Graphic Novels and Non-fiction
"You'll wonder how anything can be so sad and so funny at the same time." --Lev Grossman, Time
Inspired by a sixteenth-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-color 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 neighborhood 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 twenty-first 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.--Publishers Weekly (Starred review) "TWO BROTHERS is a feat of bravura visual storytelling, a revealing and nuanced work of family portraiture, and a thrilling act of historical re-imagination. It is clearly the work of two major artists, two master collaborators, operating at the peak of their powers."
--Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay "I cannot think of a single gift more pure than the gift the twins possess. Gabriel and Fabio give the world something unique, and precious. It is most amazing to be alive in a time where two creators such as these exist - they give us another reason to wake up and another way to see the world. Two Brothers, like their other work, is another masterpiece, but so different in it's pacing and tone than anything they have done before. I am lucky to share the same planet with them, because they are kind enough to share their stories with me, and the world."
--Gerard Way, The Umbrella Academy "This book immediately jumps onto the list of the most essential graphic novels you will read in your lifetime. Two amazing creators at the top of their game, telling a story in a way only they can tell it. What a gift. What a treat."
--Brian Michael Bendis. Powers "Moon and Bá have long been cartoonists of extraordinary skill, and with Two Brothers they have created their masterwork. Their passion for the comics medium bleeds through in every brushstroke and pen line. This is a stunning book that will touch your heart and leave you breathless." --Jeff Lemire, Descender "TWO BROTHERS is a haunting tribute to sibling love, brotherly hatred, and the kinetic energy when those two forces fuel a family. The deep sense of place, the palpable sorrow of nostalgia, the aura of truth: once again Ba and Moon bring it like no one else in graphic storytelling.
--Mat Johnson, Loving Day "This is an extraordinary work. Moon and Bá, two men already on top of their game, have rewritten what we thought the game was. The comic book was created as entertainment. Two Brothers is proof comics can be Art. The wider your eyes get, the more it touches your heart." --Brian Azzarello, 100 Bullets "Speaking of brothers that both work in comics: TWO BROTHERS is a visually stunning work that makes me dizzy with admiration. Attention to detail, the concern with communicating with the reader on emotional terms as well as intellectual, it is a classic example that artistic chops still matter in the modern comics world. In fact it matters more than ever now.
--Gilbert Hernandez, LOVE & ROCKETS "Moon and Bá have both shot for the stars here... TWO BROTHERS is a striking graphic novel that allows fans to see a different aspect of two of the very best creators in comics- come and see what flavor of genius the Brazilian-based brothers have crafted from the work of Milton Hatoum." --COMICS BEAT "As anyone who's read The Umbrella Academy, Casanova, or Daytripper knows, Moon and Bá are two of the most gifted artists in the comics world. Their new graphic novel, based on the Brazilian novel Dois Irmãos, may be their most ambitious work yet, and the preview art glows. Moon and Bá are themselves Brazilian twins, so it's easy to see how they were attracted to the story." --io9 "Riveting.... Two Brothers is an earthquake both visually and narratively.... Moon and Bá are in clear control of every element of Two Brothers, bringing to life a city, history, and compelling story of a family locked in obsession."
--FANBOY COMICS
A 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.Presented as a blend of classic 'choose your own adventure' stories and point and click escape games, 2120 offers readers the chance to explore these liminal spaces and, at the same time, take an existential, science fictional journey of discovery.
The comics that first launched Tomine into his luminary career, in a special-edition box set
Redesigned to coincide with the release of Shortcomings in paperback is a brand-new edition of Adrian Tomine's first book, 32 Stories, that collects his inaugural mini-comics in a special edition. This onetime printing includes facsimile reprints of the seven mini-comics packaged in a slipcase, as well as an additional pamphlet containing a new introduction and notes by Tomine.This riveting graphic novel biography chronicles Vladimir Putin's rise from a mid-level KGB officer to the autocratic leader of Russia and reveals the truth behind the strongman persona he has spent his career cultivating.
In the West's collective imagination, Vladimir Putin is a devious cartoon villain, constantly plotting and scheming to destroy his enemies around the globe and in Ukraine. But how did an undistinguished mid-level KGB officer become one of the most powerful leaders in Russian history? And how much of Putin's tough-guy persona is a calculated performance? In Accidental Czar, Andrew S. Weiss, a former White House Russia expert, and Brian "Box" Brown show how Putin has successfully cast himself as a cunning, larger-than-life political mastermind--and how the rest of the world has played into the Kremlin's hands by treating him as one. They shatter all of these myths and expose the man behind the façade.A brilliant and suspenseful follow-up to the Booker-nominated graphic novel Sabrina.
Every single person has something unique to them which is impossible to re-create, without exception. --John Smith, acting coachFrom the acclaimed author of Sabrina, Nick Drnaso's Acting Class creates a tapestry of disconnect, distrust, and manipulation. Ten strangers are brought together under the tutelage of John Smith, a mysterious and morally questionable leader. The group of social misfits and restless searchers have one thing in common: they are out of step with their surroundings and desperate for change. A husband and wife, four years into their marriage and simmering in boredom. A single mother, her young son showing disturbing signs of mental instability. A peculiar woman with few if any friends and only her menial job keeping her grounded. A figure model, comfortable in his body and ready for a creative challenge. A worried grandmother and her adult granddaughter; a hulking laborer and gym nut; a physical therapist; an ex-con. With thrumming unease, the class sinks deeper into their lessons as the process demands increasing devotion. When the line between real life and imagination begins to blur, the group's deepest fears and desires are laid bare. Exploring the tension between who we are and how we present, Drnaso cracks open his characters' masks and takes us through an unsettling American journey.
