How to use this Page

Over the past few years, cartoonist Brecht Evens has become one of the great Belgian imports thanks to books like The Wrong Place and The Making Of. Evens has a fascinating eye for color, a unique sense of design, and the ability to juggle a large cast of relatable characters. Those fascinating, thoughtful stories though […]

Millennials are often portrayed by the older generation – my own, to be clear – as a generation of victims. Like most cross-generational proclamations, this is a self-righteous pile of bull built from Gen Xers’ and Boomers’ stumbling reading of Millennial discourse, as well as some resentment for our own repression and the ability of […]

Small Press comics publisher Drawn & Quarterly just released their 25th Anniversary book and since it features the first new material by cartoonist Joe Matt in years, I figured now would be a good time to celebrate his work! Peepshow, Joe Matt’s long running biographical comic, started back in 1987(the last collection was printed in 2007). It would go on to become one of the seminal works of the 90’s alternative comics scene, along with Clowe’s Eightball, Seth’s Palookaville, and Ware’s ACME Novelty Library.

The 15 new pages featured in D & Q’s 25th Anniversary book are intended for Matt’s next book and are a work in progress.

Joe Matt has been nominated for multiple Eisner Awards and both an Ignatz and Doug Wright Award.

You can find him on Instagram (@joepeepshowmatt) now where he sometimes posts new art or you could find him surfing the web at a random Los Angeles, CA library.

For more comics related art, you can follow me on my website comicstavern.com – Andy Yates

It is 1978 in the former capital city of Cote D’Ivoire, Abidjan, and the 19 year old Aya is feeling restless, but not quite as restless as her friend, Adjoua, who is about to go out on the town with her hot new date, Bintou, who’s got a car and will take her to the open air maquis to dance and socialize all night long.  This might sound like your average teen drama, but this graphic novel Aya by Marguerite Abouet and Clément Ourbriere (published by Drawn and Quarterly, 2007) sets the story in a small African nation at the height of its prosperity in the 1970’s.  Author Marguerite Abouet and illustrator Clément Oubriere bring to life a heady time in the country’s past when there was a fairly large suburban middle class who enjoyed life in a busy and bustling African metropolis.   Although the temptations are great, Aya is determined to become a doctor and is prudent in the way she conducts her life unlike Adjoua whose dalliance with Bintou will lead her to … well, you’d best get the graphic novel out and find out for yourself!

This book was originally published in French, but made its translated debut in English in 2007 by the graphic novel publisher Drawn and Quarterly based in Montreal.  The English text is prefaced with remarks by Alisia Grace Chase, PhD who gives a brief outline of the golden days of Cote D’Ivoire’s prosperity and wealth in the 1970’s.  I found this book a remarkable read and it certainly gave me a completely different picture of Africa from what I formerly had and suspect many Westerners continue to have — that is, of a continent in continual strife with issues of poverty and warfare.  It is just this image that Abouet and Oubriere seek to dispel — if somewhat nostalgically — in this fascinating and engaging graphic novel.  Since this book’s debut, there have been two other Aya titles released: Aya of Yop City and Aya: The Secrets Come Out.