Graphic Novels & Manga Books

Book SynopsisMoomin: The Complete Lars Jansson Comic Strip, Volume 9 welcomes readers back to the beloved world of Moominvalley, where pancakes and jam are a perfectly acceptable supper and a damsel in distress can live in a pre-fabricated castle. The ninth volume of Tove and Lars Jansson's classic comic strip features the beloved Fuddler and Married Life story. Together, the four stories in this collection display the poignancy, whimsy, and philosophical bent that constitute the Moomins' enduring appeal. 'Whimsical and charming, Moomin's (mis)adventures suggest an Alice in Wonderland dream world with odd beings, unexplained connections, and events that freewheel out of control.' - Library Journal. 'Moomin is about freedom, tolerance, and optimism amid frustration, loss, and fear.'- Modern PaintersTrade ReviewA lost treasure now rediscovered-one of the sweetest, strangest comic strips ever drawn or written. A surrealist masterpiece. Honest.-Neil Gaiman

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Book SynopsisFirst Year Healthy purports to be the story of a young woman, recently released from the hospital after an outburst, and her burgeoning relationship with an odd, perhaps criminal Turkish immigrant. In a scant thirty-two pages, working with a vibrant, otherworldly palette of magentas, yellows, and greys, Michael DeForge brings to life a world whose shifting realities are as treacherous as the thin ice its narrator walks on. First Year Healthy is all it appears to be and more: a parable about mental illness, a folk tale about magical cats, and a bizarre, compelling story about relationships. Michael DeForge's singular voice and vision have, in a few short years, rocketed his work to the apex of the contemporary comics canon. Ant Colony was his first book with Drawn and Quarterly: it appeared on the New York Times Graphic Bestseller list and was lauded by the Chicago Tribune, Globe and Mail, and Harper's Magazine. His effortless storytelling and eye for striking page design make each page of First Year Healthy a fascinating puzzle to be unravelled. First Year Healthy is knotty and mysterious - it demands to be read and reread.

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Book SynopsisNew York Times and New Yorker illustrator Jillian Tamaki is best known for co-creating the award-winning young adult graphic novels Skim and This One Summer -- moody and atmospheric bestsellers. SuperMutant Magic Academy, which Jillian has been serializing online for the past four years, paints a teenaged world filled with just as much ennui and uncertainty, but also with a sharp dose of humor and irreverence. Jillian deftly plays superhero and high school Hollywood tropes against what adolescence is really like: the SuperMutant Magic Academy is a prep-school for mutants and witches but their paranormal abilities take a back seat to everyday teen concerns. Science experiments go awry, bake sales are upstaged, and the new kid at school is a cat who will determine the course of human destiny. In one strip, lizard-headed Trixie frets about her non-existent modeling career; in another the immortal Everlasting Boy tries to escape this mortal coil to no avail. Throughout it all, closeted Marsha obsesses about her unrequited crushee, the cat-eared Wendy. Whether the magic is mundane or miraculous, Jillian's jokes are precise and devastating. SuperMutant Magic Academy has won two Ignatz Awards. This volume combines the most popular content from the webcomic with a selection of all-new, never-before-seen strips that conclude Jillian's account of life at the Academy.Trade ReviewSuperMutant Magic Academy isnot just weird, it's oftentimes so completely bonkers and out-there that it leaves you a little shell-shocked. And believe me, that is a huge, huge compliment. -Autostraddle

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Book SynopsisIn 1980, Sylvie Rancourt and her boyfriend moved to Montreal from rural Northern Quebec. With limited formal education or training, they had a hard time finding employment, so Sylvie began dancing in strip clubs. These experiences formed the backbone of the first Canadian autobiographical comic book, Melody, which Rancourt wrote, drew, and distributed, starting in 1985. Later, Rancourt collaborated with artist Jacques Boivin, who translated and drew a new series of Melody comics for the American market - the comics were an instant cult classic. The Rancourt drawn-and-written comics have never before seen English publication. These stories are compelling without ever being voyeuristic or self-pitying, and her drawings are formally innovative while maintaining a refreshingly frank and engaging clarity. Whether she's divulging her first experiences dancing for an audience or sharing moments from her life at home, her storytelling is straightforward and never sensationalized. With a knowing wink at the reader, Rancourt shares a world that, in someone else's writing, might be scandalous or seedy, but in hers is fully realized, real, and often funny. The Drawn and Quarterly edition of Melody, featuring an introduction from Chris Ware (Building Stories), will place this masterpiece of early autobiographical comics in its rightful place at the heart of the comics canon.Trade Review[Sylvie Rancourt] is one of the pioneers of autobiographical comics...The republishing of this long out-of-print and difficult to find saga... plunges the reader straight into a profoundly sensitive work that no moral judgment could taint. -Le Monde

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Book SynopsisAnother classic Moomin story reworked in full color, with a kid-proof but kid-friendly size, price, and format. A housekeeping and mothercraft expert named Mrs. Fillyjonk moves in next door to the Moomins. Seeing the state of the Moomin house, she takes action, shaming them into hiring a maid. When Misabel the maid arrives, it's immediately clear she needs a little cheering up, and since Mrs. Fillyjonk has mysteriously disappeared, the Moomins set about teaching her how to enjoy life. Lessons and poignant reminders of the importance of simple pleasures abound in Moominmamma's Maid, the classic tale from Tove Jansson.Trade ReviewTove Janssoncreated a quirky, original comic strip masterpiece Moomins are the vehicles through which Jansson explores everything that's laughable, charming, laudable, and suspect about being human. - Myla Goldberg, NPR

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Book SynopsisThe iconoclastic and bestselling cartoonist of Paying for It: A Comic-Strip Memoir About Being a John returns with a polemical interpretation of the Bible that will be one of the most controversial and talked-about graphic novels of 2016. Mary Wepte over the feet of Jesus is the retelling in comics from of nine biblical stories that present Chester Brown's fascinating and starling thesis about biblical representations of prostitution. Brown weaves a connecting line between Bathsheba, Ruth, Rahab, Tamar, Mary of Bethany, and he Birgin Mother and the reassesses the Christian moral code by examining the cultural implications of the Bible's representations of sex work. Mary Wept over the Feet of Jesus is a fitting follow-up to Brown's sui generis graphic memoir Paying for It, which was reviewed twice in the New York Times and hailed by sex workers for Brown's advocacy for the decriminalization and normalization of prostitution. Brown approaches the Bible as he did the life of Louis Riel, making these stories compellingly readable and utterly pertinent to a modern audience. In classic Chester Brown fashion, he provides extensive handwritten endnotes that delve into the biblical lore that informs Mary Wept over the feet of Jesus. 'There aren't many cartoonists as brave - or frankly, as strange - as this Canadian artist.' - Rolling Stone.Trade ReviewPaying for It [is a] recounting of the author's many erotic sessions with sex workers; it's a bitter critique of the inanities of romantic love; and it's a sustaned argument in favour of decriminalizing prostitution. - New York Times

