Nate Powell's Please Release and Swallow Me Whole showcase the talents of one of the most amazing cartoonists working today. His line work is some of the most expressive in the biz, and with both of these titles, he's pushed his storytelling abilities to the next level, creating two emotional and subtextual masterpieces.
We also have some copies of Sounds of Your Name, which collects the beautiful best of Nate's early work! |
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 --WINNER OF THE 2009 EISNER AWARD FOR BEST NEW GRAPHIC NOVEL!
--NOMINATED FOR THREE 2009 EISNER AWARDS INCLUDING BEST GN & BEST CARTOONIST!
--WINNER OF THE 2008 IGNATZ AWARD FOR "OUTSTANDING DEBUT"!
--NOMINATED FOR YALSA’S "GREAT GRAPHIC NOVELS FOR TEENS"!
--FINALIST FOR THE LA TIMES BOOK PRIZE!
----Swallow Me Whole is the first graphic novel since 1992’s Maus to be nominated for this prize in any category.
--WINNER OF THE 2009 IGNATZ AWARD FOR "OUTSTANDING ARTIST"!
"Nate Powell’s Swallow Me Whole, a disturbed, haunting book, is impossible to describe... It’s not an easy book, but its dark brilliance marks its creator as a writer-artist of genius." --Neel Mukherjee, The Times (UK)
"Scaldingly dark ... Powell’s flowing, impressionistic artwork, with its ravenous expanses of negative space, swirls the reader’s perspective through his characters’ perceptions and back out again." --Douglas Wolk, The New York Times
"Honest and lovingly portrayed. Every word in this graphic novel is carefully chosen, dialogue is realistic, and background "noise" masterfully done. Powell’s detailed pen-and-ink drawings are well executed with lettering and images so brilliantly intertwined that they are one and the same." --Lara McAllister, School Library Journal
"Darkly sublime." --Booklist
"His layouts, his touch with shadow and darkness, the way he brings you close enough to Ruth that you can watch her sleep without disturbing her dreams, all that stuff is amazing. ... Nate Powell can do it all. In his hands, even the high-school parking lots and the booths at the local diner are equal parts hope and foreboding." -- Steve Duin, The Oregonian
"[Swallow Me Whole] achieves some stunning effects with the art and the lettering ... Powell has a look halfway between Charles Burns and Craig Thompson, and at times, Swallow Me Whole enters that rarified sphere of art comics where the page design alone achieves the mood and meaning that that the artist is shooting for... Swallow Me Whole captures the desperation of the clinically obsessed, and how from the right angle, it can look like genius." --The AV Club
"Both provocative and thoughtful ... not since Robert Altman's Images has a medium so perfectly conveyed the experience of schizophrenia ... It's the best graphic novel since Craig Thompson's Blankets." --Chris DeVito, CD Syndicated
Swallow Me Whole is a love story carried by rolling fog, terminal illness, hallucination, apophenia, insect armies, secrets held, unshakeable faith, and the search for a master pattern to make sense of one’s unraveling.
In his most ambitious book to date, Nate Powell quietly explores the dark corners of adolescence — not the clichéd melodramatic outbursts of rebellion, but the countless tiny moments of madness, the vague relief of medication, and mixed blessing of family ties. As the story unfolds, two stepsiblings hold together amidst schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, family breakdown, animal telepathy, misguided love, and the tiniest hope that everything will someday make sense.
Deliberately paced, delicately drawn, and drenched in shadows, Swallow Me Whole is a landmark achievement for Nate Powell and a suburban ghost story that will haunt readers long after its final pages. -- 216-Page deluxe HARDCOVER Graphic Novel, 6 1/2" x 9 1/2"
  $19.95 (US)
Diamond: JUL084290 - ISBN 978-1-60309-033-9 |
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 "Sharp and incisive ... Even though the book is focused squarely on Powell’s life, he spares the reader from excessive navel gazing along the way. He seems to have a better idea of when to share and when to pull away and let the pictures do the talking, demonstrating an overall more mature approach to his work. ... If Powell keeps creating material this good, I’ll definitely be along for the ride." -- Marc Mason, Comics Waiting Room
"...proves that comics can mimic having a beat or pulse using static images the way writers and poets can with words. Also, all of the stories, to one extent or another, are connected by Powell’s profession of working with adults who have developmental disabilities. That serves to humanize the story, giving them an earthiness these stories need whenever Powell has flown off into his internal world of self-examination. His intricate art, a kind of ornate 'indie style,' makes Please Release a catchy EP of ear candy for the eyes and mind of the curious reader." -- Leroy Douresseaux, Comic Book Bin
Please Release collects four autobiographical stories, each linked by a series of open questions on work, mental disorders, aging, punk rock, developmental disabilities, horror movies, and a little unrequited love to boot. Recognized for his publications Tiny Giants and It Disappears, as well as his signature dream-like, luscious, and meticulous illustrations (reminiscent of Craig Thompson and Farel Dalrymple), this is Nate Powell's most direct and concrete work to date -- guaranteed to engage your brain and dazzle your senses. -- 7" x 8.5" comic book, 40 pages.
$5.00 (US)
Diamond: SEP063611 |
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 "This Nate Powell wittily, even surgically, cuts to the bone. Observant, intimate cartooning, anchored with a nice, punchy use of black. Good comics." -- Frank Miller, creator of Sin City and 300
"Frame by Frame, his work is more varied in every way than that of most other comics artists, yet he unfailingly maintains narrative momentum by carrying over details from one panel to the next, no matter how altered the angle of vision. Brilliant." -- Booklist
"Someone who reads McSweeney's or subscribes to Harper's but has no graphic literature in their life will be bowled over by the beauty and grace of Powell's style. There are simply too few superlatives for this book."-- Bookslut
Sounds of Your Name, published by Microcosm Publishing in 2006, collects Nate Powell's zines and comics, including his first two books, Tiny Giants and It Disappears. His intricate, sometimes chaotic drawings examine the complications that come with passing from childhood into adulthood. Renderings of friends and family scattered across the country paint tender, sweaty, and memory-soaked portraits of small town life and beyond. Nate addresses the uneasy existential inquiries that bloom in youth and invokes all the elements of great coming of age novels with only a few dozen words. -- 328 pages, 7.25" x 10.25" paperback.
$19.95 (US) |
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