New Releases by Nate Powell

At last! The long-awaited graphic version of the multi-million copy bestselling corrective to American history myths—adapted by the famed National Book Award–winning artist behind John Lewis’s March trilogy Since its first publication in the 1990s, Lies My Teacher Told Me has become one of the most important and successful—and beloved—history books of our time. As the late Howard Zinn said, “Every teacher, every student of history, every citizen should read this book.” Having sold well over 2 million copies, the book also won an American Book Award and numerous other commendations and prizes and was even heralded on the front page of the New York Times long after its first publication. Now, the brilliant and award-winning artist Nate Powell—the first cartoonist ever to win a National Book Award—has adapted Loewen’s classic work into a graphic edition that perfectly captures both Loewen’s text and the irreverent spirit of his work. Eye-popping illustrations bring to life the true history chronicled in Lies My Teacher Told Me, and ample text boxes and callouts ensure nothing is lost in translation. The book is perfect for those making their first foray past the shroud of history textbooks, and it will also be beloved by those who had their worldviews changed by the original.

Love and Rockets meets Russian Doll in this original, full-color graphic novel about an underground punk band caught in a loop of an eternally repeating tour—from National Book Award–winning cartoonist Nate Powell. At first glance, Diamond Mine seems to have emerged in 1979 as Arkansas’s first punk band. Instead, this quartet is revealed to be interdimensional travelers from 1994, guided—largely against their will—by vocalist Diana’s powerful spell embedded into their song “Fall Through.” As Diamond Mine tours the country, each performance of the song triggers a fracturing of space-time perceptible only by the band members as they’re transported to alternate worlds in which they’ve never existed, but their band’s legend has. That is, until Jody, the band’s bassist and the story’s protagonist, finds herself disrupting Diana’s sorcery, even at the cost of her own beloved work and legacy. While some band members perpetually seek the free space offered by the underground punk scene to escape from their mundane or traumatic lives, others work toward it as a means of expression, connection, and growth—even if that means eventually outgrowing Sisyphean patterns and inevitably outgrowing their beloved band-family altogether. Master cartoonist Nate Powell has crafted a graphic novel that serves as both a brilliant example of circular storytelling, reminiscent of Netflix’s Russian Doll, and a love letter to the spirit of punk communities. Fall Through will stay with the reader long after they’ve turned the last page, asking the impossible question: Would you burn down everything you love in order to save it all?

From Nate Powell, the National Book Award–winning artist of March, a collection of graphic nonfiction essays about living in a new era of necessary protest—now with sixteen pages of new material In seven interwoven comics essays, author and illustrator Nate Powell addresses living in an era of what he calls “necessary protest.” Save It for Later: Promises, Parenthood, and the Urgency of Protest is Powell’s reflection on witnessing the collapse of discourse in real-time while illustrating the award-winning trilogy March by Congressman John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, this generation’s preeminent historical account of nonviolent revolution in the civil rights movement. Powell highlights both the danger of normalized paramilitary symbols in consumer pop culture and the roles we play individually as we interact with our communities, families, and society at large. Each essay tracks Powell’s journey from the night of the election—promising his four-year-old daughter that Trump will never win—to the reality of the authoritarian presidency, protesting the administration’s policies, and navigating the complications of teaching his children how to raise their own voices in a world that is becoming increasingly dangerous and more and more polarized. While six of the seven essays are new, unpublished work, Powell has also included “About Face,” a comics essay first published by Popula Online that swiftly went viral and inspired him to write Save It for Later. The seventh and final essay was written after the 2020 presidential election, and examines the outcome of that contest in relation to the events of the last four years, with a particular focus on the COVID-19 pandemic and global protests in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. The updated paperback comes out just in time for the 2022 midterm elections and includes bonus content featuring a conversation between Powell and Derf Backderf, the New York Times–bestselling author of My Friend Dahmer and Kent State, where they discuss the militarization of civilian spaces and the aftermath of the January 6th insurrection. As Powell moves between subjective and objective experiences raising his children—depicted in their childhood innocence as imaginary anthropomorphic animals—he reveals the electrifying sense of trust and connection with neighbors and strangers in protest. He also explores how to equip young people with tools to best make their own noise as they grow up and help shape the direction and future of this country.