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Book SynopsisCartoonist Sarah Glidden follows up her acclaimed debut, How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less, with Rolling Black- outs, which details her two-month long journey through Turkey, Iraq, and Syria. Glidden accompanies her two friends reporters and founders of the journalistic non-profit the Seattle Globalist as they research stories on the Iraq War s effect on the Middle East and, specifically, the war s refugees. Joining them is a former Marine and childhood friend of one of the journalists whose deployment to Iraq in 2007 adds an unexpected and sometimes unwelcome viewpoint, both to the people they come across and perhaps even themselves. The crew works their way through the region with the goal of asking civilians, refugees, and officials: who are you? Everyone has a story to tell: the Iranian blogger, the United Nations Refugee administrator, a taxi driver, the Iraqi refugee deported from the US, the Iraqis seeking refuge in Syria, and even the American Marine. The journalists struggle equally with how to tell these stories and with how to market them into articles people will want to read. Glidden records all that she encounters with a sympathetic and searching eye What is journalism? What is its purpose? What is honesty? Painted in her trademark soft muted watercolours and written with a self-effacing humour Rolling Blackouts cements Glidden's place as one of comics' most original non-fiction voicesTrade ReviewAmid it all, Glidden the storyteller exudes intimacy and warmth both in her tube watercolours and her sometimes confessional persona. And Glidden the knowledge-seeker thinks in much the same way as she paints: forever toward the light. Washington Post. A graphic nonfiction novel of subtlety and understated wit. Entertainment Weekly

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Book SynopsisInspired by Yeon-sik Hong s attempt to Uncomfortably, Happily is the story of a young couple finding their way. Burdened by unmet comics deadlines and high rent, our narrator and his wife know they must make a change. Convinced the absence of traffic noise will ease his writer s block, our pair welcomes the idea of building a life from scratch. Deciding on a home atop an uninhabited mountain, they excitedly embrace the charms of their new rural existence. From tending to the land and attempting grocery runs through snow, to the complexities of fighting depression in seclusion, the move does not immediately prove to be the golden ticket they d hoped for, and the silence of the mountain poses as much of an obstacle to output as the sirens of the city. Through it all, though, we see simple pleasures seep in and gain prominence over these commercial, and, often, comparatively trivial worries: the smell of the forest, the calming weight of enveloping snow, and the gratification of a stripped down life making art begin to muffle other concerns. Originally published in Korean to great acclaim and winning the Manhwa Today award, Uncomfortably, Happily uniquely explores our narrator s inner world. Hong propels the comic with gorgeously detailed yet simple art, sharing the story of two lives unfolding slowly, sometimes uncomfortably, yet ultimately, happily.

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Book SynopsisLynda Barry's comics were my YA before YA really even existed. She's been writing teen stories with an incredibly clear voice since the early 80s. [The Greatest Of Marlys] is raw, ugly, hilari-ous, and poignant. -Raina Telgemeier, Smile and Drama. Eight-year-old Marlys Mullen is Lynda Barry's most famous character from her long-running and landmark comic strip Ernie Pook's Comeek, and for good reason! Given her very own collection of strips, Marlys shines in all her freckled and pig-tailed groovy glory. The trailer park where she and her family live is the grand stage for her dramas big and small. Joining Marlys are her teenaged sister Maybonne, her younger brother Freddie, their mother, and an offbeat array of family members, neighbors, and classmates. Marlys's enthusiasm for life knows no bounds. Her childhood is one where the neighborhood kids stay out all night playing kickball; the desire to be popular is unending; bullies are unrepentant; and parents make few appearances. The Greatest Of Marlys spotlights Barry's masterful skill of chronicling childhood through adolescence in all of its wonder, awkward- ness, humor, and pain.Trade ReviewThe Greatest of Marlys is a collection of [Barry's] best cartoon work, and as such it's a perfect introduction to her (we're approaching a word not commonly employed when talking of cartoons) oeuvreHow many writers can place us back in third grade without getting vague or wistful? Lynda Barry has no peer. -Dave Eggers, New York Times Book Review

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Book SynopsisSticks Angelica is, in her own words, 49 years old. Former: Olympian, poet, scholar, sculptor, minister, activist, Governor General, entrepreneur, line cook, head- mistress, Mountie, columnist, libertarian, cellist. After a high-profile family scandal, Sticks escapes to the woods to live in what would be relative isolation were it not for the many animals that surround and inevitably annoy her. Sticks is an arrogant self-obsessed force who wills herself on the flora and fauna. There is a rabbit named Oatmeal who harbours an unrequited love for her, a pair of kissing geese, a cross- dressing moose absurdly named Lisa Hanawalt. When a reporter named, ahem, Michael DeForge shows up to interview Sticks for his biography on her, she quickly slugs him and buries him up to his neck, immobilizing him. Instead, Sticks narrates her way through the forest, recalling formative incidents from her storied past in what becomes a strange sort of autobiography. Deforge s witty dialogue and deadpan narration create a bizarre yet eerily familiar world. Sticks Angelica plays with autobiography, biography, and hagiography to look at how we build our own sense of self and how others carry on the roles we create for them in our own personal dramas.

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Book SynopsisWhen a charismatic prophet comes to town, the residents of Moominvalley are easily convinced to follow his doctrine for true happiness. Intrigued by their friends and neighbours lifestyle changes, the impression- able Moomins find themselves attempting to adopt the teachings of their new spiritual leader. But the freer they get, the more miser- able they feel. Moominvalley s state of divine chaos is further complicated by the proph- et s well-intentioned decree to free all of the jail s inmates. Moomin Begins a New Life is an eccentric all-ages adventure from the acclaimed Finnish cartoonist Tove Jansson that explores the appeal of self-transformation and the pursuit of happiness culture is that she addresses serious, often uncomfortable issues uncertainty, heart-break, mortality, natural disasters, our ample human imperfections with great compassion and warmth, never chastising or preaching but instead celebrating the light in life and aiming its generous beam at the dark. Maria Popova, Brainpickings

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Book SynopsisInspired by a 16th-century Zen monk s painting of a hundred demons chasing each other across a long scroll, acclaimed cartoonist Lynda Barry confronts various demons from her life in seventeen full colour vignettes. In Barry s hand, demons are the life moments that haunt you, form you and stay with you: your worst boyfriend; kickball games on a warm summer night; watching your baby brother dance; the smell of various houses in the neighbourhood you grew up in; or the day you realize your childhood is long behind you and you are officially a teenager. As a cartoonist, Lynda Barry has the innate ability to zero in on the essence of truth, a magical quality that has made her book One! Hundred! Demons! an enduring classic of the early 21st century. In the book s intro, however, Barry throws the idea of truth out of the window by asking the reader to decide if fiction can have truth and if autobiography can have a fiction, a hybrid that Barry coins autobiofictionalography. As readers get to know Barry s demons, they realize that the actual truth no longer matters because the universality of Barry s comics, true or untrue reigns supreme.

