Terry Nantier and all at NBM
Best Wishes for the Holidays!
Terry Nantier and all at NBM
Category: Blog
Terry Nantier and all at NBM
The Silent Invasion welcomes Robert J. Sawyer
Michael Cherkas and I are pleased to announce that renowned science fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer will be providing an introduction to The Silent invasion Book 3: Abductions which will be released in May 2020.
Robert J. Sawyer is a Hugo, Nebula, Heinlein, and Campbell Memorial Award-winning writer. His work has been seen through his novels such as Hominids, Mindscan , and Quantam Night. His novel FlashForward was adapted into a U.S. television series on ABC. He is also a member of the Order of Canada and one of eight writers (and the only Canadian) in history to win all three of the science fiction field’s top honors for best novel of the year.
His latest novel, The Oppenheimer Alternative will be released June 2, 2020.
For more information on Robert J. Sawyer, visit his website http://www.sfwriter.com by clicking http://www.sfwriter.com
For more information on The Silent Invasion click here.
You can follow us on Facebook as well.
You can find Larry’s previous blog posts here
And posts by Michael Cherkas, here
Remember to watch the skies!!
Willie Nelson!
Hello readers! It’s been quite a while. I’ve been behind the scenes quite a bit working on my next project…and here it is!
In September 2020, NBM Graphic Novels will release an extensive comic biography of country music icon Willie Nelson, written by Yours Truly! It will cover his entire life and career, beginning in Hill County, Texas in 1933. We’ll see all the ups and downs of his long career, family and activism up until the current day.
I’ll also be working on some of the art, along with an amazing group of talented cartoonists, including;
Adam Walmsley
Jeremy Massie
Jason Pittman
Håvard S. Johansen
J.T. Yost
Coşkun Kuzgun
Jesse Lonergan
Stay tuned right here for more info – coming very soon!
T.J. Kirsch
NBM Graphic Novels Announces Spring 2020 Releases
NBM Graphic Novels is proud to announce the release schedule beginning in March 2020, including brand new biographies of Phoolan Devi and Leonardo Da Vinci, as well as new volumes of The Silent Invasion and The Louvre Collection.
In addition, we’re releasing the historical fiction book, Giant, set in New York in the early 1930s, which follows a steelworker harboring a terrible secret.
Also being reissued as a bundle is The Rock & Roll Set which includes our Beatles, Rolling Stones and Bob Marley biographies.
MARCH
PHOOLAN DEVI, REBEL QUEEN
By Claire Fauvel
She rebelled against the ancient tribal rules of India, her country, resulting in her becoming a Robin Hood type bandit. Essentially sold at the age of 11 to become a wife for a much older man, she ran away when he raped her.
From that point on, there were few choices for her but to join a roaming gang of bandits, her ambition leading her to become their rebel chief. Ultimately, society caught up with her and she even became a strong voice for change as a representative in the nascent Indian parliament.
A story of courage and unbending determination in front of centuries of established inequities in the classic Indian caste system.
8½, 11, 224pp., full color HC, $29.99, $19.99 ebooks (9781681122526). ISBN 9781681122519
APRIL
GIANT
By Mikael
New York, early 1930s. We find Giant, a mysterious Irish colossus who, with his fellow immigrants, sweats blood 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. Giant, who seems to be afraid of nothing, still has not found the courage to reveal to the young woman that she is a widow … What does her silence mean? … What would happen if she had left for the New World to join her husband?
An entrancing everyday working class tale with a majestic background.
9×12, 120pp., full color HC, $24.99, ISBN 9781681122533, e: 9781681122540, $16.99
MAY
SILENT INVASION, VOL.3: ABDUCTIONS
By Michael Cherkas and Larry Hancock
Several years after his fateful final encounter with would-be presidential assassin Matt Sinkage, private detective Phil Housley finds himself reluctantly protecting a paranoid lawyer from alien abductions, sinister government agents and mad scientists. At the same time Housley is battling demons from his past that threaten to unravel his own fragile sanity.
