our-expanding-universe-front-cover_lg.jpg

Cartoonist Alex Robinson is a charter member of the pioneering :”indie comic graphic novel club” with Box Office Poison, an award-winning ensemble slice of life that covers the kind of Brooklyn life that existed before gentrification followed the Kale Trail out east. Originally published in serial form by Antarctic Press, Top Shelf published the collected edition, and it’s been a backlist perennial ever since. Robinson followed it up with a few GNs that were presented as complete works —The Ignatz winning Tricked, Too Cool to be Forgotten—however, he’s been a bit less than prolific.

But that ends in November with Our Expanding Universe a brand new 256-page graphic novel that follows the same ensemble outline as his previous works, as his characters —not related to the BOP cast but perhaps cut from the same cloth—contemplate parenthood:

Amid dinner parties, game nights, and hospital stays, a once-tight group of friends wrestle with the shifting shapes of their lives. Under the pressures of marriage and the passage of time, will they cling to the past, leap into the future, or self-destruct? Hey, not every implosion leads to a Big Bang…

Robinson’s mastery of multiple storylines, all connecting into one narrative, and sure grasp of dialogue and the quotidian human frailty we all experience should make this an engrossing tale. And here’s an 8-page preview:

OurExpandingUniverse 00005.jpg

OurExpandingUniverse 00006.jpg

OurExpandingUniverse 00007.jpg

OurExpandingUniverse 00008.jpg

OurExpandingUniverse 00009.jpg

OurExpandingUniverse 00010.jpg

OurExpandingUniverse 00011.jpg

OurExpandingUniverse 00012.jpg

1 COMMENT

Comments are closed.