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Book SynopsisThe most anticipated issue to date of Seth s iconic comics digest, Palookaville 23 marks the culmination of twenty years of serialization: here, Clyde Fans comes to a conclusion. In this final chapter, we return to Simon Matchcard and the year 1957 exactly where we left off at the end of the first Clyde Fans volume. After his disastrous attempt at sales in the city of Dominion, we witness the out of body experience and ecstatic vision that sets Simon on his path of lonely isolation in the years to come. But of course that s not all an issue of Palookaville always feels a bit like coming home a comforting structure that promises new surprises and updates on old favourites. The next instalment in Seth s memoir, Nothing Lasts, follows him from late childhood to his high school years, from innocent crushes to adolescent brooding, all told with what has become Seth s signature anecdotal approach to autobiography. Readers will also be privy to highlights of Seth s exquisite fine-art practice paintings and drawings from two recent gallery exhibitions which transport us back to an era where style was snappier, moldings more ornate. As always, the three-part digest is care- fully designed by Seth in a call back to classic 1940s textural book design. From one of Canada s greatest artists, Palookaville 23 offers closure, while evoking excitement about what s to come.

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Book SynopsisA woman post-breakup becomes obsessed with the mirror Facebook of herself seeing a life that could be hers. Another woman, besieged by bed bugs, studies her relationship and the affects her recently- ended secret affair has on it. An anonymous music file surfaces on the internet and a cult springs up in its wake. A group of city animals briefly open their minds to us; A woman finds her clothes growing baggy, her shoes looser, as she shrinks the world around her recedes. Jillian Tamaki brings her combined characteristic realism and humour to her first collection of short stories. Boundless explores the lives of women and how the expectations of others influence their real and virtual selves. Mixing objective reality, speculative fiction, out-and-out fantasy, and a matter-of-fact feminism, Tamaki shows herself to be a short story talent equal to her peers Adrian Tomine and Eleanor Davis. As Tamaki experiments with art-styles, we see hyper-realist detailing duelling with thick chunky blocks of ink, each delicately setting the mood for her characters inner turmoil.

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Book SynopsisPoppies of Iraq is Brigitte Findakly s nuanced tender chronicle of her relationship with her homeland Iraq, co-written and drawn by her husband, the acclaimed cartoonist Lewis Trondheim. In spare and elegant detail, they share memories of her middle class childhood touching on cultural practices, the education system, Saddam Hussein s state control, and her family s history as Orthodox Christians in the arab world. Poppies of Iraq is intimate and wide-ranging; the story of how one can become separated from one s homeland and still feel intimately connected yet ultimately estranged. Signs of an oppressive regime permeate a seemingly normal life: magazines arrive edited by customs; the color red is banned after the execution of General Kassim; Baathist militiamen are publicly hanged and school kids are bussed past them to bear witness. As conditions in Mosul worsen over her childhood, Brigitte s father is always hopeful that life in Iraq will return to being secular and prosperous. The family eventually feels compelled to move to Paris, however, where Brigitte finds herself not quite belonging to either culture. Trondheim brings to life Findakly s memories to create a poignant family portrait that covers loss, tragedy, love, and the loneliness of exile.

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Book SynopsisR. Sikoryak is famous for taking classic comics and mashing them with famous literature as he did in Masterpiece Comics or even using comics to visualize the iTunes Terms and Conditions contract. Now in these uncertain times, cartoonist R. Sikoryak draws upon the power of comics and satire to frame President Trump and his controversial declarations as the words and actions of the most notable villains and antagonists in comic book history. Reimagining the most famous comic covers, Sikoryak transforms Wonder Woman into Nasty Woman; Tubby Tompkins into Trump; Black Panther into the Black Voter; the Fantastic Four into the Hombres Fantasticos and Trump into Magneto fighting the Ex-Men. In perfect Trumpian fashion, The Unquotable Trump will be a 48-page treasury annual needlessly oversized and garishly colored; a throw-back to the past when both Comics and America were Great. This will be the hugest comic, truly a great comic. You won t want to miss this, trust me, you ll see!

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Book SynopsisWalt Disney is exhausted both physically and mentally. After a breakdown where he trashes his office, his wife Lilian brings him to a retreat to recover?the Von Spatz Rehabilitation Center. With a campus that includes studio buildings, a gallery, an art supply store, a hot dog booth, and a penguin pool, the clinic is a paradise for artists in crisis. There Disney meets Tomi Ungerer and Saul Steinberg, and together, they embark on a regimen of relaxation and art therapy. Anna Haifisch looks at the fervent drive and crippling insecurities of the average artist and places those same issues on the shoulders of three celebrated 20th century artists. Part study of isolation, part tale of a begrudging camaraderie, daily life at the center mixes with reminiscences from the world outside. Wryly written, precisely composed, and glowingly colored, Von Spatz is a hilarious, heartwarming absurdist tale.

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Book SynopsisWith her startling humor, it's no surprise that Aminder Dhaliwal's web comic Woman World has a devoted audience of more than 120,000 readers, updated biweekly with each installment earning an average of 25,000 likes. Now, readers everywhere will delight in the print edition as Dhaliwal seamlessly incorporates feminist philosophical concerns into a series of perfectly-paced strips that skewer perceived notions of femininity and contemporary cultural icons. D+Q's edition of Woman World will include new and previously unpublished material. When a birth defect wipes out the planet's entire population of men, Woman World rises out of society's ashes. Dhaliwal's infectiously funny instagram comic follows the rebuilding process, tracking a group of women who have rallied together under the flag of Beyonce's Thighs. Only Grandma remembers the distant past, a civilization of segway-riding mall cops, Blockbusters movie rental shops, and That's What She Said jokes. For the most part, Woman World's residents are focused on their struggles with unrequited love and anxiety, not to mention that whole survival of humanity thing. Woman World is an uproarious and insightful graphic novel from a very talented and funny new voice.

