Books by Sammy Harkham
Blood of the Virgin
“A story about storytelling...Conjures up the grindhouse movie-making scene in 1970s Los Angeles and tracks an ambitious young man’s flailing attempts to build a family and a career as a film arteest in that debased world...A book with a lot of heart.” —Art Spiegelman, bestselling author of MAUS
Fourteen years in the making, renowned and beloved graphic novelist Sammy Harkham finally delivers his epic story of artistic ambition, the heartbreak it can bring, and what it means to be human
YOU CAN BURN IN HELL
Set primarily in Los Angeles in 1971, Blood of the Virgin is the story of twenty‑seven‑year‑old Seymour, an Iraqi Jewish immigrant film editor who works for an exploitation film production company. Sammy Harkham brings us into the underbelly of Los Angeles during a crucial evolutionary moment in the industry from the last wheeze of the studio system to the rise of independent filmmaking.
Seymour, his wife, and their new baby struggle as he tries to make it in the movie business, writing screenplays on spec and pining for the chance to direct. When his boss buys one of his scripts for a project called Blood of the Virgin and gives Seymour the chance to direct it, what follows is a surreal, tragicomic making-of journey. As Seymour’s blind ambition propels the movie, his home life grows increasingly fraught. The film’s production becomes a means to spiral out into time and space, resulting in an epic graphic novel that explores the intersection of twentieth‑century America, parenthood, sex, the immigrant experience, the dawn of early Hollywood, and, shockingly, the Holocaust.
Like a cosmic kaleidoscope, Blood of the Virgin shifts and evolves with each panel, widening its context as the story unfolds, building an intricate web of dreams and heartbreak, allowing the reader to zoom in to the novel’s core: the bittersweet cost of coming into one’s own.
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NOW #2: The New Comics Anthology
by Sammy Harkham, Dash Shaw, Graham Chaffee, Joshua W. Cotter
The second issue of Now (see page 2 for the first issue) showcases a cover by digital artist Robert Beatty, as well as over 100 pages of all new short fiction by a host of established and upcoming talent, including: Canadian artist and musician Nick Thorburn (of the bands Unicorns and Islands); Spanish cartoonist Roberta Scomparsa, making her English language debut; Crickets cartoonist Sammy Harkham; Dutch cartoonist Tobias Schalken; Los Angeles graphic novelist Graham Chaffee (Good Dog, To Have and To Hold); plus several other surprises to be announced. Now is not just a collection of new comics, it’s a showcase of the diversity of talent in today’s golden age of cartooning.
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NOW #1: The New Comics Anthology
by Sammy Harkham, Dash Shaw, Eleanor Davis, Noah Van Sciver
Now is an affordable and ongoing (three times a year) anthology of new comics that appeals both to the comics-curious as well as the serious aficionado. It's a platform for short fiction, experimentation, and for showcasing diversity in the comics field. The only common denominator to each piece is an exemplary use of the comics form, with a lineup of established and up-and-coming talent from around the globe. The first issue includes new work from acclaimed creators such as Noah Van Sciver (Fante Bukowski), Gabrielle Bell (Lucky), Dash Shaw (Cosplayers), Sammy Harkham (Crickets), and Malachi Ward (Ancestor), as well as international stars such as J.C. Menu, Conxita Herrerro, Tobias Schalken, and Antoine Coss. Plus strips from Tommi Parrish, Sara Corbett, Daria Tessler, and Kaela Graham, as well as a gorgeous painted cover by Rebecca Morgan.
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R. Crumb's Dream Diary
by Sammy Harkham, Ronald Bronstein
Unprecedented insight into the untamed art and psyche of R. Crumb
For more than 40 years, legendary American artist Robert Crumb has documented his nightly dreams in a meticulously kept private journal. This material has stood as a guarded secret in a career defined by an impish compulsion to publically self-disclose. All of the artist's well-documented preoccupations are present and accounted for―rampant egomania, insatiable lust, profound self-disgust, the sad beauty of old America, the moral bankruptcy of new America and the fool's errand quest for spiritual enlightenment―but here they are entirely untamed, springing forth from forces beyond even his control. Published for the first time, the complete Dream Diaries offer readers a deep, dark look under the hood of one of America's most aggressively dynamic comedic voices.
Widely considered the greatest cartoonist of the 20th century, Robert Crumb (born 1943) drew comics from a very young age. After a brief career in greeting-card design in Cleveland, in 1965 the young artist discovered LSD, and headed for San Francisco, where he published Zap Comix 1, reinventing the comics medium. In 1994 he was the subject of an acclaimed documentary film by Terry Zwigoff. His adaptation of The Book of Genesis was published in 2009 and the original art for the project was exhibited internationally, most notably at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, in 2009, and as part of the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013. His most recent books include Bible of Filth, Art & Beauty Magazine and (with Aline Kominsky-Crumb) Drawn Together. Crumb lives and works in Southern France.
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