July 20, 2021 Comics Remember Me and You By Lizzy Stewart Lizzy Stewart’s debut graphic novel, It’s Not What You Thought It Would Be, reimagines visual storytelling through a series of interconnected vignettes that each employ a unique illustrative style. From black-and-white sketches to full-color drawings, Stewart’s stories are linked by feelings of uncertainty and acceptance as friends and strangers alike confront the many ways in which expectations rarely match up with reality. In the below excerpt, two longtime friends meet up and recall the simple pleasures of their adolescence. Read More
May 11, 2021 Comics The Joys and Sorrows of Aunthood By Lee Lai In Lee Lai’s debut graphic novel, Stone Fruit, a queer couple navigates personal and familial struggles between joyful and imaginative playdates with their six-year-old niece, Nessie. Through black-and-gray illustrations, Lai captures the complex emotional tenor of Bron and Ray’s relationship with Nessie, their respective sisters, and each other. In the excerpt below, an afternoon with Nessie’s fun aunts is cut short by a phone call. Read More
May 10, 2021 Comics Climbing Desolation Peak By Alison Bechdel Alison Bechdel’s new graphic memoir, The Secret to Superhuman Strength, follows the artist through a lifetime of fitness and exercise. These memories and musings are interspersed with transcendentalists, Romantics, Eastern philosophers, and other literary figures who shed light on our obsession with transformation and transcendence. In the excerpt below, Bechdel follows in Jack Kerouac’s footsteps up the Matterhorn, only to find the hike to be far more difficult than expected, and with surprising lessons in store. Read More
October 2, 2020 Comics Young, Queer, and Lonely in Paris By Sophie Yanow Sophie Yanow’s work of autofiction The Contradictions paints a portrait of the artist as a young, queer, lonely wanderer on a study-abroad trip in Paris. In the excerpt below, Sophie attends student orientation, drinks wine, and, based on a series of cues that feed into one another with the airtight logic of a geometric proof, zeroes in on potential companions. Read More
May 1, 2020 Comics Classic Fiction with Binary Numbers By Tom Gauld Tom Gauld was born in 1976 and grew up in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. He is a cartoonist and illustrator, and his work is published in the Guardian, The New Yorker, and New Scientist. His comic books—Baking with Kafka, Mooncop, You’re All Just Jealous of My Jetpack, and Goliath—are published by Drawn & Quarterly. He lives in London with his family. From Department of Mind-Blowing Theories, by Tom Gauld. Excerpt courtesy of Drawn & Quarterly.