Includes New Books From Rick Geary, Renaud Dillies, Margreet de Heer and
Final Volume of Groundbreaking Underground Classic, OMAHA THE CAT DANCER

NBM Publishing has announced their upcoming publishing schedule for releases for the remainder of 2013, continuing their tradition to showcase some of the most diverse and acclaimed independent graphic novels from North America and Europe. 

JULY

The Complete OMAHA THE CAT DANCER, Vol. 8
By Reed Waller, Kate Worley & James Vance

Omaha and Chuck struggle to put the tangled past behind them while political corruption and a tightening police investigation threaten to destroy their future and ensnare their loved ones. This volume contains the long-awaited conclusion to the internationally acclaimed sexy soap opera for adults, in which mysteries are solved, painful sacrifices are made and the lovely cat dancer takes a final turn on the stage. All-new and never before collected, Volume 8 was drawn by legendary Omaha creator Reed Waller and written by his beloved late co-creator Kate Worley, in collaboration with James Vance.

8 ½ x11, 160pp., B&W Trade pb., $15.99, ISBN 9781561637546

AUGUST (Shipping To Direct Market in June)

ZOMBILLENIUM
Vol.1: Gretchen
By Arthur de Pins

Francis von Bloodt, vampire, a good family man, manages the theme park Zombillenium. They don’t just hire anyone, at Zombillenium: 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. Gretchen, a plucky trainee witch, helps him get around…

9×12, 48 pp., full color hardcover, $14.99, ISBN 9781561637348

SEPTEMBER (Shipping To Direct Market in July)

SCIENCE – A Discovery in Comics
By Margreet de Heer

Science: dull or hard to understand? Not if you read this book! The creators of Philosophy – a Discovery in Comics take on a new challenge, and explain the different scientific disciplines in clear, colorful chapters.

Who exclaimed “Eureka” and why?

Why did Galileo get into a fight with the Church?

What happens when you have your DNA tested?

All these questions and more are answered in a chronological journey from ancient times to modern Quantum Theory, with creators Margreet and Yiri as your witty guides.

A great comic book for anyone who wants to learn in a fun way the bigger framework of science, or brush up on what they learned in school.

8×8, 192pp., full color hardcover, $19.99, ISBN 9781561637508

OCTOBER  (Shipping To Direct Market in August)

P. Craig Russell’s Opera Adaptations Hardcover set
By P. Craig Russell

The great P. Craig Russell (Sandman, Coraline) adapts in stunning comic art The Magic Flute, Parsifal, I Pagliacci, Pelleas & Melisande, and Salome amongst others. A banded set of 3 beautiful volumes at a special price. Normally $75.

8x 11 1/2, 440pp. full color set of 3 jacketed hardcovers, $59.99 9781561637553

NOVEMBER (Shipping To Direct Market in September)

BETTY BLUES

By Renaud Dillies


By the author the Eisner-nominated Bubbles & Gondola and Abelard!  Little Rice Duck has built himself quite the reputation around the West Wood, playing his trumpet in bars with their smoky, sweaty ambiance, tequila sunrises, and jazz. But between his trumpet and his flame Betty, things are going astray. Betty is drowning her need of him in expensive champagne, something someone else is more than happy to provide… something he’d much prefer, like her, would just stay chilled.


8 ½ x 11, 80pp., full color HC, $18.99, ISBN 9781561637584

DECEMBER  (Shipping To Direct Market in October)

A Treasury of XXth Century Murder:
MADISON SQUARE TRAGEDY – The Murder of Stanford Whitey
By Rick Geary

Stanford White is one of New York’s most famous architects having designed many mansions and the first Madison Square Garden. His influence on New York’s look at the turn of the century was pervasive. As he became popular and in demand, he also became quite self-indulgent. He had a taste for budding young showgirls on Broadway, even setting up a private apartment to entertain them in, including a room with… a red velvet swing. When he meets Evelyn Nesbit, an exquisite young nymph, cover girl, showgirl, inspiration for Charles Dana Gibson’s “The Eternal Question” and for the later movie “The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing,” he knows he’s on to something special. However, Evelyn eventually marries a young Pittsburgh decadent heir with a dark side who develops a deep hatred for White and what he may or may not have done to her, setting up the most scandalous murder of the time.

