Adrian Tomine, whose collection Killing and Dying is what everyone is going to be talking about this fall, has the cover of this week's New Yorker and it's s typically note perfect image of gentrification in the face of raw sewage, otherwise known as Life In These Here Five Burroughs. The above link has a gallery of Tomine's other covers and they are all equally perfect, although I'm particularly partial to the one about moving to Jersey. Others love this updated "Shop round the Corner" image from 2008.
Although most of these books have been announced, here’s all of Drawn & Quarterly’s fall schedule in all it’s glory. You can read the complete catalog here — commentary below is my own.
STEP ASIDE, POPS: A HARK! A VAGRANT COLLECTION
Kate Beaton
9781770462083 6c2d3
In stores September 15, 2015! $19.95 / 5.5″ x 8.75″ / 160 pages / b+w / hardcover / 9781770462083
Surely one of the biggest books of the fall —collecting Beaton’s strips over the last four years—a hilarious mosaic o Canadian history, strong female protagonists and people who take themselves a leeeeeetle too seriously—perfect for gifting!
KILLING AND DYING
Adrian Tomine
9781770462090 fbf67-1
In stores October 6, 2015! $22.95 / 6.25″ x 9.25″ / 128 pages / full color / hardcover / 9781770462090
Collecting the last few OPtic Nerve’s — Tomine’s cartooning has never been more insightful.
SHIGERU MIZUKI’S HITLER
Shigeru Mizuki, translated by Zack Davisson
In stores November 2015! $24.95 / 6.5″ x 8.75″ / 296 pages / b+w / paperback / 9781770462106
HIstorian/cartoonist Mizuki is known for SHOWA! his history of wartime and post-war Japan. I’m not familiar with this work but this should be “compelling” to coin a phrase.
PUKE FORCE
Brian Chippendale
In stores October 2015! $22.95 / 10.875″ x 8.025″ / 120 pages / b+w / hardcover / 9781770462199
D&Q’s first book by Fort Thunder ally Chippendale—these strips were originally serialized on the PictureBox website, I believe. Here’s the catalog blurb:
A bomb explodes in a coffee shop: the incident is played out over and over again from the perspective of each table in the shop, revisiting moments from ten and twenty years before. We see the inevitable as the characters bicker or celebrate, unaware of what awaits them. Throughout this dystopic graphic novel, Chippendale uses humor and a frantic drawing style to show how the insidious nature of corporate greed and the commodification of everything have warped society into a killing machine. Sardonic and self-aware, Puke Force asks all the right questions, providing a startling and on-point take on contemporary social issues. Chippendale’s artwork makes each panel a masterpiece of thrumming linework and lo-fi magic, as his storytelling wends and winds its way to a fascinating conclusion.
RED COLORED ELEGY
Seiichi Hayashi, translated by Taro Nettleton
9781770462120 3ac17-1
In stores August 2015! $19.95 / 6.875″ x 8.25″ / 240 pages / b+w / paperback / 9781770462120
New paperback edition of a manga that reads like the best literary fiction.
THE NATIVE TREES OF CANADA: A POSTCARD SET
Leanne Shapton
9781770462137 bff04
In stores August 2015! $14.95 / 4″ x 5.75″ / 30 postcards / full color / 9781770462137
Postcard set for the horticulturally minded.
PIPPI LONGSTOCKING: THE STRONGEST IN THE WORLD!
Astrid Lindgren & Ingrid Vang Nyman
translated by Tiina Nunnally
In stores October 2015! $22.95 / 7.5″ x 9.5″ / 160 pages / full color / paperback / 9781770462151
Is there a better role model for anyone than Pippi?
THE OWNER’S MANUAL TO TERRIBLE PARENTING
Guy Delisle, translated by Helge Dascher
TERRIBLE.cover
In stores August 2015! $12.95 / 5″ x 7″ / 204 pages / b+w / paperback / 9781770462144
The third book in Delisle’s witty series of short cartoons on crappy parenting.
MOOMINMAMMA’S MAID
Tove Jansson
In stores November 2015! $9.95 / 8.5″ x 6″ / 64 pages / full color / flexicover / 9781770462168
This small, back-pack sized Moomin reprint books are perfect for the kids in your life.
Comics creator Adrian Tomine has signed a deal with Drawn + Quarterly. A release date for Killing and Dying: Stories has been scheduled for October 2015.
