Conundrum Press Fall 2017 art by Geneviève Elverum THE CASE OF THE MISSING MEN Kris Bertin and Alexander Forbes ISBN 978-1-77262-016-0 5.5 x 8.5 inches, 224 pages black and white, trade paperback $20 November The Case of the Missing Men is a mystery The Case of The Missing Men is at turns thriller set in a strange and remote east- funny, intriguing, eerie and endear- coast village called Hobtown. The story ing, and is beautifully illustrated in follows a gang of young teens who have a style reminiscent of children’s pulp made it their business to investigate classics like Nancy Drew and the each and every one of their town’s bi- Hardy Boys. zarre occurrences as The Teen Detective Club (a registered afterschool program). Their small world of missing pets and shed-fires is turned upside down when real-life kid adventurer and globetrotter “Kris Bertin’s stories are a Sam Finch comes to town and enlists revelation, a triumph — each them in their first real case—the search stamped with the mark of a for his missing father. In doing so, he new and rising genius” and the teens stumble upon a terrifying — David Adams Richards world of rural secret societies, weird- but-true folk mythology, subterranean lairs, and an occultist who can turn men into dogs. Kris Bertin and Alexander Forbes are childhood friends who trained in separate disciplines in order to reunite as adults and make comic books. Alexander Forbes is an artist and graduate of NSCAD, and Kris Bertin is the author of the acclaimed short story collection BAD THINGS HAPPEN (Biblioasis 2016). They are both from Lincoln, New Brunswick, and both live in Halifax, Nova Scotia. YOU ARE ALICE IN Sherwin Sullivan Tjia is a Montreal-based writer and illustrator who has written nine books. The World is a Heartbreaker, a WONDERLAND’S MUM! collection of 1600 pseudohaikus, was a finalist for the Quebec Writer’s Federation’s A.M. Klein Poetry Award. The Hipless Sherwin Tjia Boy, a collection of short, interconnected stories told in graphic novel form, was a finalist for the Doug Wright Award in the Best Emerging Talent category, and also nominated for 4 Ignatz Awards. His invention, The E-Z-Purr: The Virtual Cat! (an ISBN 978-1-77262-017-7 album with over an hour of cats purring) is available on the 4.25x7 inches, 280 pages, iTunes music store and its proceeds go to local cat shelters and black and white with 80 illustrations adoption programs. trade paperback, $18 In his spare time, he organizes Slowdance Nights, Love Letter Pick-A-Plot #4 Reading Open Mics, Crowd Karaoke singalongs, and Strip Spell- ing Bees in and around Montreal and Toronto as Chat Perdu Productions. Occasionally, he tours these events internationally October to various art and literary festivals. OTHER BOOKS IN THE PICK-A-PLOT SERIES London, 1862. When your daughters Inspired by the gamebook fad of the Lorina and Alice go for an afternoon’s 80s – You Are Alice in Wonderland’s Mum! picnic in Hyde Park, Alice goes astray! is the gothically visionary 4th entry in You practically run your legs off looking the acclaimed Pick-A-Plot series of for her, but as night falls you panic. Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style You look for a clue, a sign — anything. books. Off the success of the first And that’s when a smelly vagrant steps three titles, which form the You Are out from behind a tree and offers you a Cat! Trilogy, author and illustrator information in exchange for coin... or a Sherwin Tjia puts a new twist on the kiss. If you decide to ignore him, continue Alice in Wonderland tale, removing searching on page 42. But if you hear him the titular character altogether, out, turn to page 12. The choice is yours! and tasking you as her mother – a respectable Englishwoman who YOU ARE A CAT! YOU ARE A CAT YOU ARE In a quest to find your daughter that will must navigate London’s dangerous IN THE ZOMBIE A KITTEN! take you through the seedy underbelly underworld – with finding her. APOCALYPSE! of London’s Whitechapel district and up into the secret debauched heart ISBN 978-1-894994-56-9 ISBN 978-1-894994-77-4 ISBN 978-1-894994-97-2 of its richest denizens, You Are Alice 4.25x7 inches, 240 pages 4.25x7 inches, 260 pages 4.25x7 inches, 288 pages in Wonderland’s Mum! allows you to 80 b/w illustrations, tp, $17 80 b/w illustrations, tp, $18 80 b/w illustrations, tp, $19.95 make the choices that will bring your dear daughter home, or lose her to Winner of an Expozine Award Wonderland forever. BDQ: Essays on: ESSAYS AND INTERVIEWS Albert Chartier ON QUEBEC COMICS Birth of BDQ Red Ketchup Edited by Andy Brown Luc Girard Translated by Helge Dascher Bernie Mireault 1990s Montreal Underground Iceberg The Comics of Fish Piss ISBN 978-1-77262-018-4 Guy Delisle 6.25x8.75 inches, 280 pages Zvaine / Iris black and white, illustrated throughout Michel Hellman trade paperback, $25 Julie Delporte Sylvie Rancourt Literary Criticism Michel Rabagliati BDANG Imprint November Interviews with: Réal Godbout Jimmy Beaulieau