Avery Hill Publishing, the independent comics publisher located in South London, has recently announced two additions to its Fall 2019 catalog: the first volume of Alabaster Pizzo‘s Mimi and The Wolves and a new graphic novel by Lizzy Stewart called Walking Distance. These are two solid additions to the publishing slate.
I had the chance to read the first self-published comic of Pizzo’s series a few years ago and found it quite lovely. It’s the story of Mimi, who leads a quiet life in the woods until she is beset by a recurring nightmare that progressively becomes harder to ignore. She’s torn about what to do, as the call to adventure isn’t particularly appealing to her. It’s a very well-done series and this edition will contain the first three self-published comics in a nice hardcover edition.
Stewart is also another fantastic comic creator. I reviewed her comic Heavy Rain from one of the first Shortbox line-ups and found it to be a visually stunning book. I was quite impressed with the way she drew exterior scenes. Walking Distance is a look at the experience of being a woman and simply walking in the street, a subject worth exploring that should be rendered even more interesting with Stewart’s art.
I’m glad to see the expansion of Avery Hill. They bring interesting work to light and they recently started expanding their presence in North America and bringing their great publications with them. This work deserves to be seen and these two new books are fantastic new addition to the catalog. Avery Hill also put together a pre-order bundle for all of their Fall 2019 titles that you can find on its website. This includes two other titles, Internet Crusader by George Wylesol (we reviewed his previous book here) and The Tower in the Sea by B. Mure (we reviewed B. Mure’s previous book here).
See below for cover art and solicit text for both Walking Distance and Mimi and the Wolves.
Walking Distance by Lizzy Stewart
Hardback, 58 pages
Walking Distance is Lizzy Stewart’s poignant and contemporary essay on the experience of being a woman out walking. Merging the personal and the political, observation and contemplation, Lizzy examines what her life is and wonders what it should be; what is expected of a thirty year old woman by society, by family and friends and by herself. She walks the streets of her London, creating it and herself. Gaining agency by being in control of her own direction, speed and momentum. Walking is both an internal and external experience. A time for self-reflection, for observing others and for imagining how we appear to them. What is expected of a person of our age, sex and race and how should that influence what we do and how we feel about ourselves? A meditation on gender politics, social commentary and eighties movies, interlaced with shards of autobiography and illustrated with a beautiful series of sequential and non-sequential watercolour images.
Mimi and the Wolves by Alabaster Pizzo
Hardback, 200 pages
Mimi enjoys a quiet, productive life in her tree house in the Flat Fields with her companion Bobo, until a mysterious and disturbing recurring dream of demons and a long-haired deity becomes impossible to ignore. In the Evergreen Woods live dangerous creatures who can help her, but will she leave the comfort of her home to find answers? An epic tale of affairs, alliances, and friendships in a quest for power and self-discovery, this collects the first three volumes of Pizzo’s acclaimed, self-published series.
