluse, according to the boy next door. Spellbound by the movie The Time Machine and desperate to return to the days before the accident, Hugo draws up plans to build a contraption that will turn back time. But only the Wolf Man has the parts Hugo needs to complete his machine, and that will mean entering his sinister neighbour’s house. Beautifully illustrated in pencil, Wolf is a captivating and poignant graphic novel about confronting childhood grief and overcoming the loss of a loved one. 296pgs B&W hardcover.
Women in Battle
by Marta Breen & Jenny Jordahl
Hot Key Books
£9.99
The publisher says:
Freedom. Equality. Sisterhood. Women in Battle is the book for anyone who wants to learn as much as possible about the history of feminism in as short a time as possible. Presented as a graphic novel and spanning 150 years of recent history, Women in Battle celebrates the fight for women’s rights all over the world. Topics include the suffragette movement, female world leaders, abortion and contraception, gay marriage and #MeToo. Slowly but surely we are making progress. We need only dare to be heard. 128pgs colour paperback.
Zenobia
by Morten Durr & Lars Horneman
Triangle Sqaure
$19.95
The publisher says:
Winner of the 2017 Danish National Illustration Award. Zenobia was once a great warrior queen of Syria whose reign reached from Egypt to Turkey. She was courageous. No one gave her orders. Once she even went to war against the emperor of Rome. When things feel overwhelming for Amina, her mother reminds her to think of Zenobia and be strong. Amina is a Syrian girl caught up in a war that reaches her village. To escape the war she boards a small boat crammed with other refugees. The boat is rickety and the turbulent seas send Amina overboard. In the dark water Amina remembers playing hide and seek with her mother and making dolmas (stuffed grape leaves) and the journey she had to undertake with her uncle to escape. And she thinks of the brave warrior Zenobia. Zenobia is a heartbreaking and all-too-real story of one child’s experience of war. Told with great sensitivity in few words and almost exclusively with pictures, Zenobia is a story for children and adults. 96pgs colour hardcover.
