DRAWN & QUARTERLY
ANT COLONY HC
(W) Michael DeForge (A) Michael DeForge (CA) Michael DeForge
Ant Colony follows the denizens of a black ant colony under attack from the nearby red ants. On the surface, it's the story of this war, the destruction of a civilization, and the ants' all-too-familiar desire to rebuild. Underneath, though, Ant Colony plumbs the deepest human concerns - loneliness, faith, love, apathy, and more. All of this is done with humor and sensitivity, exposing a world where spiders can wreak unimaginable amounts of havoc with a single gnash of their jaws.
AYA LOVE IN YOP CITY GN
(W) Marguerite Abouet (A) Clement Oubrerie (CA) Clement Oubrerie
Aya: Love in Yop City comprises the final three chapters of the Aya story, episodes never before seen in English. Aya is a lighthearted story about life in the Ivory Coast during the 1970s, a particularly thriving and wealthy time in the country's history. This second volume of the complete Aya includes unique appendices - recipes, guides to understanding Ivorian slang, street sketches, and concluding remarks from Marguerite Abouet explaining history and social milieu. Inspired by Abouet's childhood, the series has received praise for offering relief from the disaster-struck focus of most stories set in Africa.
CLYDE FANS TP
Abe and Simon Matchcard are brothers, struggling to save their archaic family business selling oscillating fans in a world switching to air conditioning. Simon flirts with becoming a salesman as a last-ditch effort to leave the protective walls of the family home, but is ultimately unable to escape Abe's critical voice in his head. As Clyde Fans Co. crumbles, so does the relationship between the two men, who choose very different life paths but both end up utterly unhappy.
FICTIONAL FATHER TP
(W) Joe Ollmann (A) Joe Ollmann (CA) Joe Ollmann
Caleb is a middle-aged painter with a non-starter career. He also happens to be the only child of one of the world's most famous cartoonists, Jimmi Wyatt. Known for the internationally beloved father and son comic Sonny Side Up, Jimmi made millions drawing saccharine family stories while neglecting his own son.
FIRE THE ZORA NEALE HURSTON STORY HC
(W) Peter Bagge (A) Peter Bagge (CA) Peter Bagge
Peter Bagge's biography of Zora Neale Hurston is bold and dazzling, a story as brilliant as the life itself. Hurston challenged the norms of what was expected of an African American woman in early 20th century society. She arrived in NYC at the height of the Harlem Renaissance, surrounded by peers such as Langston Hughes and Wallace Thurman. Hurston went on to become a noted folklorist and critically acclaimed novelist, including her most provocative work Their Eyes Were Watching God.
HOT COMB GN
(W) Ebony Flowers (A) Ebony Flowers (CA) Ebony Flowers
Hot 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 story is about a young girl's first perm-a doomed ploy to look cool and to stop seeming "too white" in the all-black neighborhood her family has just moved to. Realizations about race, class, and the imperfections of identity swirl through Flowers' stories, which are by turns sweet, insightful, and heartbreaking.
MY BEGGING CHART TP
(W) Keiler Roberts (A) Keiler Roberts (CA) Keiler Roberts
Keiler 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.
WIMBLEDON GREEN HC
Meet Wimbledon Green, the self-proclaimed world's greatest comic-book collector who brokered the world's best comic-book deal in the history of collecting. Comic-book retailers, auctioneers, and conventioneers from around North America, as well as Green's collecting rivals, weigh in on the man and his vast collection of comic books. A charming and amusing caper where comic-book collecting is a world of intrigue and high finance.