The New World: Comics from Mauretania

Product Description

Since the mid-1980s, British cartoonist Chris Reynolds has been assembling a world all his own. On the surface, it seems much like ours- a place of cool afternoon shadows and gently rolling hills, half-empty trains and sleepy downtown streets. But the closer you look, the weirder it gets.

After losing a mysterious intergalactic war, Earth is no longer in humanity's control. Blandly friendly aliens lurk on the margins of things, and seem especially interested in the mining industry. The very rules of time and space seem to have shifted- mysterious figures suddenly appear in childhood photos, family members disappear forever without warning, power outages abound, and certain people gain the power of flight. A helmeted man named Jimmy is somehow causing local business to shutter, and is being closed watched by the trendy new police force Rational Control. The world is being remade, but in what image?

This new collection, selected and designed by the acclaimed cartoonist Seth, includes short stories, a novella, and the full-length Mauretania graphic novel. It is the ideal guide to all the mystery and wonder of one of the most underappreciated cult classics in the history of comics.Since the mid-1980s, British cartoonist Chris Reynolds has been assembling a world all his own. On the surface, it seems much like ours- a place of cool afternoon shadows and gently rolling hills, half-empty trains and sleepy downtown streets. But the closer you look, the weirder it gets.

After losing a mysterious intergalactic war, Earth is no longer in humanity's control. Blandly friendly aliens lurk on the margins of things, and seem especially interested in the mining industry. The very rules of time and space seem to have shifted- mysterious figures suddenly appear in childhood photos, family members disappear forever without warning, power outages abound, and certain people gain the power of flight. A helmeted man named Jimmy is somehow causing local business to shutter, and is being closed watched by the trendy new police force Rational Control. The world is being remade, but in what image?

This new collection, selected and designed by the acclaimed cartoonist Seth, includes short stories, a novella, and the full-length Mauretania graphic novel. It is the ideal guide to all the mystery and wonder of one of the most underappreciated cult classics in the history of comics.
Chris Reynolds was born in Wales in 1960 and studied fine art at the North Staffordshire Polytechnic. He has worked as a filmmaker, publicist, and art teacher but now devotes his time to drawing comics. He lives in Poole in the United Kingdom.

Seth is the cartoonist behind the comic book series Palookaville and his comics have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Best American Comics, and McSweeneys Quarterly. His illustrations have appeared in numerous publications including the cover of the New Yorker, the Walrus, and Canadian Notes & Queries. He is also Lemony Snicket's partner for the new Young Readers series, All the Wrong Questions. Seth lives in Guelph, Ontario, with his wife Tania and their two cats in an old house he has named Inkwell's End.

Ed Park is a founding editor of The Believer and a former editor of the Voice Literary Supplement and the Poetry Foundation. His debut novel, Personal Days, was published in 2008 and was a finalist for the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award. His writing has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, Bookforum, the Los Angeles Times, and other publications. He lives in New York City.