Bald Knobber

(Hardback)

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Description

Bald Knobber is the debut graphic novel from Robert Sergel, author of the popular series of mini-comics, Eschew. Minty Lewis, of Cartoon Network's Regular Show, says, "Eschew offers nice tidy art, nice dry humor, and nice dreary atmosphere. In return, I offer my full endorsement." SPACE: An Eschew Collection was published by Secret Acres and counted on Paste Magazines best comics of the year. Robert Sergel's photography, exhibited at the Gulf+Western Gallery in New York, and his band, Wire Hangers, featured in Romka magazine, have expanded his audience. His art has appeared on NPR.org, in Harvard Bookstore's Minimum Paige anthology and in Ray-Ban's Never Hide comics series, a national ad campaign. The second issue of Eschew was a Best American Comics selection, and an Ignatz Award nominee for Outstanding Comic. The third issue of Eschew, SPACE: An Eschew Collection and the story "Control," from Minimum Paige, were all three Best American Comics Notable Comics selections. Since Eschew, Sergel has launched two new comics series, Joe Bonaparte and Bald Knobber. The complete Bald Knobber is only available in print in this beautiful, hardcover edition. Robert Sergel will be touring North America in support of Bald Knobber.

Reviews

"Though the true extent of his transgressions is left ambiguous, the story ends with the suggestion that any lessons Cole may have learned are not necessarily taken deeply to heart: Everyone tried to be more civil because they had to be. Sergels visuals skillfully juxtapose the heated emotions of the story with the posed, deadpan quality of his characters, loading this snappy, pocket-sized parable with equal amounts of drollery and poignancyand just a touch of menace." Publishers Weekly

"The weaving of the two stories works brilliantly. We feel Coles desperation, made so much bigger by the context of a whole country in post-war dissolution. Divorce, Sergel suggests, is a battleground, with kids as the losers. What makes Cole unique in the wide range of books about unhappy divorces is the historical lens he uses to explain his world. Taking a fringe story from the 1880s that isnt widely known, Sergel gives Cole an expressive depth beyond the usual teen angst." New York Journal of Books

"The uncomfortable truth with which Bald Knobber leaves the reader is the assertion that much of this countrys history is the history of violence smoothed over not by justice but by time. (Hint: Google the real Bald Knobbers after you read the book and see if any of the names jump out at you.) The sense of rigid claustrophobia emanating from shabby circumstances saturated with ambient violence seems very much of the moment, and the current moment perhaps closer to the circumstances of the original Bald Knobbers than wed care to comment." The Comics Journal

"Whats surprising is that Sergel is able to put an unexpected spin at the end of the tale of dysfunction. One of the aspects missing from Coles investigation into and retelling of a historical event is the understanding that history has a perspective and that often reflects the agenda of the person or group doing the retelling. In many cases, this has caused history to be injected with the dichotomy of good versus evil, of parsing out moral aspects to the different sides and therefore creating the political divisions that sustain American anger. But Sergels ultimate solution is to turn away from that binary and look beyond the surface on all sides. Which doesnt mean he lessens the power of Coles hurt, but instead widens the possibilities in the emotional give and take thats portrayed. Im sure the Bald Knobbers were actually pretty complicated, too." Comics Beat

Author Bio

Robert Sergel was born in Boston, MA in 1982. He has a degree in Photo & Imaging from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. In the mid-2000's he was a member of the Transplant web comic collective. He draws the Ignatz-nominated comic series Eschew, a Best American Comics selection. SPACE: An Eschew Collection was published by Secret Acres and counted on Paste Magazines best comics of the year. Bald Knobber is his first novel length comic. He lives in Cambridge, MA.