From Brian Fies, the acclaimed graphic novelist of Mom’s Cancer, Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow?, and A Fire Story, comes a classic comic book adventure for all ages.
THE LAST MECHANICAL MONSTER
by Brian Fies
Abrams ComicArts, September 2021
Decades after being imprisoned for threatening his city with an army of giant robots, an elderly scientist reenters society, only to discover he needs help navigating life in the 21st century. Experiencing real kindness and friendship for the first time ever, his new relationships challenge the inventor’s single-minded devotion for vengeance—just as his plans threaten to spiral out of his control. An homage to the classic cartoons of the 1940s, THE LAST MECHANICAL MONSTER is about ambition, creativity, mortality, friendship, and legacy. How do we want to be remembered? And what will we leave behind?
This latest graphic novel from Brian Fies already has a fanbase and a considerable history of accomplishment. Initially published online as a webcomic, it was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Digital Comic in both 2014 and 2015. It is also a pivot from Fies’s more serious graphic novels, created at a time when he was between large, demanding projects, and needing to remind himself that comics could and should be fun and provide a joyful escape—something we can all use a little more of these days.
Brian Fies is a writer and cartoonist. His widely acclaimed first graphic novel, Mom’s Cancer, won the Eisner Award for Best Digital Comic in 2005 (the first webcomic to win this award and the inspiration for the category), the 2007 Lulu Blooker Prize for Best Comic, the 2007 Harvey Award for Best New Talent, and the 2007 German Children’s Literature Award. He is also the author of the acclaimed, award-winning graphic novels A Fire Story, which received four starred reviews, and Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow?, winner of the American Astronautical Society’s 2009 Eugene M. Emme Award for Best Young Adult Literature. He lives in Santa Rosa, California.
Taken in the night and delivered to the flying city of Highgate when he was a small child, Milo Quick has never known another home. Now almost thirteen, Milo survives one daredevil grift at a time, relying only on his wits, speed, and an unfailingly loyal band of friends. War is coming to Highgate. As a massive armada surrounds the city, a small ship, the Halcyon, slips through the blockade. Led by a charismatic captain, the unconventional crew of the Halcyon has come to collect Milo for a bounty. But they too are being watched. As threats begin to close in on Milo, the truth will soon be revealed that he is not the true prize they seek, and that the stakes go far beyond the borders of the city, and time, as he knows it. In his debut novel for young readers, Jason Sheehan cleverly weaves together multiple points of view, creating a richly imagined world filled with danger, heart-racing adventure, and no shortage of wit.
Cities are dust, histories lost, and time stands still.
Three vastly different women: Shizuka Satomi, an aging, Hell-damned violin prodigy and teacher; Katrina Nyugen, a young transgender runaway and aspiring violinist; and Lan Tran, a spaceship captain running from a faraway war. Each woman descends on California’s predominantly Asian and Hispanic San Gabriel Valley seeking to rewrite her doomed fate. Each secretly dreams, despite forces working against her and closing in, of belonging to someone, of becoming someone’s family. Yet each is resigned to a life of carrying her burden alone. The only chance for Shizuka, Katrina, and Lan to survive on Earth rests in their finally recognizing who they are to one another — before it’s too late. LIGHT FROM UNCOMMON STARS will pull you in with its sensory pleasures, transportive depiction of place, masterful storytelling, and the warmth with which Aoki welcomes you into a neighborhood, as if you are already family. Aoki uses genre tropes to push the boundaries of imagination on behalf of her protagonists — people who, at the novel’s start, barely thought they were permitted to dream at all. Aoki’s characters, like herself, are women, queer, people of color. They are violinists full of innocence and regret. They are mothers trying to preserve the family business. They are refugees fleeing a war from beyond the stars. And they have come to the San Gabriel Valley, just outside of Los Angeles, a place where many drive past without a second thought, yet where others find magic and previously unthinkable love.
Nicholas, Jeef, and Henrietta the gerbil are back in another laugh-out-loud intergalactic adventure in this rollicking sequel to Emperor of the Universe. Before Nicholas V. Landrew can enjoy more than a few weeks in his new role as emperor of the universe, his world begins to fall apart. His mortal enemies, the Craborzi, have cloned him and are using these copies to produce an intergalactic reality show called The Abominable Emperor—killing a clone in every episode! Even worse, his parents want him to take out the garbage!