6×9, 80pp, B&W clothbound, $15.99; ISBN 9781561637621

JANUARY (Shipping To Direct Market in November)

The Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde Vol. 2: The Young King and The Remarkable Rocket
By P. Craig Russell

First time in paperback! One of comic art’s most respected and pioneering artists, well known for his opera adaptations and beautiful fantasy work, P. Craig Russell is in the process of adapting Oscar Wilde’s famous fairy tales in a series of landmark volumes.

In the Remarkable Rocket, a vain little rocket figures itself above all others and still manages to see glory in its dismal end.

The Young King, taken from humble origins, revels in the finer possession of his new lofty position. However, a series of dreams reveal to him the suffering his people must go through to make them for him. Casting them off, he finds paradoxically that he may be alienating the very people he wants to help.

6×9, 8 ½ x11, 48 pp., full color, trade pb., $9.99, ISBN 978-1-56163-771-3

FEBRUARY (Shipping To Direct Market in December)

The Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde, Vol. 3: The Birthday of the Infanta
By P. Craig Russell

First time in paperback! One of comic art’s most respected and pioneering artists, well known for his opera adaptations and beautiful fantasy work, P. Craig Russell is in the process of adapting Oscar Wilde’s famous fairy tales in a series of landmark volumes.

A hideous dwarf is captured in the woods and brought in to the court of the beautiful royal infanta for her amusement. He is full of good humor and tricks and becomes quite popular but remains quite unaware of his looks. She has him perform in front of her friends for her birthday. He is very touched and quite proud to receive such attention, until he sees himself in the mirror and realizes their entertainment may be at his expense.

8 ½ x11, 32 pp., full color, trade pb., $8.99, ISBN 978-1-56163-775-1

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

This book should be in the library of every comic book fan. It provides an excellent history, hitting the high (and view-changing) points. This book will help you speak knowledgably on the subject. Even if you’re not an avid comics fan and /or only like a small segment of things under the umbrella of “comics,” this history is interesting and insightful.

– Sequential Tart

Lover’s Lane: The Hall-Mills Mystery

The book delves into the case and examines all the potential suspects, reading like a police procedural…Don’t be put off by this low-key presentation. The events, motives and individuals will leave you trying to solve this mystery.

– The Joplin Globe

An Enchantment

More like a poem than a story…An Enchantment is an ambitious work and one worth checking out. It’s romantic, affecting, charming, fun, and utterly beautiful.

– Playback: STL

Durieux makes the Louvre a fantasy world, where anyone can be anyone else, and the artwork helps with the whimsical tone he’s going for – despite the old man’s age and fears, the book never becomes too dreary…It’s a charming comic, though, one that gets under your skin more than you might expect, and it’s a nice story of two people searching for something new. Whether they find it or not is for you to discover.

– Good Comics Blog at Comic Book Resources

An Enchantment delivers exactly what it promises in a sepia-toned dreamscape exploring the world of the Louvre. Worth a few reads to really absorb the entire work.

– Spandexless

The Lives of Sacco & Vanzetti

This was a very entertaining book, maybe my favourite of the series. It does a great job of evoking the era, outlining the issues involved and keeping it all a good read as well, and Geary’s art has been consistently excellent for decades.

– Four Realities

The Initiates

It’s a great story of two people who willingly decided to venture outside of their comfort zones and find out more about something they knew little about–and as a result, found more in common with each other than they thought possible. It’s an examination of how we are when we love something we’re dedicated to, and it’s engrossing in a way that invites you to just sit, relax, and take it all in after an exhausting day.

– Spandexless

War Passenger is a documentary film that tells the story of David Axe, a middle-class, suburban-raised South Carolina resident who walked away from his family, friends, and career to travel to Iraq in 2005 at the peak of the Middle Eastern conflict. Armed with only a backpack and a video camera, David embraced his role as a “citizen journalist” and continued to seek out the world’s worst war zones. Since 2005, he has reported from Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Somalia, Chad, Congo, and East Timor. During his travels, David began to write autobiographical comic books detailing a life at war where IEDs, piracy, and child soldiers were an everyday reality. Utilizing over 100 hours of David’s personal video footage, War Passenger takes you to the frontlines of the world’s conflicts and shows you how hard it is to come back home.

