NBM Graphic Novels

Surrounded

In 1832, in Canterbury, Connecticut, a “charming and picturesque” little school for young girls opens to accommodate around twenty residents. Educating girls is a bit ridiculous and useless, they think in the area, but harmless enough. Until the day when the “charming school”, led by Prudence Crandall, announces that it will now welcome Black girls…. Thirty years before the abolition of slavery, some fifteen young people in the Crandall school are greeted by a wave of hostility of insane proportion. White America is afraid of some of its children. The story of this school and its legal legacy for civil rights cannot be understated. Crandall v. State (of Connecticut) was the first full-throated civil rights case in U.S. history. The arguments by attorneys in the Crandall case played a role in two of the most fateful Supreme Court decisions, Dred Scott v. Sandford, and the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education. It catapulted Ms. Crandall into a Civil Rights pioneer.

NBM Comics Biographies

NBM Comics Biographies

Zombillenium

Francis von Bloodt, vampire, a good family man, manages the theme park Zombiellenium. They don't just hire anyone at Zombiellenium: mere mortals need not apply, the park works only with genuine werewolves, vampires and zombies. This is what Aurelian gets to discover as, burnt out, deceived by his wife, he finally gets hired in spite of himself in this strange business where being an outsider can kill you! Gretchen, a plucky trainee witch, helps him get around.

Darkly She Goes

Once upon a time there was a fallen knight, who believed that saving a princess would allow him to atone for his crimes. Once upon a time there was a princess with dark power over nature, who believed that it was up to her to atone for the crimes of her parents...Banished for a fault that forever taints his reputation, Arzhur wanders from tavern to field of battle in search of the next contract which will fill his purse. One night, three mysterious old women offer him to regain honor and fortune if he frees the daughter of a neighboring king, held captive in the ruins of an abandoned castle. But Islen is not the damsel in distress that he expected to save. The two cannot resist each other, and a passionate romance threatens to derail their individual missions.Magnified by the virtuoso...

Portugal

From the author of the acclaimed Equinoxes comes a return to roots that serves as spiritual renewal. Comics artist Simon Muchat is stuck. Suffering writer's block, uninspired, vegetating as a school art teacher, he is losing direction and his taste for life, until one day he is invited to appear at a comics convention in Portugal, the country his family came from and which he hadn't seen since his childhood. Even though he is a foreigner there, so many elements of the country are familiar to him. Meeting its lively citizens and recounting early memoreis brought by back his distant yet welcoming family all prove reinvigorating—the breath of fresh air he so badly needed. Based on his own experience, Pedrosa narrates this return to his roots in a deeply compelling and warmly human way....

Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde

With brilliant illustrations by a master of comic art, this book of two of Oscar Wilde's fairy tales brings his lyrical prose to life. In the first tale, the Young King is taken from humble origins and revels in the finer possessions of his new, lofty position. However, a series of dreams reveal to him the suffering his people must go through to make the extravagant belongings for him. Casting them off, he finds paradoxically that he may be alienating the very people he wants to help. In “The Remarkable Rocket,” a vain little rocket figures itself above all others and still manages to see glory in its dismal end. Perfect for middle school students as an introduction to the world-famous author, the dazzling illustrations in this book suit the timeless writings of Wilde.\n\nOscar Wi...

All Star

Winner of:2015 ALA Great Graphic Novels for TeensNominee:2015 YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult ReadersThe Community of Literary Magazines and Presses, Firecracker Awards, Graphic NovelAs the summer of 1998 nears, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa are racing each other to break the home-run record, Bill Clinton is being questioned about a certain Monica Lewinsky, Semisonic's "Closing Time" is top of the charts, and Carl Carter is leading the Elizabeth Monarchs of rural Vermont to the state championship his senior year. The world is Carl's oyster: a full scholarship to the University of Maine awaits, going pro after college isn't out of the question, and he's so good he can do whatever he wants—until, that is, he makes one very arrogant mistake. Acclaimed graphic novelist Jesse L...

The Incredible Story of Cooking

For the first time, a graphic novel tells the story of humanity through the evolution of cuisine. From the discovery of fire to organic cooking, this book is aimed at all curious people and foodies. By the authors of Wine, A Graphic History.As soon as humans mastered fire, they invented cooking. Did you know that Sapiens invented steam cooking and freezing? That the Mesopotamians created soups, bread, beer, ovens? That gastronomy and tableware have been symbols of political power?These great discoveries changed the world, but also the way we eat. From America, the conquistadors brought spices, peppers, potatoes... Portuguese missionaries brought the frying technique to distant samurai who made the first tempuras. These are the beginnings of globalization.In the 19th century with the i...