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Book SynopsisRichard is a benevolent but tough leader. He oversees everything that happens in the valley, and everyone loves him for it. When Lyle the Raccoon becomes sick, his friends Omar the Spider, Neville the Dog, and Ellie Squirrel take matters into their own hands, breaking Richard s strict rules. Caroline Frog rats them out to Richard and they are immediately exiled from the only world they ve ever known. Michael DeForge s Leaving Richard s Valley expands from a bizarre hero s quest into something more. As this ragtag group makes their way out of the valley, and then out of the park and into the big city, we see them coming to terms with different kinds of community: noise-rockers, gentrification protesters, squatters, and more. DeForge is idiosyncratically funny but also deeply insightful about community, cults of personality, and the condo-ization of cities. These eye-catching and sometimes absurd comics coalesce into a book that questions who our cities are for and how we make community in a capitalist society.

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Book SynopsisThis Woman s Work is a powerfully raw autobiographical work that asks vital questions about femininity and the assumptions we make about gender. Julie Delporte examines cultural artefacts and sometimes traumatic memories through the lens of the woman she is today a feminist who understands the reality of the women around her, how experiencing rape culture and sexual abuse is almost synonymous with being a woman, and the struggle of reconciling one s feminist beliefs with the desire to be loved. She sometimes resents being a woman and would rather be anything but. Told through beautifully evocative coloured pencil drawings and sparse but compelling prose, This Woman s Work documents Delporte s memories and cultural consumption through journal-like entries that represent her struggles with femininity and womanhood. She structures these moments in a nonlinear fashion, presenting each one as a snapshot of a place and time trips abroad, the moment you realize a relationship is over, and a traumatizing childhood event of sexual abuse that haunts her to this day. While This Woman s Work is deeply personal, it is also a reflection of the conversations that women have with themselves when trying to carve out their feminist identity. Delporte s search for answers in the turmoil created by gender assumptions is profoundly resonant in the era of #MeToo.

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Book SynopsisHot Comb offers a poignant glimpse into black women s lives and coming-of-age stories as seen across a crowded, ammonia-scented hair salon while ladies gossip and bond over the burn. The titular Hot Comb is about a young girl s first perm a doomed ploy to look cool and stop seeming too white in the all-black neighborhood her family has just moved into. In Virgin Hair, taunts of tender-headed sting as much as the perm itself. My Lil Sister Lena shows the stress of being the only black player on a white softball team. Lena s hair is the team curio, an object to be touched, a subject to be discussed and debated at the will of her teammates, leading Lena to develop an anxiety disorder of pulling her own hair out. Throughout Hot Comb, Ebony Flowers re-creates classic magazine ads idealizing women s need for hair relaxers and products. Change your hair form to fit your life form and Kinks and Koils Forever call customers from the page. Realizations about race, class, and the imperfections of identity swirl through these stories and ads, which are by turns sweet, insightful, and heartbreaking. Flowers began drawing comics while earning her Ph.D., and her early mastery of sequential storytelling is nothing short of sublime. From her black-and-white drawings to her color construction-paper collages, Hot Comb is a propitious display of talent from a new cartoonist who has already made her mark.

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Book SynopsisDon t take the title as a metaphor: it really is the worst book ever. The winner of the Governor General Literary Award and children s book author and illustrator Elise Gravel takes readers on an unexpected journey through the world s most boring book in The Worst Book Ever. The characters and omniscient readers alike quickly become annoyed by the author s bland imagination and rebel against her tired tropes and stale choices, spouting sass in an attempt to get her attention and steer the narrative in a more interesting direction. After all, you don t even have to buy the book, but the characters? They re stuck in there for an eternity, and they re going to do their best to make the most of it, or at least have a little fun when they can. As the charming and bizarre true nature of the characters overpowers the dry attributes given to them by the author, this once blase story quickly picks up speed, transforming into something much more unique than originally promised. With Gravel s signature goofy characters behind the wheel, no silly twist or rude body function is off the table.

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Book SynopsisThe joy of food and tradition unites a family faltering in the face of illness and lossMadang is an artist and new father who moves to a quiet home in the countryside with his wife and young baby, excited to build a new life full of hope and joy, complete with a garden and even snow. But soon reality sets in and his attention is divided between his growing happy family and his impoverished parents back in Seoul in a dingy basement apartment. With an ailing mother in and out of the hospital and an alcoholic father, Madang struggles to overcome the exhaustion and frustration of trying to be everything all at once: a good son, devoted father, and loving husband.To cope, he finds himself reminiscing about their family meals together, particularly his mother''s kimchi, a traditional dish that is prepared by the family and requires months of fermentation. Memories of his mother''s glorious cookingso good it would prompt a young Madang and his brother into songsoothe the family. With her impending death, Madang races to learn her recipes and bring together the three generations at the family table while it''s still possible. This is a beautiful and thoughtful meditation on how the kitchen and communal cookingin the past, present, and futurebind a family together amidst the inevitable.

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Book SynopsisBefore the critically-acclaimed animated shows, the bestselling graphic novel Coyote Doggirl, or the humor collections Hot Dog Taste Test and My Dirty Dumb Eyes, cartoonist Lisa Hanawalt was a comic book industry sensation with her Ignatz Award-winning minicomic series I Want You. Hanawalt s outlandish humor and ingenious formalism are evident in the comics collected here. Her love of anthropomorphism and scatology are on full display, all lovingly and grotesquely drawn by Hanawalt in obsessive, unnerving detail. The stars here are She-Moose, who we join sex-toy shopping, and He-Horse, who we learn mid-flight suffers from ornithophobia. The true star of I Want You may just be Hanawalt s hilarious command of the graphic listicle. Top Causes of Freeway Accidents is a prescient pre-BoJack display of Hanawalt s love for all things equine. Things We Are Sorry We Did Last Night includes the murder of all Hanawalt s Google doppelgangers. Whether she s discussing the daily commute or masturbation, she packs each comic in I Want You with punchy cultural observations and sharp-witted reflections on typically taboo subjects. A master humorist and cartoonist, Hanawalt strikes the perfect balance of drawing the gorgeous and the repugnant, the fantastical and the lifelike, the bizarre and the hilarious creating a deeply human exp

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Book SynopsisThe Sky is Blue with a Single Cloud collects the best short stories from Kuniko Tsurita s remarkable career. While the works of her male peers in literary manga are widely reprinted, this formally ambitious and poetic female voice is like none other currently available to an English readership. A master of the comics form, expert pacing and compositions combined with bold characters are signature qualities of Tsurita's work. Tsurita s early stories Nonsense and Anti provide a unique, intimate perspective on the bohemian culture and political heat of late 1960s and early 70s Tokyo. Her work gradually became darker and more surreal under the influence of modern French literature and her own prematurely failing health. As in works like The Sky Is Blue with a Single Cloud and Max, the gender of many of Tsurita's strong and sensual protagonists is ambiguous, marking an early exploration of gender fluidity. Late stories like Arctic Cold and Flight show the artist experimenting with more conventional narrative modes, though with dystopian themes that extend the philosophical interests of her early work. An exciting and essential gekiga collection, The Sky Is Blue with a Single Cloud is translated by comics scholar Ryan Holmberg and includes an afterword cowritten by Holmberg and the manga editor Mitsuhiro Asakawa delineating Tsurita's importance and historical relevance.