Collected here for the first time, “Abductions” continues the Silent Invasion saga of a deeply paranoid and fearful America.
7×10, 160pp., B&W trade pb., $16.99, e-books: $9.99 (9781681122564); ISBN 9781681122557
JUNE
The Louvre Collection: THE RED MOTHER WITH CHILD
By Christian Lax
In Mali in Africa, a red Mother with Child, a 14th century African sculpture, is saved from the destructive madness of Islamists by Alou, a young honey hunter. In the company of other migrants, sisters and brothers of misfortune, Alou goes all out to reach Europe. His goal and his obsession: entrust the precious statuette to the Louvre Museum!
An epic adventure, touching upon the burning worldwide issue of refugees and immigration, in the ever-expanding Louvre collection commissioning graphic novels from leading world artists to spin tales around the famous museum.
9×12, 144pp, full color HC, $27.99, ebook 19.99 (9781681122588); ISBN 9781681122571
JULY
LEONARDO DA VINCI & THE RENAISSANCE OF THE WORLD
By Marwan Kahil and Ariel Vittori
One of the greatest artists of all time, as well as a genius inventor, Da Vinci was arrestingly tall and handsome. This comics bio shows the process of his work and his inventions, his persecution as a gay man and how the changing politics of his country and ebbs and flows of those in power affected him and his career.
A turbulent story on an exceptional man. Complemented with back matter on his chronology, list of his oeuvres, etc…
6 ½ x9, 144pp., full color HC, $24.99, ebooks $16.99 (9781681122601). ISBN 9781681122595
AUGUST
The ROCK & ROLL SET!
By Various
Here is a set of 3 tomes on great rock and roll bands! The bestselling comics bios of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Bob Marley are collected into one attractively priced banded set. Normally separately $85, $74.99 as a set.
ISBN 9781681122618, $74.99
The Silent Invasion wallpaper
Last week Michael Cherkas shared with you a close to final image of the cover of Book 3 of the Silent Invasion, Abductions!
As I pondered what to add to this blog, I realized that I have an image that I have never shared with anyone. This is the wallpaper that I use on all of my computers.
I created this several years ago. Perhaps it is time to update it with more recent covers!
To download a full sized image in Windows, right click on the image and open it in a new tab. Then save the image from there.
For more information on The Silent Invasion click here.
You can follow us on Facebook as well.
You can find Larry’s previous blog posts here
And posts by Michael Cherkas, here
Love & the Celebrity Crush
In my book Love: a Discovery in Comics (just out in stores!) I explore the Seven Year Itch, together with a therapist, who convinces me that what I need is to look about me for a new Love of my Life…
My favorite actor is Robert Carlyle – on whom I have a Celebrity Crush. Check this drawer of almost all of his movies I collected:
The picture of him that I used in the book is his incarnation as Dr. Nicholas Rush in Stargate Universe – where he is a tormented brilliant scientist:
I guess I have a thing for tormented brilliant scientists. Now that I think about it, Yiri is a tormented brilliant scientist in his own right – only a lot less moody than Dr. Rush, and not located at the other end of the universe, which is convenient.
The thing I like most about Robert Carlyle as an actor is his versatility. Look at all these different roles he has played!
From psycho Begbie in Trainspotting (1996)…
…and again in the sequel T2 Trainspotting in 2017…
…to the grieving & dancing widower in the very romantic Marilyn Hotchkiss’ Ballroom Dancing and Charm School (2005)…
… to shady dealmaker Rumplestiltskin in the TV-series Once Upon A Time (2011-2017), which earned him wider fame and a whole new fandom…
… to the awkward barber in The Legend of Barney Thomson, his film directing debut in 2015…
…and British Prime Minister in the upcoming TV-film COBRA:
EDIT: AND, this just in, he played a 78-year old John Lennon in the movie Yesterday that was released this week! Uncredited, but it’s unmistakably him:
…and that’s just a small selection of the many roles he’s played in his 30-year career!