Proxy Mom

Marietta and Chuck, madly in love, are expecting a baby. But childbirth marks the end of the fairy tale. Zoe's birth didn't go as Marietta imagined, and the maternal instinct is slow to manifest itself. While she no longer recognizes her body, Marietta feels herself losing her footing in the face of this vulnerable baby for whom she is now responsible. Will she manage to feel like a mother? To love her baby? To stop thinking that a proxy mom would do better than her? A humorful but realist viewpoint on a problem experienced by a significant number of new mothers, with an insight on how to overcome it.\n\nSOPHIE ADRIANSEN was born in 1982, lives in Bretagne, France. She works full- time as a writer since 2010, having studied storytelling at the Femis movie school (Paris). She is the au...

A Treasury Of Victorian Murder

An engrossing, illustrated journey into true crime classics of the Victorian era, by Rick Geary's increasingly storied treasuries of murder—Jack the Ripper, The Beast of Chicago, The Fatal Bullet, and many more. These carefully researched presentations of true crime stories include a bibliography of research sources, presenting true facts about famous murders in an entertaining fashion.

Treasury of XXth Century Murder

Rick Geary tackles the most controversial case of the 20th century. Anarchists Sacco & Vanzetti were accused of robbery and murder but so many supposedly damning pieces of evidence were questionable their guilty verdict elicited massive protests around the world. Geary presents us with all the twists and turns, appeals and dubious evidence after presenting us the human face of the two men, demonized by many, turned to martyrs by many others in his usual unflappable way.\n\nAn award-winning cartoonist and illustrator, Rick Geary has worked for Marvel Entertainment Group, DC Comics, Dark Horse Comics, and Heavy Metal, and has contributed to National Lampoon and The New York Times Book Review.

New York Triptych

New York, early 1930s. A mysterious, laconic Irish colossus known as 'Giant' sweats blood, along with his fellow immigrants, to build the skyscrapers of Rockefeller Center. For a while, he has not received a reply to the typewritten letters he continues to send, as well as money, to the other side of the ocean, to Mary Ann, the wife of one of his colleagues who died accidentally.

Of Dust & Blood

This thrilling tale details the day of The Battle at The Little Big Horn through the eyes of Greenhaw, a 7th Cavalry scout on one side of the battlefield, and Slowhawk, a young Lakota warrior on the other. Featuring appearances of Sitting Bull, G.A. Custer, and Crazy Horse, as well as generous portions of meticulously researched history on every page, the book's art has been lauded as tremendously beautiful—each page worthy of hanging on the wall as a solo piece.\n\nJim Berry is a storyteller living in Portland, Oregon, who has worked as a newspaper photographer, film artist, and freelancer. Val Mayerik worked for Marvel Comics for more than 20 years on projects such as Conan the Barbarian and Spiderman, and he was co-creator of fan-favorite Howard the Duck. He then moved on to adve...

ERASED

Maximus Wyld had his heyday in 1940s-50s Hollywood. Of mixed race Black, Chinese and Native American descent, he was "the actor with a thousand faces” , essentially interpreting ethnic roles: Indian chief, Mexican revolutionary, oriental dandy... A veritable reinterpretation of the myth of American cinema through the prism of minorities, Erased reveals the political and social dimension of Hollywood productions. Maximus Ohanzee Wildhorse, renamed “ Maximus Wyld” by Hollywood, was a talented, prized, admired comedian. His filmography is an anthology of cinema: Vertigo, the Maltese Falcon, Sunset Boulevard, the Prisoner of the Desert, Rebecca... Copper faced and with unprecedented beauty and animal presence, he paved the way for colored stars i...

Satania

Charlotte—aka Charlie—a pretty redhead, sets up an expedition to find her brother. The young scientist, who disappeared underground several months ago, claimed, to everyone's astonishment, to be able to prove the existence of Hell by using Darwin's theory of evolution. The little group, led by Charlie, plunge underground in his pursuit. The deeper they progress into the entrails of our planet, the more they enter another world that hides other forms of life heretofore never experienced. The discovery changes them gradually in a way they cannot at first perceive...\n\nA nom de plume for wife/husband team of comic artists Marie Pommepuy and SÉbastien Cosset, Kerascoet are also artists in advertising, animation and fashion. They are famous for their work in the Dungeon series as wel...

Degas & Cassatt

One of the founders of the Impressionist movement while also one of its most ruthless critics, too bohemian for the bourgeois and too bourgeois for the artists, Edgar Degas was a man of paradoxes. A loner, he only loved one woman without ever courting her, the American painter Mary Cassatt whom we follow closely as well. And it is in the company of the latter that at the twilight of his life, Efa and Rubio open the pages of Degas's notebooks to try to unravel the mystery of this genius steeped in contradictions.\n\nSalva Rubio, is a Spanish writer specialized in history. With a master' s degree in scriptwriting, he has been involved in many documentaries, short and feature length films. He also wrote the Monet and Django (Reinhardt) biographies with Efa (NBM). EFA is a pen...