From the acclaimed DC Comics writer and the artist of the #1 New York Times bestselling and National Book Award–winning illustrated trilogy March comes a stunning crime noir graphic novel exploring the intertwining threads of crime, conspiracy, racism, and insanity in the post-World War II Deep South. After World War II, tensions rise in a Southern city ruled by organized crime, touching countless residents as they struggle to make sense of the new world. A sudden act of violence sets off a series of bloody events between the police and mafia as they lash out against one another. As the violence worsens, desperation grows to stop it, by any means necessary. Told in multiple perspectives—from a seemingly untouchable mafia don, to a gun-happy seasoned detective succumbing to the depths of his schizophrenia, to a newly minted police lieutenant haunted by his recent service in the war, and two African-American brothers, one mired in corruption and the other leading a local militia in an effort to see that justice is served—Two Dead is at once a white-knuckled and unputdownable thriller, a roman à clef inspired by true events, and a book about post-traumatic stress disorder and the underlying social traumas of how war and segregation affect their survivors on all fronts.

A lover''s dream becomes a parent''s nightmare in the astonishing new graphic novel from Nate Powell, National Book Award-winning artist of the March trilogy. As the sun sets on the 1970s, the spirit of the Love Generation still lingers in one "intentional community" high in the Ozarks. But what''s missing? Under impossibly close scrutiny, two families wrestle with long-repressed secrets... while deep within those Arkansas hills, something monstrous stirs, ready to feast on village whispers. With his first solo graphic novel in seven years, #1 New York Times bestseller Nate Powell presents a haunting tale of intimacy, guilt, and collective amnesia.

A celebrity glares. A community burns. A child’s heart breaks. A recipe summons a ghost. A dying woman makes her peace. An art form sustains the spirit. In You Don''t Say, award-winning graphic novelist Nate Powell — of the #1 New York Times Bestseller March: Book One, and the Eisner Award-Winning "Graphic Novel of the Year" Swallow Me Whole — collects a decade of powerful short works. Autobiography, fiction, essay comics, collaborations, and more fill these thoughtful, pitch-black pages, comprising rare and previously unreleased material from 2004-2013.

Named one of the best graphic novels of the year by The AV Club, Comic Book Resources, Complex, and Graphic Novel Reporter! "The most prodigiously talented graphic novelist of his [generation] ... Powell''s exceptional visual-storytelling gift transforms a potentially obvious antiwar parable into a ravishingly beautiful, emotionally resonant, thoughtful, and provocative work of art."-- Booklist (starred review) "Vivid and imaginative... The timely, innovative storytelling and captivating artwork should particularly appeal to fans of Craig Thompson''s Blankets and David Small''s Stitches. Highly recommended for both adults and young adults."-- Library Journal (starred review) "Any Empire by Nate Powell is everything a graphic novel should be, and few are. Spare, to the point dialog, fluid and effortless visual storytelling devoid of pretensions, and a story with characters that stick with you. I very rarely read graphic novels because I usually can''t get past the first few pages. but Any Empire drew me in from the start and didn''t let up."-- Larry Hama, author of GI Joe comics since 1982 "At times poignant, at at others surreal, Any Empire is an engaging, never preachy work about childhood, centering on those secret currents that define our youthful rivalries and the games we play."-- MTV Geek "We''ve all experienced the world''s endless cycle of innocence shattered, and Powell renders it all in lovely chiaroscuro... he crafts memorable and heartfelt characters that linger in the mind and scar the heart."-- Under the Radar Nate Powell, hailed by the London Times as "a writer-artist of genius,"is back. His new book, Any Empire, is a vivid examination of war and violence, and their trickle-down effects on middle America. First, a group of small-town kids find themselves bound together by geography, boredom, and a string of mysterious turtle mutilations. Years later, with Army tanks rolling through the streets of their hometown, these young adults are forced to confront painful questions of privilege, duty, betrayal, and courage. Any Empire recalls aimless summers of Nancy Drew and GI Joe, treehouses and army surplus stores... but when fantasy starts to bleed into reality, whose mission will be accomplished?

