Episode 110 - A Publisher Spotlight on Nobrow Press

On this week's episode, Derek and Andy W. are back with a Publisher Spotlight, and this time the focus is on Nobrow Press and their fall 2014 releases. This relatively small, UK-based publisher may be off of many readers' radar, but they put out a lot of great books, as this week's show will attest. First, the guys discuss Jesse Moynihan's Forming II, the follow up 2011's strange, whacked-out creation narrative Forming. They are fascinated with the myth that Moynihan has created, and they especially love the artist's sense of humor. Next, Derek and Andy move on to Moonhead and the Music Machine, a new graphic novel by Andrew Rae. They highlight Rae's clean, vivid art style, and they speculate on whether or not this book was intended for a younger -- or at least all-age -- readership. Next on the guys' plate is Roman Muradov's (In a Sense) Lost and Found. This is a striking, Kafkaesque narrative with an uneven, dream-like quality. The intended murkiness of the tale may complement the dark palette that Muradov uses, as the guys find many of his images difficult to decipher. Bianca Bagnarelli's Fish is the next book they discuss, a short story -- perhaps more of an emotional vignette -- that is part of the 17x23 series, Nobrow's graphic short story project designed to introduce young artists to a wider readership. Andy and Derek then move on to Corinne Maier and Anne Simon's graphic biography, Marx, which looks at the (surprisingly bourgeois) life behind the famous philosopher/economist, and then they look at Behold! The Dinosaurs!, Dustin Harbin's beautiful concertina that challenges the guys' definition of "comics." Finally, your tireless hosts look at Jamie Coe's Art Schooled -- one of the most sophisticated narrative styles of the week, and definitely Derek's favorite -- and then another graphic biography, Robert Moses: The Master Builder of New York City. There are eight books discussed in all, and this show has to be extra long this week to get in everything. Come and enjoy the creamy filling that is The Comics Alternative!