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Book SynopsisWendy is an aspiring contemporary artist whose adventures have taken her to galleries, art openings, and parties in Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Toronto. In Wendy, Master of Art, Walter Scott s sly wit and social commentary zero in on MFA culture as our hero hunkers down to complete a master of fine arts at the University of Hell in small-town Ontario. Finally Wendy has space to refine her artistic practice, but in this calm, all of her unresolved insecurities and fears explode at full volume usually while hungover. What is the post-Jungian object as symbol? Will she ever understand her course reading or herself? What if she s just not smart enough? As she develops as an artist and a person, Wendy also finds herself in a teaching position, mentoring a perpetually sobbing grade-grubbing undergrad. Scott s incisively funny take on art school pretensions isn t the only focus. Wendy, Master of Art explores the politics of open relationships and polyamory, performative activism, the precariousness of a life in the arts, as well as the complexities of gender identity, sex work, drug use, and more. At its heart, this is a book about the give and take of community about learning to navigate empathy and boundaries, and to respect herself. It is deeply funny and endlessly relatable as it shows Wendy growing from millennial art party girl to successful artist, friend, teacher and Master of Art.

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Book SynopsisSophie s young and queer and into feminist theory. She decides to study abroad, choosing Paris for no firm reason beyond liking French comics. Feeling a bit lonely and out of place, she s desperate for community and a sense of belonging. She stumbles into what/who she s looking for when she meets Zena. An anarchist student-activist committed to veganism and shoplifting, Zena offers Sophie a whole new political ideology that feels electric. Enamored of Zena, of the idea of living more righteously Sophie finds herself swept up in a whirlwind friendship that blows her even farther from her rural Californian roots as they embark on a disastrous hitchhiking trip to Amsterdam and Berlin full of couch surfing, drug tripping, and radical book fairs. Capturing that time in your life where you re meeting new people and learning about the world when everything feels vital and urgent The Contradictions is Sophie Yanow s fictionalized coming-of-age story. Sophie s attempts at ideological purity are challenged time and again, putting into question the plausibility of a life of dogma in a world filled with contradictions. Keenly observed, frank, and very funny, The Contradictions speaks to a specific reality while also being incredibly relatable, reminding us that we are all imperfect people in an imperfect world.

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Book SynopsisHow to encapsulate a life in all its messiness, epiphanies, misunderstandings, disappointments, and joys? Seth, cartoonist of Clyde Fans, the first graphic novel nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, offers his tragicomic answer with George Sprott: 1894 1975. Page by page, we learn about George outmoded television host, creature of habit, charming if pompous old man, selfish lover, man about to die and though this is ultimately the story of one man s death, Seth leavens it with humour and restraint. The book s omniscient narrator offers a patchwork tale: a series of interviews with the people who cared about George, flashbacks, and personal reminiscences. The thwarted love of his life, Olive Mott, and the woman he marries, Helen. His trips to the Arctic and the exoticized portrait his documentaries painted of a Great White North. His habit of falling asleep on-air. His humdrum demise. What emerges is a story about memory, loss, time, and the stories we tell (and retell) to get through the day. George s romanticizing and repeating of his adventures up North, adventures that are revealed to be entirely fictional, holds a mirror to the ways we each historicize our own lives. Originally serialised in The New York Times Magazine before being published in an expanded, large-format hardcover by Drawn & Quarterly, this new edition is the definitive George Sprott.Trade ReviewA talent to be treasured. The Independent. [Seth] is exceptionally gifted at evoking the passing of time and the stasis of space. The Washington Post

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Book SynopsisPaul at Home is Quebecois superstar Michel Rabagliati s most personal book yet, a riveting, emotional, and frequently amusing take on the losses and loneliness of being closer to retirement than to university. Paul is in his mid-50s, a successful cartoonist with an achy shoulder living in a house he once shared with his wife and daughter. The backyard is unkempt, full of weeds. A swing set sits idle, slowly rusting beside a half-dead tree Paul planted with his then-five-year old daughter. The room that belonged to his now-18-year-old daughter is mostly unused, especially once she decides to move overseas. Left unspoken but lingering in the background is Paul s divorce after a three decade relationship with his high school sweetheart. Amid all of this emotional turmoil, Paul visits his ailing mother in the final months of her life. Like Paul, she divorced in mid-life after a long marriage. She spent most of her remaining years alone or in unfulfilling relationships, which Paul implicitly fears might happen to him. Online dating only seems to make the world worse. Rabagliati doesn t shy away from these intimate issues, approaching them as much with self-deprecating humor as with sorrow or pain. Characterized by both a deep insight and a willingness to poke fun at life s shortcomings, Paul at Home is a playful and poetic rumination on loss and the sometimes unsettling changes that come with middle age.

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Book Synopsis"One of the most inventive and prolific cartoonists working today."?VultureIn the past ten years, Michael DeForge has released eleven books. While his style and approach have evolved, he has never wavered from taut character studies and incisive social commentary with a focus on humor. He has deeply probed subjects like identity, gentrification, fame, and sexual desire.In ?No Hell,? an angel?s tour of the five tiers of heaven reveals her obsession with a haunting infidelity. In ?Raising,? a couple uses an app to see what their unborn child would look like. Of course, what begins as a simple face-melding experiment becomes a nightmare of too-much-information where the young couple is forced to confront their terrible choices. ?Recommended for You? is an anxious retelling of our narrator?s favorite TV show?a Purge-like societal collapse drama?as a reflection of our desire for meaning in pop culture. Each of these stories shows the inner turmoil of an ordinary person coming to grips with a world vastly different than their initial perception of it. The humor is searing and the emotional weight lingers long after the story ends.Heaven No Hell collects DeForge?s best work yet. His ability to dig into a subject and break it down with beautiful drawings and sharp writing makes him one of the finest short story writers of the past decade, in comics or beyond. Heaven No Hell is always funny, sometimes sad, and continuously innovative in its deconstruction of society.

