Royal City Volume 1: Next of Kin by Jeff Lemire

Royal City Volume 1: Next of Kin by Jeff Lemire

In his most ambitious and most personal project to date, JEFF LEMIRE spins the captivating and engaging story of a family from the small factory town of ROYAL CITY and the ghosts that haunt them. In a return to the literary and thematic territory of Lemire’s breakthrough graphic novel ESSEX COUNTY, ROYAL CITY follows Patrick Pike, a fading literary star who reluctantly returns to the once-thriving factory town where he grew up. Patrick is quickly drawn back into the dramas of his two adult siblings, his overbearing Mother and his brow beaten Father, all of whom are still haunted by different versions of his youngest brother, Tommy, who drowned decades ago. As each member of the family struggles to keep themselves above water, it quickly becomes clear that Tommy’s death isn’t the only dark secret tearing the town, and this family, apart at the seams. Can each member of the Pike family come to terms with their own guilt over Tommy’s death, and make peace with the many versions of Tommy that still haunt them, or will they all be dragged down below the river along with his lingering ghost? ROYAL CITY promises to be a sprawling, serialized graphic novel that will chart the lives, loves and losses of a troubled family and a vanishing town, across three decades. Jeff Lemire is the creator of DESCENDER (with DUSTIN NGUYEN), AD: AFTER DEATH (with SCOTT SNYDER), ROUGHNECK, SECRET PATH (with Gord Downie), PLUTONA (with EMI LENNOX), ESSEX COUNTY, SWEET TOOTH, TRILLIUM, and THE UNDERWATER WELDER. He had also written celebrated stories featuring Green Arrow, Animal Man, Bloodshot, Wolverine, Hawkeye, Teen Titans, the Valiant, the X-Men and Inhumans for the major comic book publishers. Collecting issues 1 through 5.

BOOKLIST -- Lemire has been scripting corporate superhero comics in recent years, but he began his career writing and illustrating the acclaimed family saga Essex CountyWith Royal City, he makes a welcome return to human-scaled storytelling as well as to the drawing board. When his father suffers a stroke, Patrick Pike, a once-promising novelist suffering from writer's block, reluctantly returns to the dying industrial town where the rest of his family-his overbearing mother, ambitious sister, and reprobate brother-still live. Also still inescapably present, even though he drowned two decades ago, is the adored youngest sibling, Tommy, who haunts the damaged lives of his family. While Lemire's introduction and development of the characters and their backstories are quietly masterful, his wispy graphics-spindly figures, understated staging, and muted colors-are equally intrinsic to the work's potency. Although these initial chapters of the ongoing series are largely devoted to stage setting and establishing the milieu, Lemire leaves readers eager to see what lies ahead for the troubled Pike family.

Jeff Lemire, the creator of the critically acclaimed graphic books Sweet Tooth, Essex County, The Underwater Welder, and Trillium, is a New York Times bestselling author. His upcoming projects include Simon & Schuster's original graphic book Roughneck, as well as Image Comics' Descender (co-written with Dustin Nguyen) and Dark Horse Comics' Black Hammer (co-written with Dean Ormston). Jeff has also contributed to DC Comics' Green Arrow, Justice League, and Animal Man, as well as Marvel Comics' Hawkeye. Jeff won the Schuster Award for Outstanding Canadian Cartoonist in 2008 and 2013. He's also won the Doug Wright Award for Outstanding Emerging Talent and the coveted Alex Award from the American Library Association, which honors adult works with a strong youthful appeal.

In addition, he has been nominated for eight Eisner Awards, seven Harvey Awards, and eight Shuster Awards. Essex County was selected one of the top five Canadian novels of the decade in 2010. With his wife and children, he currently resides and works in Toronto.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781534302624
ISBN 10	153430262X
Title	Royal City Volume 1: Next of Kin
Author	Jeff Lemire
Series	Royal City Tp
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Image Comics
Year published	2017-10-03
Number of pages	160
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.