Posted in: Comics | Tagged: graphic novel, neil gaiman, paul b rainey

When Your Graphic Novel Gets A Quote From Neil Gaiman On The Back

Bleeding Cool have been fans of comic book and graphic novel creator Paul B Rainey for ages ever since I encountered his comic Memory Man, including the likes of his graphic novel No Time Like The Present, his awesome Thunder Brother: Soap Division, happy endings to Star Wars films otherwise denied them, spreading himself across the walls of Milton Keynes, a strong reaction to Boris Johnson, creating the wonderful Pope Francis Goes To The Dentist, adapting a David Bowie musical into comic book form, or his winning the Observer Jonathan Cape Prize in 2020.

This weekend he tweeted about the print graphic novel collection of Why Don't You Love Me, and someone whose name he has found scrawled on the back cover. He posted "My publisher @DandQ asked @neilhimself if he would read my upcoming graphic novel, Why Don't You Love Me?, and, incredibly, he replied with this blurb for it (see pic). I've known about this for a few weeks now and all I want to know is, when does the reeling stop?"

The back copy by Neil Gaiman reads "When I began to read Why Don't You Love Me? I thought it read like any number of slightly surrealistic slightly vapid early -2000s stories that were basically the cartoonist's way of telling you they hated everyone and everything. And then it came into focus and it wasn't that thing at all. And then it came into focus again, uplifting and heartbreaking and (a word that I use sparingly) relevant. The kind of story leading to a last panel that's all pain and joy and delivers the whole thing. What a masterwork. To understand all is to forgive all."

Neil tweeted in response "I meant every word." Why Don't You Love Me? graphic novel by Paul Rainey is published by Drawn & Quarterly on the 24th of January 2023.

A couple struggles through their unhappy marriage in this dark science-fiction comedy Claire and Mark are in the doldrums of an unhappy marriage. She doesn't get out of her bathrobe and chain-smokes while slumped on the couch. Mark has lost track of the days and can't get the kids to school on time. They've lost interest in family and have pizza and Chinese food delivered every night. Mark sleeps on the couch and has trouble remembering his son's name. He feels like a fraud at work but somehow succeeds. Claire stalks an ex-boyfriend. How could he have left her to this life? Claire and Mark are both plagued by the idea that this is all a dream. Didn't they have different lives? When reports of an imminent nuclear war come on the radio, the truth begins to dawn on them: This is not the life they chose. Why Don't You Love Me? is a pitch-black comedy about marriage, alcoholism, depression, and mourning lost opportunities. Paul B. Rainey has created a hilariously terrifying alternate reality where confusion and pain might lead people to make bad choices but might also eventually led to freedom . . . maybe.

You can also find Paul B Rainey's self-published work right here.

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