Graphic Novels

One out of every hundred adults in the U.S. is in prison. This book provides a crash course in what drives mass incarceration, the human and community costs, and how to stop the numbers from going even higher. This volume collects the three comic books published by the Real Cost of Prisons Project. The stories and statistical information in each comic book is thoroughly researched and documented.





Prison Town: Paying the Price tells the story of how the financing and site locations of prisons affects the people of rural communities in which prison are built. It also tells the story of how mass incarceration affects people of urban communities where the majority of incarcerated people come from.





Prisoners of the War on Drugs includes the history of the war on drugs, mandatory minimums, how racism creates harsher sentences for people of color, stories on how the war on drugs works against women, three strikes laws, obstacles to coming home after incarceration, and how mass incarceration destabilizes neighborhoods.





Prisoners of a Hard Life: Women and Their Children includes stories about women trapped by mandatory sentencing and the "costs" of incarceration for women and their families. Also included are alternatives to the present system, a glossary and footnotes.





Over 125,000 copies of the comic books have been printed and more than 75,000 have been sent to families of people who are incarcerated, people who are incarcerated and to organizers and activists throughout the country. The demand for them is constant and the ways in which they are being used is inspiring.

A troubled teen encounters the pitfalls of adolescence. Miss Lasko-Gross' semiautobiographical follow-up A Mess of Everything picks up where her debut Escape from "Special" left off: nonconformist Melissa is now in high school, coping with an anxiety-induced drug habit and an anorexic best friend. Even when the situation is not life-and-death, Melissa must negotiate the everyday problems that face young adults. By the end of the graphic novel, Melissa faces the choice that we all do at some point: whether to pursue her ambitions or settle for a more secure routine. As Melissa has grown, so has Miss Lasko-Gross' craftsmanship: A Mess of Everything retains the moodiness of her debut, but there's a new clarity to the art and characters' expressions and body language are more nuanced. Coupled with the unsentimental truthfulness that is the hallmark of Lasko-Gross' work, this intense book has appeal for anyone who is now navigating, or whose life has ever been touched by, these issues.

From celebrated artist Lary Gonick, here is the extraordinary story of the modern world, from the French Revolution to today.

More than thirty years ago, master cartoonist and historian Larry Gonick began the epic task of creating a smart, accurate, and entertaining illustrated history of the world. In this, the fifth and final book of this beloved and critically acclaimed series, Gonick finally brings us up to the modern day.

The Cartoon History of the Modern World, Part II picks up at the Enlightenment; continues through two and a half centuries of revolution, social and economic innovation, nationalism, colonialism, scientific progress, and the abolition of slavery; and concludes in the early twenty-first century with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Essentially a college-level course in modern world history, with equal attention given to every area of the globe, Gonick's witty and engaging pages bring the past to life and put a brilliant new spin on our world. Whether you are a longtime fan or a first-time reader, this thrilling conclusion of our civilization's monumental story is not to be missed!

Celebrated artist and writer Belle Yang makes a stunning debut as a graphic memoirist with this story of crisis and survival. As a recent college grad, Belle Yang fled an abusive boyfriend who became a terrifying stalker. Back under the protection of her Old World Chinese parents, she sought escape in retelling and drawing her father’s stories about his family in Manchuria during the Second World War. Fleeing the ravages of war, four brothers had reunited in the family home, where (like Belle) they chafed against a traditional father, the patriarch.

In Forget Sorrow, Belle weaves a story within a story as she sets her personal journey of self-discovery against her ancestral history—an epic drama of folly and betrayal, integrity and endurance during times of hunger, war, and Communist oppression. Recounting the lives and choices of her grandfather, his brothers, and her King Lear–like great-grandfather, Belle at last finds healing—and the strength to honor both her father and herself. .

One Hundred Demons collects a series of memoiristic strips that appeared in Salon’s popular "Mothers Who Think" section. Here are 20 stories told in Lynda Barry’s distinctive cartoon-narrative style that delve into the funk and sweetness of love, family, adolescence, race and the 'hood, identity — all the forces that made her the "wreck" she is today. Barry distinguishes these stories with her pitch-perfect sense of the way young people talk and think and her ability to casually render childhood’s cruelties in luminous, unsparing detail. From her nattering and intolerant/loving Filipina grandmother to the ex-boyfriend from hell who had lice, One Hundred Demons paints a memorable picture of a gifted girl whose life is intersected by a cast of crazies. Hailed for its shimmering watercolor images and called by Time magazine "a work of art as well as literature," this collection makes an important addition to the genre Barry has sardonically christened "autobiofictionalography."