NEW RELEASE: Let Me Be Frank by Sarah Laing

Above: The cover of Let Me Be Frank by Sarah Laing. Copyright Sarah Laing 2019.

Hi folks, sorry I've been snowed under with day-job work, so it's time to catch-up on the recent comics related new releases, starting with Let Me Be Frank by Sarah Laing!
This is a full-colour collection of almost ten years of her blog comics, from 2010 to today, published by Victoria University Press. Here's the press release:

Let Me Be Frank brings Sarah Laing’s popular autobiographical comic series together for the first time. Sarah Laing began blogging her comics in 2009 as a way to shed light on her fiction writing and to record life before it evaporated. The comics soon had a large audience, eager for the next installment about Sarah’s parenting fails and successes, writing, her obsession with Katherine Mansfield, her family’s history, pet mice, sex, clothes and more. Let Me Be Frank is a witty, whip-smart comic collection that is ever disarmingly frank.

I'll look to have a review for it up soon, in the meantime, here's some press Sarah has done to promote the book:

Over at The Sapling she did an illustrated interview with cartoonist Giselle Clarkson, which you can read HERE
She featured on RNZ's Standing Room Only interview show, which you can listen to HERE
She has also written an essay featured on The Spinoff about her 'secret origin' as a cartoonist and creativity, which you can read HERE

Let Me Be FrankSarah Laing
352 pages, full colour
ISBN: 9781776562909
$35.00
Available now

- AK!

Weekend Reading/Listening: My Ten Guitars by Barry Linton

Above: A page from My Ten Guitars by Barry Linton. Copyright the Barry Linton Estate 2018.

Speaking to Jesse Mulligan on Radio NZ's Short Story Club, Dylan Horrocks pays tribute to NZ cartoonist Barry Linton, who passed away last month. You can listen to the full interview HERE.

Also as a fitting print tribute, Linton's comic, My Ten Guitars is featured in the latest volume of literary journal Sport 46, published by Victoria University Press. They have made the comic available to view online as a PDF HERE.

- AK!

Eisner Award Nomination for Incomplete Works

Above: The cover for Incomplete Works by Dylan Horrocks.

Congratulations are in order today for Dylan Horrocks, whose short story collection, Incomplete Works has been nominated for 'Best Graphic Album - Reprint' at the 2017 Eisner Awards. Incomplete Works collects some of Dylan's hard-to-find short stories, spanning his comics career from early efforts in 1986 to short diary comics from 2012. Incomplete Works was first published in New Zealand by VUP in 2014, and more recently in the US/CAN market by Alternative Comics (making it eligible for the Eisners) and in Europe by Casterman (re-titled At Work) in 2015.

I reviewed Incomplete Works when it came out for Radio NZ Nights, which you can listen to HERE. You can still buy copies of the NZ edition of Incomplete Works from the VUP website HERE. The 2017 Eisner Awards will be announced at a ceremony at Comic Con International on Friday July 21st. You can view the full list of nominees HERE.

- AK!

EVENT: Mansfield and Me Book Launch!

Above: The cover of Mansfield and Me by Sarah Laing.

One of the most anticipated local graphic novels of recent years, Mansfield and Me: A Graphic Memoir by Sarah Laing will be launching at Unity Books in Wellington next week.

Published by Victoria University Press, here's the official synopsis:

Katherine Mansfield is a literary giant in New Zealand—but she had to leave the country to become one. She wrote, ‘Oh to be a writer, a real writer.’ And a real writer she was, until she died at age 34 of tuberculosis. The only writer Virginia Woolf was jealous of, Mansfield hung out with the modernists, lost her brother in World War I, dabbled in Alistair Crowley’s druggy occult gatherings and spent her last days in a Fontainebleu commune with Olgivanna, Frank Lloyd Wright’s future wife. She was as famous for her letters and diaries as for her short stories. 

Sarah Laing wanted to be a real writer, too. A writer as famous as Katherine Mansfield, but not as tortured. Mansfield and Me charts her journey towards publication and parenthood against Mansfield’s dramatic story, set in London, Paris, New York and New Zealand. Part memoir, part biography, part fantasy, it examines how our lives connect to those of our personal heroes.

The book launch will be on Thursday 6th of October from 6pm at Unity Books Wellington, 57 Willis Street. All are welcome, and you can RSVP on the Facebook event page HERE.

If you can't make it, or don't happen to live in wellington - just head to your local bookstore and pre-order a copy using the publishing details below:

Mansfield and Me by Sarah Laing

ISBN: 9781776560691

336 Pages

Paperback, colour

160x245mm

RRP: $35 NZ

Upcoming Releases: Princess Princess: Ever After, Mr Unpronounceable, Mansfield and Me

Above: The cover of Princess Princess: Ever After by Katie O'Neill.

There's some great graphic novels coming out in the near future from some of our best NZ comic creators, making a name for themselves, both locally and on the international publishing stage.

Christchurch based cartoonist/illustrator Katie O'Neill has built an international audience for her work online via social media and blogging at her website, Strangely Katie. Her comics have featured in the Faction and High Water comics anthologies, and she’s also illustrated the series Crystal Cadets for American publisher LionForge Comics.

Above: Two pages from Princess Princess: Ever After by Katie O'Neill.

Her most popular self-published graphic novel, Princess Princess, first appeared online as a webcomic in 2014, and features two very different princesses - Amira and Sadie, who meet and decide to take their happily ever after into their own hands. A thoughtful story of love and friendship for all-ages, this graphic novel will now be published in September by American publisher Oni Press in a beautiful Hardcover edition as Princess Princess: Ever After!