NBM readers are familiar with his multiple award winning book, War Fix, which Axe collaborated on with Steve Olexa.

 Visit warpassenger.com for more information.

You might not be aware that Stan Mack, author of NBM’s Taxes, the Tea Party, and Those Revolting Rebels, is also considered to be one of the founding fathers of contemporary cartoon reportage.

Stan recently was profiled in Print Magazine focusing on his work in the magazine back in 1996 which predicted the new digital revolution.

Check it out HERE and also check out a previous piece where Stan discusses Taxes and the current political climate.

NBM Publishing is extremely proud and flattered to receive an Eisner nomination for Best U.S. Edition of International Material for Abelard by Régis Hautiere and Renaud Dillies.

Also nominated for “Great Graphic Novel for Teens’ by YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association), here are what some other reviewers are saying:

“At times, both whimsical and melancholy, Abelard transcends the artform as an example of exquisite storytelling.”

– Broken Frontier

“Wonderful, thoughtful, and moving.”

– Sequential Tart

“If the cartoon images of birds and bears–and the addition of the word “magical” to the book’s front cover–give the impression that Abelard is a children’s fantasy, be assured that it isn’t. Think of it more as an anthropomorphic piece of magical realism in the manner of Joanne Harris’ Chocolat, a reflection on hope and dreams that may surprise you by just how affecting it is.”

– Blog Critics

“(Abelard) starts off feeling somewhat quaint and unassuming, and by the time you realize where it is heading, it is far too late to stem the tide of heartache that the book makes you feel…A book very much worth your time and money. This is a high-quality piece of work.”

– Comics Waiting Room

“A beautifully crafted piece of storytelling from Hautiére that tugs mercilessly at the heartstrings but doesn’t ever fall into sentimental or sickly sweet. If anything, by the end, we’re assaulted by the brutality of the story. And Dillies’ artwork is quite beautiful, his charming characters almost deliberately at odds with some of the themes and actions of the tale, yet never feeling wrong. His stylised colours perfectly suited to detailing all the wonders, all the misery, all the dreams Abelard finds along his journey.”

– The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

“ A poignant, droll, and heartbreaking “funny animals” tale for grown-ups, with breathtaking art.”

– Karen Green – Boing Boing Annual “Return of the Best Damn Comics of the Year” List

“Abelard is a magnificently well-told story… It’s truly a fantastic graphic novel that’s perfect for people who aren’t normally comic book fans.”

– Panels on Pages

“…Starts out feeling like a sweet, whimsical pastoral children’s graphic novel and slowly morphs into a wonderfully moving adult story that kind of sneaks up on you with its craft, intelligence and interesting themes.”

– Comics Bulletin

After a great time at MoCCA, here we are, back again, with some recent reviews of various NBM titles.

Abelard

Has been nominated for “Great Graphic Novel for Teens’ by YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association).  Results will be announced in January 2104 by the ALA.

“At times, both whimsical and melancholy, Abelard transcends the artform as an example of exquisite storytelling.”

– Broken Frontier

An Enchantment

“Billed as “A Graphic Poem,” author/artist Durieux’s volume renders a reverie rich with carefully detailed sepia-toned illustrations that incorporate photo reproductions of the museum’s celebrated artwork…Highly recommended.”

– Library Journal

“Pure escapism through art.”

– Comics Worth Reading

“In an afterword, writer/artist Christian Durieux says his ambition was to create poetry in comics. With this beguiling, bittersweet reverie, I think he has succeeded.”

– New Hampshire Telegraph

“The art is lovely, the characters and dialogue are rich, and the book sweeps you up and carries you along with its verve. Each entry in the Louvre series has been unique, and has challenged its readers as a work of art should. This one stands above the others in its power to engage.”

– Comics Waiting Room

Philosophy – A Discovery in Comics

“(Philosophy: A Discovery in Comics) is very much a “discovery”, a “first look” at philosophy that warns against subscribing to any particular system of thought too rigidly and instead encourages critical, personal engagement. It’s an important lesson to learn, particularly for young adults who are just beginning to engage with abstract thought.”