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Book Synopsis"Dhaliwal created a fictitious community facing xenophobia, fetishization, and media misrepresentation. It''s resonating with her thousands of Instagram followers."?Robert Ito, The New York Times?The characters in Dhaliwal?s stories sparkle. They?re tenderly rendered and their problems are real... The struggle of the cyclops unfolds in metaphors for race, sexuality, gender, and disability, tangling with ideas about fetishization, interracial relationships, passing, and representation.??Carmen Maria Machado, author of In The Dream HouseFollowing the critical and popular success of Woman World?the hit Instagram comic which appeared on 25 best of the year lists?Aminder Dhaliwal returns with Cyclopedia Exotica. Also serialized on instagram to her 250,000 followers, this graphic novel showcases Dhaliwal?s quick wit and astute socio-cultural criticism.Doctor?s office waiting rooms, commercials, dog parks, and dating app screenshots capture the experiences and interior lives of the cyclops community; a largely immigrant population displaying physical differences from the majority. Whether they?re artists, parents, or yoga students, the cyclops have it tough: they face microaggressions and overt xenophobia on a daily basis. However, they are bent on finding love, cultivating community, and navigating life alongside the two-eyed majority with patience and the occasional bout of rage.Cyclopedia Exotica is a triumph of hilarious candor.

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Book Synopsis?One of comics? preeminent humorists.? ?The AV ClubKeiler Roberts mines the passing moments of family life to deliver an affecting and funny account of what it means to simultaneously exist as a mother, daughter, wife, and artist. Drawn in an unassuming yet charming staccato that mimics the awkward rhythm of life, no one?s foibles are left unspared, most often the author?s own.When Roberts considers whether or not to dust the ceiling fan, it?s effectively relevant. She can get lost in the rewarding melodrama of playing Barbies with her daughter and will momentarily snap out of her depression. Her harmless fibs to get through the moment are brought up by her daughter a year or two later, yet without hesitation Roberts will request that her daughter?s imaginary friend not visit when she is around. Her MS diagnosis lingers in the background, never taking center stage.In My Begging Chart, her most encompassing work yet, Keiler meditates on routine and stillness. The vignettes of her everyday life exude immense presence, making her comics thoroughly relatable and reflective of our all-too-human lives as they unfold with humour, sadness, and relieving joy. In transporting these stories onto paper, Keiler observes, and at times relishes, a fleeting present.

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Book SynopsisA five-generation family history told through what is seen and heard, if not said. Let s Not Talk Anymore weaves together five generations of women from Weng Pixin s family, each at age 15. Her lineage is full of breakages her great grandmother Ku?n is sent away from her family in South China, her grandmother Mei is adopted by a neighbor to help with housework, and her mother B?ng is heartbroken by her father s estrangement. Pixin s own story centers on her feelings of isolation and her rebellion from her mother. She extends the line by envisioning a fictional future daughter, Rita, who questions her family s legacy. While spanning 100 years, Pixin moves back and forth in time seamlessly, as each woman experiences loneliness and kinship, hope and longing. As each story develops, generational traumas are revealed and fraught relationships passed on from mother to daughter. Creative impulses are stifled or nurtured. They struggle with poverty and neglect. And at some point each woman begins to separate herself from her situation and understand the woman she will become. Pixin s bold, vibrant paintings fill the aching silences between generations with beauty and emotion. Her paintings conjure complete worlds which these women inhabit. Let s Not Talk Anymore is a family history filled with tender moments as these women find connection with plants, animals, and their own creative pursuits, while struggling to connect with each other.Trade Review[Sweet Time] by Singaporean cartoonist Weng Pixin reflects her endless curiosity, vivid imagination and sense of wonder. Ms Magazine. In this book of sweeping, colorful, totally gorgeous images, [Weng] explores human relationships, loneliness, memory, and beauty. Electric Literature. Compassion and artistic ambition are evident on every page of this memorable debut. Library Journal

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Book SynopsisThis critique of the art world will have you crying with laughterIn Wendy's Revenge, Scott's titular heroine returns with a fresh set of awkward misadventures and messy nights out. When the book opens, aspiring artist Wendy has decided to move to the west coast to clear her head.She plans on getting some quality time with her collaborator and friend Winona, only to find Winona packing up to leave, having decided to move back in with her mom on the rez. All alone, Wendy endeavours to foster community in Vancouver's bleak art scene. When her hope and optimism are all used up, she packs her bags for an artist residency in Japan. Wendy then gallery hops and parties around the globe until she stumbles upon the opportunity to unite with former foe Paloma. Together they enact revenge on VVURST, the German publication that once tore her performance art to shreds.Young artists struggle with mental health issues, they get wasted and hook up with men with gross piercings, and they're afflicted with an insatiable longing for a stable identitystability they themselves undermine. Scott's deceptively simple, inky character drawings evoke millennial culture with such Jungian accuracy that you can't help but stare and giggle in equal measure. Praised by The New Yorker, Guardian, Globe and Mail, and with an appearance in the Best American Comics anthology, it's clear why Walter Scott's Wendy comics have taken critics by storm.

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Book SynopsisA wormhole into a fleeting romance told in a mind-bending first-person chorus. Time Zone J is Julie Doucet s first inked comic since she famously quit in the nineties after an exhausting career in an industry that, at the time, made little room for women. The year is 1989 and twenty-three-year-old Doucet is flying to France to meet with a soldier. He s a man she only knows through their mail correspondence, a common enough reality of the zine era, when comics were mailed from cartoonist to reader and close relationships were formed. Time is not on their side the soldier is just on furlough for a few days but the two make the most of their visit and discuss future plans, maybe even Christmas in Doucet s city, Montreal. Based on diary entries from the whirlwind romance, the passion and high emotions of youth before you know the limits of love, before you know the difference between love and lust seep through the pages. In contrast to the tryst, Doucet draws herself today, at fifty-five. After years of being in a crowd of men, Doucet compulsively returns to drawing, creating an alternate universe that foregrounds women. The pages of Time Zone J overflow with images pulled from past and present, faces and people that have inspired Doucet across more than three decades of creative work.Trade ReviewSeething, exuberant . . . Doucet s entire comics oeuvre [is] a lavish history lesson for those who might take today s outpouring of feminist comics for granted. The New York Times Book Review. Raunchy brilliance . . . Her open-ended treatment of female identity is still vital. The New York Review of Books

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Book SynopsisA memoir about trauma and writing yourself to a place of healing. At 15, Emily is a relatively typical teenage girl living in the Maritimes. She lives with her eccentric dad as he prepares to build a log cabin. She rides her beloved horse and spends all her free time taking in the fresh air. But things aren t perfect, the winters are harsh and her dad s place is cold and draughty. Enter their neighbour who sees a girl in need and offers to lend a hand. Three words: Our Little Secret, and Emily's fate is sealed. Twenty five years later, Emily is adrift and depressed when she spots her neighbour again on a ferry. The events of that long-ago winter come rushing back, and she is forced to reckon with the past anew. She vows that she will bring him to justice, tell her secret, and come to terms with the wounds that defined so many years of her life. Inept lawyers, expensive therapy, and a broken justice system block Emily s path to peace. Only when she rediscovers her youthful artistic talent by putting pen to paper does she see a way out. Now in her fifties, Carrington has crafted a compulsively readable debut that shows a powerful command of the comics medium. Our Little Secret is a testament to survival and to the importance of telling your story your way.