Here's the official synopsis:

When the heroic princess Amira rescues the kind-hearted princess Sadie from her tower prison, neither expects to find a true friend in the bargain. Yet as they adventure across the kingdom, they discover that they bring out the very best in the other person. They'll need to join forces and use all the know-how, kindness, and bravery they have in order to defeat their greatest foe yet: a jealous sorceress, who wants to get rid of Sadie once and for all.

Join Sadie and Amira, two very different princesses with very different strengths, on their journey to figure out what "happily ever after" really means--and how they can find it with each other.

Princess Princess: Ever After will be available September 7th, 2016 in all good comic shops and bookstores, and online through Amazon, Google Play, Comixology, Nook, and iTunes.

Princess Princess: Ever After HC by Katie O'Neill

56 Pages, colour

Publisher: Oni Press

ISBN: 9781620103401
RRP: $12.99 US

Above: The cover of Mr Unpronounceable and the Infinity of Nightmares by Tim Molloy.

Tim Molloy returns to the surreal world of Mr Unpronounceable with his third graphic novel in the series, Mr Unpronounceable and the Infinity of Nightmares.

Here's the official synopsis:

As reality itself dissolves in the tears of the Sect Of the Bleeding Eye, Mr Unpronounceable sets off on a multiverse-spanning quest to retrieve the Sacred Godstone from its shrine on a distant planetoid. Meanwhile, The Synthetic Sorcerer has designs of his own, shadowing our hapless hero’s delirious journey across an increasingly warped spacetime continuum. Join Mr Unpronounceable, wandering Necromancer, in this third volume of his insane adventures from cult author, Tim Molloy.

If you would like a taste of what to expect, you can read some short segments over at Tim Molloy's art Tumblr HERE.

Above: A page from Mr Unpronounceable and the Infinity of Nightmares by Tim Molloy.

Mr Unpronounceable and the Infinity of Nightmares will be released June 25th 2016 by Milk Shadow Books (distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment).

Mr Unpronounceable and the Infinity of Nightmares
190 pages
Black & White, paperback
RRP: 23.86 AUS (available for pre-order HERE).

Above: Mansfield and Me by Sarah Laing.

2016's a busy time for Sarah Laing: earlier this year she co-edited the well received NZ woman's comics anthology 3 Words, and in October Victoria University Press will publish her first complete graphic novel, Mansfield and Me. Coming in at 336 pages this will no doubt be the biggest local comics release of the year. I've had the privilege of seeing some of the original artwork for this in progress, and if you're a fan of Katherine Mansfield or Sarah's previous novels or comics - you're in for a treat!

Here's the official synopsis:

Katherine Mansfield is a literary giant in New Zealand - but she had to leave the country to become one. She wrote, 'Oh to be a writer, a real writer'. And a real writer she was, until she died at age 34 of tuberculosis. The only writer Virginia Woolf was jealous of, Mansfield hung out with the modernists, lost her brother in World War I, dabbled in Alistair Crowley's druggy occult gatherings and spent her last days in a Fontainebleu commune with Olgivanna, Frank Lloyd Wright's future wife. She was as famous for her letters and diaries as for her short stories. Sarah Laing wanted to be a real writer, too. A writer as famous as Katherine Mansfield, but not as tortured. 

Mansfield and Me charts her journey towards publication and parenthood against Mansfield's dramatic story, set in London, Paris, New York and New Zealand. Part memoir, part biography, part fantasy, it examines how our lives connect to those of our personal heroes.

Mansfield and Me will be released by Victoria University Press in October 2016, and available in all good bookstore. For more details visit the VUP website HERE.

Mansfield and Me by Sarah Laing

ISBN: 9781776560691

336 Pages

Paperback, colour

160x245mm

RRP: $25 NZ

So mark these dates on your calendar, and prepare to increase the shelf space for your New Zealand Comics collection!

- AK!

Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen nominated for an Eisner Award!

Above: The cover of Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen by Dylan Horrocks.

Congratulations are in order for Dylan Horrocks, as his most recent graphic novel, Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen has been nominated for 'Best New Graphic Album' at the 2016 Eisner Awards.

The Esiner Awards are America's most prestigious comics industry awards, and take their name from famed US cartoonist Will Eisner, creator of The Spirit comic strip and the landmark graphic novel, A Contract with God. Horrocks previous won his first Eisner Award in 2002 for 'Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition', which elevated his profile and work, particularly the graphic novel Hicksville, to an international audience.

The winners of the 28th Eisner Awards will be announced at a ceremony on the evening of Friday, July 22 at Comic-Con International. Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen is published locally by Victoria University Press, and in the US by Fantagraphics.

- AK!

PHOTORAMA: The Hicksville New Zealand Edition Launch Party

Here's some photos from the Auckland launch party at The High Seas for the New Zealand edition of 'Hicksville' fromVictoria University Press (available in all good bookstores now!).

If you didn't make the Auckland release party don't despair, Dylan is taking the Hicksville show on the road this Easter, with a release party at The Basement Gallery, 39 Dixon St in Wellington this Saturday from 5.30pm as part of the NZ Comics Weekend! More details to come..

-AK!

EVENT: 'Hickville': The New Zealand Edition Release Party!

To celebrate the release of the first New Zealand edition of 'Hicksville' by Dylan Horrocks from VUP, there's going to be a exhibition/launch party at The High Seas in Auckland this Friday from 6pm!

Come meet the author and get a signed copy, see original artwork from the book, and most importantly, enjoy FREE cake! (it's the new wine on the gallery scene, but there'll probably be some of that there too;).

If you can't make it to the event, you can always order a copy from your nearest bookstore. The VUP edition's RRP is $38.00 and here's it's ISBN:9780864736246.

The exhibition is only on till closing on Saturday the 20th, so don't miss this rare chance to see the original artwork up close!

-AK!