– Multiversity Comics

“Philosophy is organized like a virtual road trip, with de Heer and her husband Yiri (also a cartoonist; he did the coloring for this volume) offering commentary on the issues and philosophers covered, frequently raising the same kinds of questions that we would have, and providing reasonable answers to many of them. The illustrations are cute and colorful, alternating between standard frame-based sequential comics and full-page splashes, and de Heer’s cheerful style keeps even the weightiest questions from seeming too difficult to contemplate.”

– Playback:stl

Stargazing Dog

“If you have a heart at all, you will cry reading this book.”

– Lost in the Stacks

Lovers’ Lane: The Hall-Mills Mystery

The Morton Report has a fantastic interview with Rick where he discusses A Treasury of Victorian Murder Compendium as well as his true-crime work in general.

“Rick Geary’s distinctively inked style is a perfect match to the tales of bloodshed he favors—they recall both woodcuts and graphical newspaper illustrations of the Police Gazette variety, giving a period flavor to his work. His deadpan style of storytelling, as well as his unerring choice of unusual details to highlight, give the proceedings a touch of humor of the “what fools these mortals be” variety.”

– Playback: stl

Here’s a fantastic video trailer for our upcoming ZOMBILLENIUM Vol.1: Gretchen by Arthur de Pins, which is receiving it’s first English translation.

Francis von Bloodt, vampire, a good family man, manages the theme park Zombillenium. They don’t just hire anyone, at Zombillenium: 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. Gretchen, a plucky trainee witch, helps him get around…

NBM is once again heading to the MoCCA Arts Festival and we’re happy to have Stan Mack (Taxes, the Tea Party, and Those Revolting Rebels) signing on Saturday following his 11:30 am panel, Art As Passion: Celebrating the spirit of comics through observation and reportage which will be moderated by Dan Nadel.

Stan will be at the NBM/Papercutz Booth (161-162) on Saturday from 12:30-1:30 and then from 3 to 5.

Also hanging out at the NBM booth will be cartoonist Lance Tooks making a rare U.S. appearance. He’ll be signing copies of his series Lucifer’s Garden.

We’ll also have a special free sample of Persia Blues by Dara Naraghi and Brent Bowman as well as our latest titles including An Enchantment by Christian Durieux, The Initiates by Etienne Davodeau, and Abelard by Régis Hautière and Renaud Dillies. We’ll also have plenty of Papercutz titles including Annoying Orange, The Smurfs, Ariol, Ninjago, Power Rangers, and more.

So come on by, meet some cool folks and celebrate comics!

NBM/Papercutz

Booths 161-162

The original French edition was Gourmand Magazine‘s Best Wine Book of the Year (2011).  Now, NBM is proud to release The Initiates in English for the first time.  Here’s what the reviewers are saying:

“This intensely thought-provoking graphic novel makes us pause to consider our relationships with other people and asks us to think about who we are, what we do, and how we perceive and relate to the world around us”

– Publisher’s Weekly

“It’s hard to imagine a more pleasantly told story.”

– The Comics Reporter

“(An) engrossing piece of comics reportage.”

– A.V. Club

“I was inspired, by the end, to better appreciate just how much hard work goes into a delicious wine or a beautiful comic. This would make a wonderful gift to any artist, or those aspiring to be.”

– Comics Worth Reading

“This book will teach [you] something new in an entertaining form.”

– New York Journal of Books

“A book that sticks with you long after you put it down… An amazing piece of work.”

– Comics Waiting Room

“Beautifully rendered…”

– Shelf-Awareness

“Beautifully designed…highly recommended in every respect…will certainly make my top five graphic novels of 2013.”

– Ich Liebe Comics!

“A compelling read no matter where you are in your wine journey.”

– Wine Harlots

“A page-turner…perhaps the best book ever for explaining, viscerally, the toils of a terroirist.”

– Wine-Searcher

If you haven’t picked up this new edition of Stephen Weiner’s groundbreaking Faster Than a Speeding Bullet: The Rise of the Graphic Novel, here’s what the critics are saying…

“Though its title gives the impression that the book’s focus will be on superhero GN fare like Knight or Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, Weiner provides a broader view of comics’ maturation as a storytelling form.”

– Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“Anyone new to learning about the comics industry’s history would find a wonderful starting place with Faster Than a Speeding Bullet.”

– Playback: STL