This started life as a series of mini-comics that we sold here at Copacetic over the last couple years. It has somehow, evidently, leapfrogged up the comics ladder and now comes to us as a full (water)color(ed), hardcover graphic novel from Vertigo.
This work's sub-title, "Dispatches from Turkey, Syria and Iraq" provides readers with a straighforward idea of what to expect: comics journalism from a part of the world that occupies a disproportionately large space in the news. And, yes, you will find this here in this volume's 300 pages of ink drawn and watercolored comics, but this is more than just "news" as the comics here delve into the Iraq war and its consequences in a series of one-on-one interactions that enable readers to gain an up close and personal appreciation for a multiplicity of perspectives on what is so often presented as a faceless conflict in far away lands. An additional level is provided in that the narratives are simultaneously interwoven with the story behind the story, the travels of the artist and writer with her group of friends, who are engaged in pursuits of their own, a detailing of the situations in which the news was gathered, a demonstrating that all news has a subjective and personal aspect. Rolling Blackouts is an engaging read that demonstrates the strengths of comics journalism and which readers will come away from more knowledgeable about the human reality behind the conflicts than they arrived.
Cartoonists explore our natural world, from the smallest microorganism to the outer limits of our atmosphere. Featuring a cover by Jesse Jacobs and 112 pages of comics from 30 cartoonists on the beauty, power, and majesty of nature.
In this issue:
Four cartoonists on surviving a natural disaster
What are we talking about when we talk about invasive species?
Living soil, attack of the slime, and the vanishing sky
The last Okinawan dugongs
The incredible Bog BeingThe full lineup for the magazine is:
Invaders: What Are WeTalking About When We’re Talking About Invasive Species? by Sarah Glidden.
Living Soil by Madeleine Jubilee Saito and Whitney Bauck.
Coastal Collapse by Rosa Colón on the changing coastline in Puerto Rico.
Breathless by Kay Sohini on air pollution, asthma, and what individual change means for global problems.
The Last Okinawan Dugongs by Sam Nakahira
With Dispatches, Strips, and other contributions from:
For The Response, natural disasters experienced by Chris Kindred, Colleen Frakes, Brian Fies, and Shelby Criswell.
Nature stats by Kristel Bugayong, Archive editorial cartoons on forest preservation with writing from Warren Bernard, and in our letters to the editor Linette Moore illustrates our readers’ favorite spots in nature. Plus an interview about the LandBack campaign by SI Rosenbaum and Arigon Starr.
Dispatches from Levi Hastings, Melanie Gillman, Maki Naro and Matthew Francis, Iona Fox, Myfanwy Tristram, Alexandra Beguez, and Jorge Gonzalez.
Strips by Gemma Correll, Joey Alison Sayers, Peter Kuper, KC Green, Mattie Lubchansky, Matt Bors, Niccolo Pizarro, Ash Szymanik, Caroline Cash, and Whit Taylor.
With illustrations by Daniel Locke and Mark Kaufman.
