{"title":"David Heatley","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"my-brain-is-hanging-upside-down-book-david-heatley-9780224085380","title":"My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down","description":"What if you wrote and drew a comic strip that honestly depicted every sexual experience you ever had, from junior school (don't ask) to last week (ditto)? It would force you to re-examine your life in ways that would make your shrink blush. In 2004 that's exactly what David Heatley did, and called it (what else) 'My Sexual History'. It originally appeared in an obscure comics anthology called Kramer's Ergot, which was nevertheless given a starred review by Publisher's Weekly, which singled out the strip and remarked that it was 'page after page of tiny, crudely rendered but wincingly remembered incidents'.  And what else to follow that up with than 'Black History', which chronicles every African-American he ever encountered, whether it was Lennie from daycare who taught him the N-word, or the artist's impressions of Michael Jackson's Thriller. All of it rendered in, um, black and white.   So make no mistake -- David Heatley is anything but withholding. Quite the opposite. But the great surprise is that he's not simply playing for shock effect either. He's just trying to tell you what happened as succinctly and colourfully as he can, whether it was in a dream or at a game of group Strip Pig in his friend's basement. Which ended in a sort of awkward, slow-motion orgy. These things happen.   My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (which gleans its title from the refrain of a song by the Ramones, FYI) marks the start of a brilliant cartooning career.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49527133995281,"sku":"GOR005182607","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53005628735761,"sku":"GOR008581021","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0224085387.jpg?v=1751101632"},{"product_id":"my-brain-is-hanging-upside-down-book-david-heatley-9780375425394","title":"My Brain is Hanging Upside Down","description":"One of the most promising young talents in cartooning makes his debut with a dazzling collection--part freakish dreamlife, part quirk-o-rama autobiography, all genius. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eLong a fixture in comics anthologies, David Heatley's deceptively crude, wickedly observant drawings have begun showing up on the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e op-ed pages and the cover of the \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e, introducing him to a vast new audience, Now, in \u003ci\u003eMy Brain Is Hanging Upside Down \u003c\/i\u003e(title courtesy of the Ramones song), we are treated to the full range of Heatley's remarkable, wildly unique voice and vision. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eMy Brain Is Hanging Upside Down \u003c\/i\u003eis Heatley's life story told in six different but connected narrative threads. Sex History describes every sexual encounter dating back to kindergarten, with details that would make a therapist blush. Black History is an unflinchingly honest meditation on his own racism. Portrait of My Mom and Portrait of My Dad are beautifully paced vignettes, skewering and celebrating his lovably dysfunctional parents. Family History tells the story of his family from his great-great-grandparents' lives and closes with the birth of his own children. Woven in and around the larger pieces are dream comics that expand on the same themes with a baffling unconscious logic. Every inch of \u003ci\u003eMy Brain Is Hanging Upside Down\u003c\/i\u003e is filled with visceral art and emotionally resonant storytelling at once stunning, truthful, and uncomfortably hilarious.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50184467251473,"sku":"CIN037542539XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50275318366481,"sku":"CIN037542539XVG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/037542539X.jpg?v=1750942202"},{"product_id":"qualification-book-david-heatley-9780375425400","title":"Qualification","description":"Say what you mean, but don't say it mean. --12-Step aphorism \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrom the author of\u003ci\u003e My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down\u003c\/i\u003e, a new graphic memoir brimming with black humor, which explores the ultimate irony: the author's addiction to 12-Step programs. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDavid Heatley had an unquestionably troubled and eccentric childhood: father a sexually repressed alcoholic, mother an overworked compulsive overeater. Then David's parents enter the world of 12-step programs and find a sense of support and community. It seems to help. David, meanwhile, grows up struggling with his own troublesome sexual urges and seeking some way to make sense of it all. Eventually he starts attending meetings too. Alcoholics Anonymous. Overeaters Anonymous. Debtors Anonymous. Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous. More and more meetings. Meetings for issues he doesn't have. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWith stark, sharply drawn art and unflinching honesty, David Heatley explores the strange and touching relationships he develops, and the truths about himself and his family he is forced to confront, while working an ever-increasing number of programs. The result is a complicated, unsettling, and hilarious journey--of \u003ci\u003efar\u003c\/i\u003e more than 12 steps.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50291086229777,"sku":"CIN0375425403G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51464943206673,"sku":"CIN0375425403VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51696544481553,"sku":"GOR010279054","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0375425403.jpg?v=1751006690"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/collections\/author-books-by-david-heatley.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}