In my book, I have him turn up at the dating agency:
And we go on a date!!!
What happens next…?
Find out by reading my book!
Love & Marriage
In my newest book Love: a Discovery in Comics I also take a look at the history of the institution of Marriage – mostly in Western countries. I drew this spread:
…and now I have made it into an animation, using Videoscribe:
Click here to watch it on Youtube.
Here are a few scenes:
I’m also reflecting on my own marriage to Yiri – we got officially married in 2009:
…but we make it a habit to privately “renew our vows” a few times a year, whenever we find ourselves in a special place and the occasion presents itself:
…which goes to underscore my believe that marriage is something you have to make your own, as a couple. Don’t follow the perceived dictates of society, they tend to change all the time anyway!
Read more about love, marriage, sex, relationships and all of that in:
Love & Religion
In my book Love: a Discovery in Comics I have drawn one chapter about Love from a religious perspective, taking a look at two scriptures: the Kama Sutra and Song of Songs.
The Kama Sutra is mainly known for its detailing of sexual postures – but it’s so much more! Originally meant for students leaving their guru to go into married life, it gives hints and tips about a lot of things, from decorating your house to recipes for love potions. I drew a 2-page spread depicting the scope of this document.
Then there is the biblical Song of Songs, a highly erotic love song:
I dwell briefly on one of my pet subjects (as people may recognize from my books Philosophy and Religion): the difference in eastern and western spirituality, and therefore the ideas about the body and sex:
Read all about it in Love: a Discovery in Comics! Now in bookstores (or very close).
Love & Romance
When telling ourselves the narrative of our love lives, we are heavily influenced by the tales of love we get fed through books, movies and magazines. I myself am a real sucker for romance novels (especially those set in Victorian England) – which all follow the same formula: there’s a Male and a Female, there’s Attraction, there are Obstacles, and once these are overcome there’s a Happy Ending…
Romance novels are actually a really interesting subject to study for its feminist content! No other book genre has evolved so much over the past decades, reflecting how cultural thinking has changed on the position of women towards the workplace, sex and of course, men.
In Love: a Discovery in Comics, I deconstruct this evolution a little, and also take a look at the classic fairy tale:
Happily ever after…? Who knows? What happens AFTER the Happy Ending?
Read my take on it in this book, in stores this month!
TCAF 2019
The Toronto Comic Arts Festival was a blast! It’s one of the biggest and nicest comic festivals I have ever attended, and just like in 2015 (when I was there last) it was wonderful to be there. Even more so, because this time I was Featured Guest and had a premiering book: Love: a Discovery in Comics.
That’s me, loving my new book – and publishers Jeff Whitman and Terry Nantier in the background.
Another great thing this year was that I was one of five Dutch comic artists attending. Our national comics child prodigy Aimée de Jongh was there (okay, she’s not a kid anymore) promoting both Blossoms in Autumn and her new Taxi: Stories from the Back Seat.
This is her, signing just around the corner from where we were sitting:
Another colleague from home was Chad Bilyeu, who is originally from Cleveland, but has been in Holland for ages and is the author of the wonderfully revealing series Chad in Amsterdam.
Last but not least there was Typex, our comics rock star, whose masterpiece Andy (about Andy Warhol) is taking the comics world by storm.
The coolest thing was that I got to do a panel with him, about Dutch Comics, moderated by Mark Nevins:
Not only that – I also got to be on a panel about Science and Comics, with Maki Naro, Mike Holmes, Alison Wilgus and moderator Johanna Draper Carlson:
While Saturday went by in a frenzy of signing, panelling and generally being elated by everything, Sunday allowed for some time to chase for comics myself.
This is our loot:
The NBM table did very well, by the way! Here’s the Before picture of my end:
And this is the After…:
If you missed my cute little promotional booklet Ten Tips For A Broken Heart and are in the Toronto area – I dropped off a whole bunch at comic store The Beguiling.
Thanks to everyone who made TCAF 2019 such a memorable experience! We definitely hope to be back one day.
