Sunday, August 21, 2005

FGNW Day 7: Epileptic & Sky Ape

The the final day of Free Graphic Novel Week, celebrating one year of Yet Another Comics Blog!

Today's first selection is the critically aclaimed Epileptic 1 by David B. Publisher Fantagraphics describes it:
The most acclaimed European graphic novel of the last ten years is finally published in English. The most acclaimed European graphic novel of the 1990s, Epileptic is author David B.'s story of his brother's battle with epilepsy—but it turns into a penetrating and sometimes lacerating self-examination on the author's part, as he delves into his own complex emotions and his family's troubled history, as well as his own youthful fantasy life. Particularly pointed is his description of the family's journey from one attempted cure to another (including acupuncture, spiritualism, and macrobiotic diet), the book is drawn in David B.'s spare but detailed, straightforward but elegant style. We would have called this A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius if it hadn't been taken already.

One of the most extraordinarily well-received graphic novels in France and the winner of the French national cartooning award "Alph'Art," Epileptic will intrigue American readers with its sharp yet (mostly) sympathetic treatment of the '70s alternative-health milieu and its often harrowing depiction of a family under siege by this singular and devastating malady. Co-published with France's L'Association.




The final selection for FGNW is actually *three* graphic novels in one prize package: all three Sky Ape graphic novels published by AiT/PlanetLAR, written by Phil Amara, Tim McCarney & Mike Russo, and drawn by Richard Jenkins.

Sky Ape:
Millionaire. Crimefighter. Big friggin' gorilla. Kirk Madge, a.k.a. Sky Ape, is not your average gorilla with a jetpack. When danger rears its head, this freelance crimebuster doles out ass-whoopings like the President hands out free cheese. Join him as he unravels the secrets of his hazy past! This volume collects the complete sleeper hit comic book series.

Sky Ape: Waiting for Crime:
The millionaire gorilla with a jetpack is back again for a second adventure! The world's hairiest crime-fighter returns in an all-new lip-smackin' adventure! Fed up with saving the world, Kirk Madge - also known as Sky Ape, millionaire gorilla and freelance detective - doffs his jetpack to become a certified public accountant. But as the malevolent force know only as O'Donnelly's Roofing sets the world teetering on the brink of destruction, you can bet it won't be long till Kirk stops crunching numbers and starts bustin' heads!

Sky Ape: All the Heroes:
When the megalomaniacal genius known only as MISTER DOCTOR POWERFUL orchestrates a global prison break, freeing the world's most vile (and, in some cases, inept) super-villains, Sky Ape and his crew must enlist the aid of all the heroes--every last, second-string crime-buster the universe has ever forgotten, including The Swimsuit Bastards, Caibo the Puerto-Rican Snowman and Hall & Oates--to set things right again. To make matters worse, the literature-fueled force Poeticus, the Liberal Arts Robot, threatens to level London, powered by his two-ton chromium fists and unparalleled pomposity. If you're not smiling at the thought of a millionaire talking gorillas wearing a jetpack, you must be an orthodontist, or something.
Now you just knew that I wasn't going to let a Sunday go by without giving away any graphic novels with monkeys on the cover, right? (Yeah yeah, apes aren't monkeys. Deal.)


To enter for a chance to win one of these graphic novels, simply do the following:

Send me an email with your name, your postal address, which graphic novel you want, and a sentence or two telling me why you want it. Please put 'FGNW' and the title of the graphic novel you want in the subject of your email.

You can enter once per day (but only once)--that means that you have to choose which of the two graphic novels you want. Also, you can only win once, so if you are picked you can't enter any more. But you can keep entering each day until you win. (You must be 18 or older and live in the United States.)

Entries must be received by 11:59 pm EDT, and the winners will be announced tomorrow morning. That's it--these are the last free graphic novels. After this, we're done.

(Full details, including the fine print, are available here.)

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