Welcome to the Adventure Zone!
SEE! The illustrated exploits of three lovable dummies set loose in a classic fantasy adventure! READ! Their journey from small-time bodyguards to world-class artifact hunters! MARVEL! At the sheer metafictional chutzpah of a graphic novel based on a story created in a podcast where three dudes and their dad play a tabletop role playing game in real time! Join Taako the elf wizard, Merle the dwarf cleric, and Magnus the human warrior for an adventure they are poorly equipped to handle AT BEST, guided ("guided") by their snarky DM, in a graphic novel that, like the smash-hit podcast it's based on, will tickle your funny bone, tug your heartstrings, and probably pants you if you give it half a chance. With endearingly off-kilter storytelling from master goofballs Clint McElroy and the McElroy brothers, and vivid, adorable art by Carey Pietsch, The Adventure Zone: Here There be Gerblins is the comics equivalent of role-playing in your friend's basement at 2am, eating Cheetos and laughing your ass off as she rolls critical failure after critical failure.In the second Adventure Zone graphic novel (adapted from the McElroy family's wildly popular D&D podcast), we rejoin hero-adjacent sort-of-comrades-in-arms Taako, Magnus, and Merle on a wild careen through a D&D railroad murder mystery.
This installment has a little of everything: a genius child detective, an axe-wielding professional wrestler, a surly wizard, cursed magical artifacts, and a pair of meat monsters. You know, the usual things you find on a train. Hot on the heels of The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins, the smash hit graphic novel that launched the series, The Adventure Zone: Murder on the Rockport Limited! picks up the saga where volume 1 left off. Both books are based on "The Adventure Zone," a tabletop RPG comedy podcast with downloads numbering in the tens of millions and an army of passionately devoted fans. With art and co-adaptation from Carey Pietsch, the McElroys are once again turning their raucous freewheeling D&D campaign into some damn fine comics.START YOUR ENGINES, friends, Clint McElroy and sons Griffin, Justin, and Travis hit the road again with Taako, Magnus and Merle, the beloved agents of chaos from the #1 New York Times bestselling graphic novels illustrated by Carey Pietsch, The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins and The Adventure Zone: Murder on the Rockport Limited.
Our boys have gone full-time at the Bureau of Balance, and their next assignment is a real thorny one: apprehending The Raven, a master thief who's tapped into the power of a Grand Relic to ransack the city of Goldcliff. Local life-saver Lieutenant Hurley pulls them out of the woods, only to throw them headlong into the world of battle wagon racing, Goldcliff's favorite high-stakes low-legality sport and The Raven's chosen battlefield. Will the boys and Hurley be able to reclaim the Relic and pull The Raven back from the brink, or will they get lost in the weeds? Based on the beloved blockbuster podcast where three brothers and their dad play a tabletop RPG in real time, The Adventure Zone: Petals to the Metal has it all: blossoming new friendships, pining for outlaw lovers, and a rollicking race you can root for!Based on the blockbuster podcast where the McElroy brothers and their dad play a tabletop RPG and illustrated by cartooning powerhouse Carey Pietsch, The Adventure Zone: The Crystal Kingdom takes this #1 New York Times bestselling series to haunting new heights.
A desperate call for help interrupts holiday celebrations at the Bureau of Balance, and sends Taako, Magnus and Merle on a high-stakes mission to find and Reclaim a fourth deadly relic: a powerful transmutation stone, hidden somewhere in the depths of a floating arcane laboratory that's home to the Doctors Maureen and Lucas Miller. An unknown menace has seized control of the stone, and is using it to transform the lab into a virulent pink crystal that spreads to everything it touches. It's only a matter of time before this sparkling disaster crash-lands, but in order to find the stone and save the whole planet from being King Midased, our heroes will have to fight their way through a gauntlet of rowdy robots and crystal golems, decide whether they can trust the evasive Lucas Miller, and solve the mystery of what--or who--has put them all in peril, before there's no world left to save.The fifth installment in the #1 New York Times bestselling Adventure Zone graphic novel series, a meta-fictional D&D adventure story based on the smash hit podcast.
The Bureau of Balance has located yet another Grand Relic, and this time it's...time? A small mining town called Refuge has been locked away behind an arcane bubble, and somewhere inside it the Temporal Chalice is causing unknown mayhem. Taako, Magnus, and Merle are launched into their investigation, but they've barely had a chance to get their feet under them before the situation literally falls apart. When the town clocktower strikes noon, Refuge and its citizens are destroyed in a sudden chaos of flame and ruin, and our heroes' relic hunting-- along with their lives--comes to an abrupt end. But woah, what's this? It's 11AM, they're alive again, and Refuge definitely hasn't just been exploded? Looks like a classic time loop, friends. This town is trapped in its final hour, and so are the three of them. And in order to escape, they'll not only have to solve the mystery of what happened to the Chalice, they'll also also have to resist what it offers: the chance to rewrite the worst days of their own pasts. Based on the blockbuster podcast where the McElroy brothers and their dad play a tabletop RPG, and illustrated by cartooning powerhouse Carey Pietsch, The Adventure Zone: The Eleventh Hour is a thrilling new chapter in this #1 New York Times bestselling series.At its heart, however, Afternoon at McBurger's is a timeless story about friendship and innocence and the discoveries of adolescence (both good and bad), with layers to be revealed only through multiple readings. And Galvan's visual style, anchored by a mastery of pastel and primary colors, will make you want to do so immediately.
Al Dente is a very bad dog. He wants your unconditional love, adoration, and attention--and obviously, he deserves it. Why would you even ask that? It's not like you're so perfect!