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Book SynopsisAn ambitious feminist anthology chronicling Indigenous rebellions around the world. In 1930s Bolivia, self-described Anarchist Cholas form a libertarian trade union. In the Northern Highlands of Vietnam, the songs of one girl s youth lead her to a life of activism. In the Philippines, female elders from Kalinga blaze a trail when pushed into impromptu protest. Equally striking accounts from Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, India, Nepal, Peru and Thailand weave a tapestry of trauma and triumph, shedding light on not-too-distant histories otherwise overlooked. Indigenous Peoples all over the world have always had to stand their ground in the face of colonialism. While the details may differ, what these stories have in common is their commitment to resistance in a world that puts profit before respect, and western notions of progress before their own. Movements and Moments is an introductory glimpse into how Indegenous Peoples tell these stories in their own words. From Southeast Asia to South America, vibrant communities must grapple with colonial realities to assert ownership over their lands and traditions. This project was undertaken in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut Indonesien in Jakarta. These stories were selected from an open call across 42 countries to spotlight feminist movements and advocacies in the Global South.Trade ReviewThe artwork throughout is excellent... Taken together, these shorts carry a cumulative power, offering a heartening reminder of the strength and spirituality within resistance and a potent call to arms against injustice. Publishers Weekly. I am grateful for the heart that was poured into these comics, and even more so for the bravery of the people whose stories they tell. This book made me feel a little stronger. It helped me remember some things I had begun to forget. Eleanor Davis, The Hard Tomorrow. Movements and Moments is an important collection of unique, vibrant voices that together sing in unison the stories of identity, liberation, determination, and resilience. To finally gain the perspectives of Indigenous women from South America, Latin America, Asia, and Oceania is a powerful, uplifting celebration of communities who have been underrepresented and overlooked for far too long. Rina Ayuyang, Blame This on the Boogie. This anthology is an excellent, engaging historical resource. ALA Booklist.

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Book SynopsisFrom toddler antics to doctor appointments, Keiler Roberts breathes humour and life into the fleeting present. Keiler Roberts affirms her status as one of the best autobiographical cartoonists working today with The Joy of Quitting, a work encompassing 8 years of hilarious moments in the author s life, mined from the universal. It spans her frantic child-rearing, misfires in the workplace, and frustrating experiences with the medical system. In one strip, the author and her daughter Xia have itchy scalps. Roberts asks her husband to check her hair and all she gets is the cursory remark that he just sees a bunch of bugs. In another, Xia describes her oddly shaped poop in precise detail. We then see Xia sitting at the breakfast table telling the family that she recently learned the word nuisance and everyone agrees it s a good word for her to know. As Xia grows from toddler to big kid, the family evolves and its dynamics shift in subtle ways, changes that pass all too suddenly in real life captured forever with Roberts s keen observational humour. The Joy of Quitting is Roberts magnum opus of domestic comedy, highlighting how she continues to work within and expand the rich tradition of autobiographical comics. Again and again, Roberts shows us that most meaningful moments or gestures often don t have any meaning at all.Trade ReviewI love the way Keiler Roberts use[s] diary comics to endow small, throwaway moments with the dignity and weight of larger ones. Liana Finck, The New York Times. Her work gives off a kind of radical stillness. It always lowers my blood pressure... Keiler Roberts is my new hero. Christopher Borrelli, The Chicago Tribune

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Book SynopsisThe book that brought pre-eminent Manga-ka Shigeru Mizuki to the English-speaking world. Kokopo, 1943. A platoon of soldiers is ordered into battle. The objective is death. The alternative is certain execution as a consequence of survival. Inspired by Eisner Award-winning author Shigeru Mizuki's own mandatory tour of duty as an active combatant in the Imperial Japanese Army, Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths portrays a flailing infantry unit on its last legs near the end of the Second World War. This deeply personal and landmark anti-war work could only have been made by a pacifist. The desperation and moral depravity on display is devastating. Mizuki's fanciful characters must make do against a photo-realistic backdrop teeming with tropical life that remains inhospitable. Indeed, commanding officers prove even more ferocious than the wild unknown of Papua New Guinea. And yet the human instinct endures, seeing through the absurdity of such a rigid and outdated command structure with gallows humor.

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Book SynopsisA cutting portrayal of the pursuit of work-life balance from the cartoonist of Shit is Real. To achieve the proper work-life balance perhaps we just need the right therapist to coach us through our day-to-day. Anita, Sandra, and Dex have ambitions. Anita wants to move from making utility ceramics to fine art sculpture but her pent up dissatisfaction results in an outburst that puts her studio mate s work at risk. Sandra juggles her practical administrative day job at a startup with her wellness influencer channel, finding both in jeopardy when a messy affair with her coworker comes to light. In another corner of the same startup, Dex s innovative ideas are rejected, leading him to spend his days hacking and working as a bike courier. All three are disillusioned with their daily grinds. As the pressure for self-improvement builds they all end up looking to the same therapist for answers. Soon the boundaries between work and life begin to bleed into each other and it becomes increasingly impossible to find balance. All the solace the characters expect their therapist to provide is obscured by her quirks, whims, and psycho-parlance, leading to sessions that are neglectful at best and actively inhibit growth at worst. In striking colors and trippy transformational sequences, Aisha Franz captures the comedic absurdity of contemporary work-life and wellness culture.

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Book SynopsisA rip-roaring journey through the highs and lows of tour life. Welcome aboard the tour van of Major Threat Brooklyn s finest rock band yet to catch a break as they traverse the US of A on a last-ditch summer festival tour. On drums we ve got band dad Ed, the stoic drummer who keeps bumping into tech bro co-workers that he can't quite relate to. On bass, there s Paul, a man of mostly mystery, who drinks hard and yet manages to glide through life, intelligible to no one except energy-drink guzzling Marco, the baby of the band and newest replacement lead singer. And of course there's the gentle and serene Lilith, a weed lollipop sucking, stuffed-animal backpack wearing guitarist healing from heartbreak. There s sex, drugs, and rock n roll, sure, but there s also tender moments as the motley crew take turns behind the wheel, compiling lists of the hottest hunks and best guitar riffs to pass the miles. From tour fashion to breakdowns mechanical and emotional Leslie Stein holds no bars in this incredibly funny and heartfelt love-letter meets parody of life on the road. Her first full-length fiction, Brooklyn's Last Secret expertly showcases Stein s trademark cocktail of charm, wit, and whimsey, leaving readers decidedly affected by their time spent in her world. With her smoothest line and most stunning watercolor washes to date, Brooklyn's Last Secret reveals a lighter, more humorous tone from the LA Times Book Prize winning cartoonist.