The comics community in Quebec has comics in English. This volume is a Julie Doucet long been heralded as unique, blending companion to the imprint, collect- Valium the clear line aesthetic of Europe with the ing interviews and essays on Que- Geneviève Elverum underground influences of North America. bec comics, to give context to the Obom Think Tintin meets R. Crumb. Of course, history and breadth of the work. Zvaine most of the work is in the French lan- Read about the early strips in Mon- guage. And while artists such as Michel treal newspapers at the turn of the Rabagliati, Guy Delisle, and Julie Doucet century, Albert Chartier, cartoon- are now internationally recognized, much ist of rural Quebec, the zany antics OTHER BOOKS IN THE BDANG IMPRINT of it is still unknown outside the province. of Red Ketchup, the underground Conundrum Press started its BDANG minicomics boom of the 1990s, the imprint in 2004 to rectify this situation anglophones who found themselves by translating and publishing work from a part of the mix, and the hallucino- Quebec comic artists. BDANG stands for genic punk prophet Valium. Bande Dessinée en ANGlais, or French Andy Brown has written extensively on comics for Also available: INKSTUDS various publications and edited two comics issues Robin McConnell for Matrix magazine. He is the publisher and edi- tor of Conundrum Press and lives in Wolfville, NS. ISBN 978-1-894994-49-1 THE PALACE 8x10 inches, 280 pages, b/w, tp, $20 PAUL UP NORTH AMERIKA LOITERERS Michel Rabagliati Réal Godbout Simon Bossé OF CHAMPIONS Interviews with North Amer- Henriette Valium ican comic artists including: Chester Brown, Kate Beaton, ISBN 978-1-77262-001-6 ISBN 978-1-894994-81-1 ISBN 978-1-894994-85-9 Jaime Hernandez, Joe Sacco, 7.5x10 inches, 184 pages, b/w 7.5x10 inches, 184 pages, b/w 8.25x8.25 inches, 128 pages, b/w ISBN 978-1-77262-006-1 Françoise Mouly, Anders trade paperback, $20 trade paperback, $20 trade paperback, $18 10x14 inches, 64 pages Nilsen, and more... full colour, hardcover DREAMS IN THIN AIR MISTER MORGEN Michael Nybrandt Igor Hofbauer illustrated by Thomas Mikkelsen Translated with an afterword by Nina Bunjevac with a preface by His Holiness the Dalai Lama ISBN 978-177262-013-9 7.5x10.25 inches, duotone, ISBN 978-1-77262-010-8 softcover with flaps, 240 pages, $25 full colour, hardcover with jacket 9.5x6.75 inches, 180 pages, $25 Mature Content International Imprint Twenty years ago, Danish journalist Michael Young Adult Nybrandt was cycling across Tibet where International Imprint he discovered the Tibetan people’s unique passion for soccer. During that trip, he also “Igor Hofbauer is the Charles Burns of the Balkans.” Chosen as a Great Graphic Novel for Teens learned about the heartbreaking treatment — Nina Bunjevac YALSA pick 2017 the Tibetan people received at the hands of the Chinese government. He envisioned the Legendary Croatian poster artist creation of a Tibetan national soccer team Igor Hofbauer launches his debut as a way to create awareness about the Ti- book of graphic stories which are betan cause and to offer the Tibetan peo- dark and visionary, based on a ple a way to showcase their national pride, combination of classic American apart from geopolitical schemes. Together underground comics and film with fellow Tibetan soccer enthusiasts it noir, pop art, German Expression- took years of preparation, overcoming bu- ism, and Russian Constructivism. reaucratic problems and political turmoil, Hofbauer’s comics are often sur- before Tibet could play their first interna- real and nightmarish stories in tional match against Greenland in front of strange cityscapes that will be rec- more than 5,000 spectators in Copenhagen. ognized by anyone who has spent time in the concrete housing and OTHER BOOKS IN THE INTERNATIONAL IMPRINT brutish planned neighborhoods of the former Yugoslavia. OTHER BOOKS IN THE INTERNATIONAL IMPRINT THE DHARMA PUNKS Ant Sang ISBN 978-1-894994-96-5 “One of the most exciting things I’ve WHAT WE NEED BROOKLYN 416 pages, 6 x 8.25inches, b/w read this year... The New Zealand THE LIBRARY trade paperback, $25 answer to Love and Rockets.” TO KNOW QUESADILLAS Chihoi — The Comics Alternative Willy Linthout Antony Huchette ISBN 978-1-894994-72-9 “You’ll be blown away by “Politically aware and spiritually ISBN 978-1-894994-80-4 ISBN 978-1-894994-79-8 7.25x9.75 inches, 184 pages The Dharma Punks.” inclined.” — The Comics Journal 7.25x9.75 inches, 184 pages 6.5x9.5 inches, 72 pages b/w, hardcover, $20 — Dylan Horrocks Spotlight Pick b/w, hardcover, $20 b/w, trade paperback, $15 MORTON: Duran Duran, A Cross-Country Imelda Marcos, and Me Rail Journey Lorina Mapa David Collier ISBN 978-177262-012-2 ISBN 978-177262-011-5 7x10 inches, b/w, 160 pages 140 pages, b/w, softcover softcover, $20 6.5x9 inches, $18 Memoir Young Adult / Memoir A graphic memoir about growing up in the “A wonderful graphic memoir, Philippines in the 1980s with Depeche Mode, tinged with humour and tenderness.