Silent Invasion

The paranoia and conspiracy theories continue! Beleaguered reporter Matt Sinkage's quest to discover the truth behind an apparently government-backed alien invasion of earth leads him to investigate a quasi-religious UFO cult based in an idyllic small American community. Then the sudden death of a prominent politician paves the way for Senator Harrison Callahan to seek the Presidency of the United States. But Sinkage, believing that Callahan is an alien pawn, is determined to stop him at all costs.\n\nLarry Hancock was born in Toronto, Ontario in 1954. He graduated from the University of Waterloo with a Bachelor of Mathematics and since then has toiled in Toronto as a Chartered Accountant. However, counter to the view of accountants as boring, he has written The Silent Invasion and Th...

A Treasury of Victorian Murder

He was the world's first serial killer and he existed in the late 19th century, operating around the Chicago World's Fair, building a literal house of horrors, replete with chutes for dead bodies, gas chambers, surgical rooms. He methodically murdered up to 200 people, mostly young women. The infamous H. H. Holmes is the next subject of Geary's award-winning and increasingly popular series.\n\nAn award-winning cartoonist and illustrator, Rick Geary has worked for Marvel Entertainment Group, DC Comics, Dark Horse Comics, and Heavy Metal, and has contributed to National Lampoon and The New York Times Book Review.

101 Outstanding Graphic Novels

The popular primer on the best graphic novels, initially called The 101 Best Graphic Novels, is back in its third updated edition. Expert librarian Stephen Weiner with the crowdsourcing help of professionals in the field, from artists to critics to leading comic store owners has sifted through the bewildering thousands of graphic novels now available to come up with an outstanding, not-to-be-missed 101. With an all-encompassing variety of genres, including both fiction and nonfiction, this serves as a great introduction to this increasingly influential world of pop culture and entertainment while also serving as a reference list for fans on what they may have possibly overlooked.\n\nStephen Weiner is the director of the Maynard Public Library in Maynard, Massachusetts, and a comics hi...

Faster Than a Speeding Bullet: The Rise of the Graphic Novel

Graphic novels have exploded off bookstore shelves into movies, college courses, and the New York Times book review, and comics historian and children's literature specialist Stephen Weiner explains the phenomenon in this groundbreaking book the first history of graphic novels. From the agonizing Holocaust vision of Art Spiegelman's Maus to the teenage angst of Dan Clowes's Ghost World, this study enters the heart of the graphic novel revolution. The complete history of this popular format is explained, from the first modern, urban autobiographical graphic novel, Will Eisner's A Contract with God, to the dark mysteries of Neil Gaiman's Sandman, the postmodern superheroics of Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight, and breakout books such as Alison Bechdel's Fun Home and R. Crumb's The...

Thoreau

"To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity and trust." This graphic novel biography relates the forward looking inspirational life of the great author, philosopher and pioneering ecologist. Henry David Thoreau was also the father of the concept, still fresh today (viz "Occupy Wall St."), of "civil disobedience" which he used against slavery and the encroachment of government.\n\nA. Dan was born in Toulouse, France in 1970. After long studies in Biology, his desire to draw catches up with him, leading to his other love, comics. He has published a number of literary graphic novels. Born in 1985, Maximilien Le Roy has written a number of...

Forbidden Harbor

In the summer of 1807, the Explorer, a ship from Her Majesty's Navy recovers a young shipwreck off the coast of Siam, Abel, who can only remember his name. He soon becomes friends with the first officer, acting as a captain because the commander of the ship has apparently absconded with the ship's treasure. Abel returns to England with the Explorer and finds accommodation at the inn run by the three fugitive captain's daughters. Well before he can recover his memory, however, he will discover something deeply disturbing about himself, and he will understand the true nature of some of the people who helped him. A haunting and intense book that digs into the soul of the protagonists as well as the reader, with a generous helping of good ol' fashioned salty adventure along with many a sh...

Louvre Collection

The highly successful series of graphic novels co-published with the Louvre museum in Paris (“Glacial Period”, “Museum Vaults”) continues with its next outstanding graphic novel. This time, the author invites us on a guided tour of the museum... by night... when the works of art come alive. Our guide: a deaf night watchman who somehow manages to communicate with the souls of those ethereal and timeless works of art. A visual tour de force with a strong edge of the frighteningly fantastic.

The Lighthouse

Francisco, a wounded, despairing sixteen-year-old Republican guard in the Spanish Civil War, is trying to flee to freedom by crossing the French border. In his escape, he encounters an old remote lighthouse, far from the warring factions. He is granted shelter by Telmo, the aging operator of the lighthouse. As Francisco recuperates, Telmo's tales of epic adventurers who sailed the lost seas and discovered worlds unknown reignite the spark of life in the young soldier. By one of the most brilliant new talents in comic art in Spain, author of the world-wide bestseller Wrinkles.\n\nPaco Roca is the pseudonym for Francisco Martinez Roca, a Spanish cartoonist. One of Spain's most promising talents, he is best known internationally for his bestselling graphic novel Wrinkles (Norton, June...