--WINNER OF THE 2009 EISNER AWARD FOR BEST NEW GRAPHIC NOVEL! --NOMINATED FOR THREE 2009 EISNER AWARDS INCLUDING BEST GN & BEST CARTOONIST! --WINNER OF THE 2008 IGNATZ AWARD FOR "OUTSTANDING DEBUT"! --ONE OF YALSA''S "GREAT GRAPHIC NOVELS FOR TEENS"! --FINALIST FOR THE LA TIMES BOOK PRIZE! ----Swallow Me Whole is the first graphic novel since 1992''s Maus to be nominated for this prize in any category. --WINNER OF THE 2009 IGNATZ AWARD FOR "OUTSTANDING ARTIST"! "Nate Powell''s Swallow Me Whole, a disturbed, haunting book, is impossible to describe... It''s not an easy book, but its dark brilliance marks its creator as a writer-artist of genius."--Neel Mukherjee, The Times (UK) "Scaldingly dark ... Powell''s flowing, impressionistic artwork, with its ravenous expanses of negative space, swirls the reader''s perspective through his characters'' perceptions and back out again."--Douglas Wolk, The New York Times "Honest and lovingly portrayed. Every word in this graphic novel is carefully chosen, dialogue is realistic, and background "noise"masterfully done. Powell''s detailed pen-and-ink drawings are well executed with lettering and images so brilliantly intertwined that they are one and the same."--Lara McAllister, School Library Journal "Darkly sublime."--Booklist "His layouts, his touch with shadow and darkness, the way he brings you close enough to Ruth that you can watch her sleep without disturbing her dreams, all that stuff is amazing. ... Nate Powell can do it all. In his hands, even the high-school parking lots and the booths at the local diner are equal parts hope and foreboding."-- Steve Duin, The Oregonian "[Swallow Me Whole] achieves some stunning effects with the art and the lettering ... Powell has a look halfway between Charles Burns and Craig Thompson, and at times, Swallow Me Whole enters that rarified sphere of art comics where the page design alone achieves the mood and meaning that that the artist is shooting for... Swallow Me Whole captures the desperation of the clinically obsessed, and how from the right angle, it can look like genius."--The AV Club "Both provocative and thoughtful ... not since Robert Altman''s Images has a medium so perfectly conveyed the experience of schizophrenia ... It''s the best graphic novel since Craig Thompson''s Blankets."--Chris DeVito, CD Syndicated Swallow Me Whole is a love story carried by rolling fog, terminal illness, hallucination, apophenia, insect armies, secrets held, unshakeable faith, and the search for a master pattern to make sense of one''s unraveling. In his most ambitious book to date, Nate Powell quietly explores the dark corners of adolescence -- not the clich_d melodramatic outbursts of rebellion, but the countless tiny moments of madness, the vague relief of medication, and mixed blessing of family ties. As the story unfolds, two stepsiblings hold together amidst schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, family breakdown, animal telepathy, misguided love, and the tiniest hope that everything will someday make sense. Deliberately paced, delicately drawn, and drenched in shadows, Swallow Me Whole is a landmark achievement for Nate Powell and a suburban ghost story that will haunt readers long after its final pages.

Collects zines, comics, and first two books, "Tiny Giants" and "It Disappears," from the award-winning graphic novelist.

It Disappears opens with snow falling: a few large white dots against of a background of black. The drawings close in on a house, well-banked by snow, a boy sitting on a couch. The boy begins a journey, his hand placed on a doorknob. After he leaves the house he begins to grow older. In the mountains one night the smoke from his fire announces "you''re here." The smoke chases and catches him. A cartoon animal emerges from the gloom. "It''s really not safe here," it says. The boy travels with the animal. It has many things to say. "I have a friend who only reads periodicals He subscribes to 28 titles each month and hasn''t read a book in three years. He feels so overwhelmed by the allure of modernity, like he''ll miss what''s just happening right now. And now. And now." A rhapsody on memory and the anticipation of the future dissolving into the receding waters of the past, Powell''s graphic novel traces a journey of self-discovery and the uneasy realization that everything, eventually, disappears. However, underlying this realization is an almost cosmic hope that human interaction and history can transcend the corrosive effects of time.