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Book SynopsisA delicate, timeless, and breathtaking coming-of-age story. The critically acclaimed and award-winning cartoonist Keum Suk Gendry-Kim returns with a stunning addition to her body of graphic fiction rooted in Korean history. Adapted from Park Wan-seo s beloved novel, The Naked Tree paints a stark portrait of a single nation s fabric slowly torn to shreds by political upheaval and armed conflict. The year is 1951. Twenty-year-old wallflower Lee Kyung ekes out a living at the US Post Exchange, where goods and services of varying stripe are available for purchase. She peddles hand-painted portraits on silk handkerchiefs to soldiers passing through. When a handsome young northern escapee and erstwhile fine artist is hired despite waning demand, an unlikely friendship blossoms into a young woman s first brush with desire against the backdrop of the Korean War at its most devastating. Gendry-Kim brings a masterpiece of world literature to life with bold, expressive lines that capture a denuded landscape brutally forced into transition and the people who must find their way back to each other within it. Available for the first time in English, this edition of The Naked Tree is exquisitely translated by award-winning expert Janet Hong.Trade ReviewKeum takes the reader inside some of the human heart s most inaccessible chambers, places that are all but closed to most visitors. The Guardian

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Book SynopsisA slow-motion drive-by view of a collapsing universe meant to sit in the palm of your hand. How fast can you go in a buggy drawn by the flap of a butterfly s wings? How do you measure the speed of waking from a dream? Such abstract inquiries into the unrelenting absurdity of contemporary life make up this omnibus of meditative vignettes from one of mainland China s most prolific and recognizable yet anonymous new underground cartoonists of the current generation. Every story in 20 km/h toes the line between pun and poetry, and lands somewhere just short of a zen koan: Come back to it as often as you like, it will never read quite the same way twice. A nondescript figure awakes from an assembly line of identically fashioned companions and boards a rowboat destined for the unknown. A man holds the key to sleep in his hand and uses it to disappear into his mattress. The moon is plucked from the sky and fed into a vending machine for a can of soda. Woshibai s minimalist renderings are a startlingly delightful cocktail of existential dread and silent slapstick that arrest the mind s eye with equal parts humor and grace.Trade ReviewSilent, short, unexpected, surreal there s a snackable brevity to them that s unsurprisingly amassed a huge following. SOLRAD. Woshibai's hilariously clever comics explore themes of mundanity and reverie . . . Saying so much with so little is certainly [his] charm. It s Nice That

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Book SynopsisJohn Stanley?s beloved classic now available in paperbackNow collected in an omnibus paperback, John Stanley?s Melvin Monster is about a good-natured monster boy whose sweet personality belies his monstrous appearance. Melvin just wants to be good, go to school, and do as he is told. Melvin?s sunny optimism makes him an oddball outcast in his Monsterville community, where he disappoints his parents, ?Mummy? and ?Baddy,? with his irrepressible sunny disposition, and also continually escapes the wrath of their pet alligator Cleopatra who only wants to eat Melvin whole. Gag after gag, the acclaimed mid-century cartoonist Stanley sets Melvin up in fairly quotidian situations that spiral into hilarious ridiculousness, with a ferociously frenetic comedic timing.Charmingly naïve, Melvin Monster draws its direct inspiration from the 1960s monster craze and the work of cartoonist Charles Addams and its television adaptation The Addams Family as well as The Munsters, however, Melvin Monster is all its own with Stanley?s superior cartooning skills, melding pop colors, expressive lines, and funny jokes on full display.

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Book SynopsisBlack, weird, awkward and proud of it. Welcome to the club! Tired of feeling like you don t belong? Join the club. It s called the Section. You d think a spot to chill, chat, and find community would be much easier to come by for nerdy, queer punks. But when four longtime, bookish BFFs Lika, Amor, Lala, and Tony can t find what they need, they take matters into their own hands and create a space where they can be a hundred percent who they are: Black, queer, and weird. The group puts a call out for all awkward Black folks to come on down to the community center to connect. But low attendance and IRL run-ins with trolls of all kinds only rock everybody with anxiety. As our protagonists start to question the merits of their vision, a lifetime of insecurities about not being good enough or Black enough bubbles to the surface. Will they find a way to turn it around in time for their radical brainchild, the Blackward Zine Fest? Lawrence Lindell s characters pop from the page in playful Technicolor. From mental health to romance, micro and macro aggressions to joy, our crew tackles everything life throws at them in this heartwarming tale about building a place to belong and the power of community.

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Book SynopsisAbidjan's favorite daughter returns in an all-new volume of writer Marguerite Abouet's beloved seriesLong-time creative team Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie make a stunning comeback after a lengthy twelve-year hiatus. Aya: Claws Come Out takes us all back to Yop Cityhome to the hustle and bustle of the Ivory Coast.As Solibra's newest intern, clear-eyed college student Aya finds an unexpected adversary in the beer giant's brand-new head of HR. Her friend Moussa, heir apparent to the company's CEO Mr. Sissoko vies for his father's attention while struggling to tone down his tendency to party. After being outed, Albert must find a new place to stay and grapples with the realities of insufficient student housing. His old flame Inno discovers first-hand how difficult life can be for undocumented migrants in France. Back at home, Bintou navigates the ups and downs of newfound soap opera stardom. All the while, Didier just wants to take Aya out to dinnerif she can ever find the time.Now translated from the French by Edwige Dro, Aya and all her friends greet the bigger, bolder world of the 80s in true Abidjan style, delighting fans both old and new with vibrant but too often unseen depictions of middle-class life in Africa.

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Book SynopsisA veteran illustrator imparts practical advice for the working creative with candid humour.

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Book SynopsisArt has always played a significant role in the history of the labour movement. Songs, stories, poems, pamphlets, and comics, have inspired workers to take action against greedy bosses and helped shape ideas of a more equal world. They also help fan the flames of discontent. Radical social change doesn''t come without radical art. It would be impossible to think about labour unrest without its iconic songs like "Solidarity Forever" or its cartoons like Ernest Riebe''s creation, Mr. Block.In this vein, The Graphic History Collective has created an illustrated chronicle of the strike—the organized withdrawal of labour power—in Canada. For centuries, workers in Canada—Indigenous and non-Indigenous, union and non-union, men and women—have used the strike as a powerful tool, not just for better wages, but also for growing working-class power. This lively comic book will inspire new generations to learn more about labour and working-class history and the power of solidarity.

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