I’ve been drawing comics since junior high, so for like eighteen years now (yikes). Most of my earlier work falls squarely in the juvenilia category, but for the past four or five years I’ve done some stuff I can still look at and not cringe too much. Following is information on my two most recent books:
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Now Available!
Tonoharu: Part One
Recipient of the prestigious Xeric Grant for 2007!
Tonoharu is a four-part graphic novel that tells the story of a group of foreigners living in Fukuoka-ken, Japan. It was informed by my three-year experience as an assistant English teacher through the Japanese Government-sponsored JET Program.
After working on it for about four years (!), the first part of this graphic novel has finally been completed. With the generous assistance from the Xeric Foundation, I am now in the process of self-publishing it. I hope to have it printed up and available for sale sometime during the first quarter of 2008 (or, if everything goes well, maybe even a little sooner).
From the back cover of Tonoharu: Part One:
Daniel Wells begins a new life as an assistant junior high school teacher in the rural Japanese village of Tonoharu.
Isolated from those around him by cultural and language barriers, Dan leads a monastic existence, peppered only by his inept pursuit of the company of a fellow American who lives a couple towns over.
But contrary to appearances, Dan isn’t the only foreigner to call Tonoharu home. Across town, a group of wealthy European eccentrics board in a one-time Buddhist temple, for reasons that remain obscure to their gossiping neighbors.
Sample Artwork
Click on an image to enlarge. Color scheme subject to change.
Book Details:
Tonoharu: Part One
5.25″x8.25″, 128 pages, Two-color.
Cloth Hardcover w/ full color dust jacket w/ gold highlights.
ISBN Number: 978-0-9801023-2-1
Publisher: Pliant Press
Cover Price: $19.95
Publication Date: May 1, 2008
Copies of Tonoharu: Part One are available now. For info on how to purchase it, please visit the “Buy My Comics” section of this site.
To read blog entries about Tonoharu, click here.
To preorder Tonoharu: Part One from amazon.com, click here.
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Available now!
Young Men of a Certain Mind
In 2003, after quitting a job as a bellman just before I went to Japan to teach English, I self-published this “fictional” account of a guy who works as a bellman and dreams of moving to Japan. Where do I come up with this stuff…
While Young Men of a Certain Mind isn’t part of the Tonoharu canon, it almost serves as spiritual predecessor for Tonoharu.
“The pen and ink art, the expressions, the humor and clean layout all combine for a kinder, gentler R. Crumb look.”
—John Valentine
The Independent Weekly
Book Details:
Young Men of a Certain Mind
5.25″x8.5″, 44 pages, b&w w/ two-color soft cover
Cover Price: $3.95
Publisher: Lars Martinson
Copies of Young Men of a Certain Mind are available now. For info on how to purchase it, please visit the “Buy My Comics” section of this site.