Editor Chris Oliveros negotiated the deal with Samantha Haywood of the Transatlantic Literary Agency. Farrar, Straus & Giroux has signed on as the U.S. distributor and Raincoast Books will serve as the Canadian distributor.
Oliveros had this statement in the press release: “D+Q first published Adrian Tomine’s comics in 1995 and in the ensuing two decades it’s been a real privilege to see how he has continued to evolve as an artist, a writer, and overall as a cartoonist. Killing and Dying just might be my favorite book by Adrian. We’ve come to expect from him an eloquent visual sensibility and insightful, complex storytelling, but there’s something else going on here: these stories are darkly funny, and they’re tinged with a very particular acerbic wit that we haven’t seen all too often before this.”
Somehow I managed to miss last week’s biggest news of all: a new collection from Adrian Tomine, coming in October! The ominously titled Killing and Dying which collects the last few issues of Optic Nerve:
“Amber Sweet” shows the disastrous impact of mistaken identity in a hyper-connected world; “A Brief History of the Art Form Known as Hortisculpture” details the invention and destruction of a vital new art form in short comic strips; “Translated, from the Japanese,” is a lush, full-color display of storytelling through still images; the title story, “Killing and Dying”, centers on parenthood, mortality, and stand-up comedy.
According to D&Q’s Chris Oliveros who acquired the book, it might be his favorite of all Tomine’s books. “We’ve come to expect from him an eloquent visual sensibility and insightful, complex storytelling, but there’s something else going on here: these stories are darkly funny, and they’re tinged with a very particular acerbic wit that we haven’t seen all too often before this.”
Considering that Tomine’s previous books include the graphic novel defining books including Shortcomings, and Summer Blonde, that’s high praise, but I’d have to concur that the last few issues of Optic Nerve have shown Tomine at the height of his storytelling powers.
Tomine has a short but revealing interview with The New York where the book was announced:
“Killing and Dying” is the name of one of the stories in the next issue of “Optic Nerve,” about a family—there’s an illness that has to be dealt with, and there’s also a burgeoning interest in standup comedy that has to be dealt with. A lot of the story is about certain questions one faces as a parent: how to handle hardships, and how much to encourage and support the whims of your children. In a way, it was an attempt to confront some of my fears as a husband and as a father.
The book will be published in the UK by United Kingdom to Faber & Faber, in France to Éditions Cornélius, in Germany to Reprodukt, and in Italy to Rizzoli.
This week’s New Yorker has a cover by Adrian Tomine, and he discusses it inside the magazine:
“When I heard that the 9/11 memorial and museum were going to be the top tourist attractions in New York this summer,” Adrian Tomine says about this week’s cover, “I first sketched only tourists going about their usual happy activities, with the memorial in the background. But when I got to the site, I instantly realized that there was a lot more to be captured—specifically, a much, much wider range of emotions and reactions, all unfolding in shockingly close proximity. I guess that’s the nature of any public space, but when you add in an element of such extreme grief and horror, the parameters shift.”
I haven’t been down to the new memorial and have no plans to soon, although some out of towners I know who have gone enjoyed it greatly. Maybe later. Tomine’s cover certainly captures the many emotions inspired by just thinking about a visit.
Adrian Tomine’s Scenes from an Impending Marriage is a perfect little book. It chronicles the planning and build-up to Tomine’s wedding in comic strip form, and the occasional single panel gag.
Until now I have never really connected with Tomine’s work. But there is something just right about these little stories presented in a 9-panel grid. Reading the strips is a master class in cartooning. The figures and backgrounds are drawn with precision and masterful minimalism, the punchlines are timed just so, and the lettering and panel sizes are measured and considered to near perfection.
Probably, though, the smart design of the physical book itself is what gives it the potential to be a perennial seller. This solid little hardcover sports a clean, modern design, is priced strategically at $10, and the light turquoise guarantees it’ll fit right in at a bridal shower. This is one of those books you’ll pick up in a gift store and realize you can’t not buy it as a wedding gift. Is this Drawn & Quarterly’s first de facto gift book? On the surface it certainly seems more at home in a Hallmark store than in even their own Montreal indie comics boutique. It has a permanent spot on my gift list for friends’ future weddings.
Unless you’re one of my friends reading this, in which case I got you a toaster.
>>>>Life In These Here Five Burroughs<<<
Boroughs. Not Burroughs.