Graphic Novels
Glyph Award winner Juliana "Jewels" Smith and illustrator Ronald Nelson have created an unflinching visual and literary tour-de-force on the most pressing issues of the day-- including gentrification, police violence, and the housing crisis--with humor and biting satire. (H)afrocentric tackles racism, patriarchy, and popular culture head-on. Unapologetic and unabashed, (H)afrocentric introduces us to strong yet vulnerable students of color, as well as an aesthetic that connects current Black pop culture to an organic reappropriation of hip hop fashion circa the early 90s.
We start the journey when gentrification strikes the neighborhood surrounding Ronald Reagan University. Naima Pepper recruits a group of disgruntled undergrads of color to combat the onslaught by creating and launching the first and only anti-gentrification social networking site, mydiaspora.com. The motley crew is poised to fight back against expensive avocado toast, muted Prius cars, exorbitant rent, and cultural appropriation.
Whether Naima and the gang are transforming social media, leading protests, fighting rent hikes, or working as "Racial Translators," the students at Ronald Reagan University take movements to a new level by combining their tech-savvy, Black Millennial sensibilities with their individual backgrounds, goals, and aspirations.
Welcome to the Adventure Zone!
SEE! The illustrated exploits of three lovable dummies set loose in a classic fantasy adventure! READ! Their journey from small-time bodyguards to world-class artifact hunters! MARVEL! At the sheer metafictional chutzpah of a graphic novel based on a story created in a podcast where three dudes and their dad play a tabletop role playing game in real time! Join Taako the elf wizard, Merle the dwarf cleric, and Magnus the human warrior for an adventure they are poorly equipped to handle AT BEST, guided ("guided") by their snarky DM, in a graphic novel that, like the smash-hit podcast it's based on, will tickle your funny bone, tug your heartstrings, and probably pants you if you give it half a chance. With endearingly off-kilter storytelling from master goofballs Clint McElroy and the McElroy brothers, and vivid, adorable art by Carey Pietsch, The Adventure Zone: Here There be Gerblins is the comics equivalent of role-playing in your friend's basement at 2am, eating Cheetos and laughing your ass off as she rolls critical failure after critical failure.
Terrifying, persuasive, and aesthetically delightful. --Nick Diamonds, Islands, The Unicorns
Chris Taylor is a visionary and a prophet. He is in our reality to teach us how to see the world in more meaningful ways. After Land is a demonstration of his genius and is a gift for humanity from beyond the membrane of our earthy perceptions. It is elegant, bold, beautiful, and unlike anything else. --Benjamin Marra, Terror Assaulter (O.M.W.O.T.)
The debut graphic novel from illustrator, designer, and musician Chris Taylor. A science-fiction soap opera featuring the exploits of a no-nonsense detective named NONO who is a composite of two females named JO and DO. JO has the mysterious ability to ingest the milk from the Madeleine Flower and enter an ethereal realm known as PURE INTUITION where she can spy on the unconscious minds of humanity. JO shares this information with DO and together, as NONO, they sell it to the highest bidder in the cloud.
Chris Taylor is a Canadian-born artist, musician, and writer with a peripatetic studio called WERK AAN ZEE. He has lived in Montreal, New York, and Amsterdam doing creative work for advertising agencies. His illustrations have been seen in Vice Magazine and ad campaigns for the Rock Band video game. He currently lives in Los Angeles, California.
A Kirkus Reviews Best YA Book of 2022
A USBBY 2023 Outstanding International Book
A 2022 Foreword INDIES Bronze Winner (Graphic Novels & Comics Category)
Honorable mention, 2023 Children's Africana Book Awards2022 VLA Graphic Novel Diversity Award Overfloweth honoreeNominated for the TLA Maverick List All Rise: Resistance and Rebellion in South Africa revives six true stories of resistance by marginalized South Africans against the country's colonial government in the years leading up to Apartheid. In six parts--each of which is illustrated by a different South African artist--All Rise shares the long-forgotten struggles of ordinary, working-class women and men who defended the disempowered during a tumultuous period in South African history. From immigrants and miners to tram workers and washerwomen, the everyday people in these stories bore the brunt of oppression and in some cases risked their lives to bring about positive change for future generations.This graphic anthology breathes new life into a history dominated by icons, and promises to inspire all readers to become everyday activists and allies. The diverse creative team behind All Rise, from an array of races, genders, and backgrounds, is a testament to the multicultural South Africa dreamed of by the heroes in these stories--true stories of grit, compassion, and hope, now being told for the first time in print.