Fantagraphics to Publish 'Monica', Daniel Clowes' First Graphic Novel in Five Years

Well we hardly need a build-up intro in to this press release from Fantagraphics. Daniel Clowes’ first graphic novel in five years will be on its way to us later this year! Details on Monica below.

Daniel Clowes Returns with Monica

Fantagraphics to Publish Long-Awaited Comics Masterpiece

Fantagraphics is honored to announce the Fall 2023 release of Monica, the first original graphic novel by Daniel Clowes (Ghost World, Patience) in more than half a decade. Monica is the most personal and ambitious book of his storied career.

Monica is a series of short, interconnected narratives that tell the life story — actually, stories — of its titular character. Clowes calls upon a lifetime of observation and artistic inspiration to create his most complex and sophisticated graphic novel yet. Rich visual detail, masterful graphic storytelling, and a novelist’s attention to the vernacular rhythm of language and dialogue combine with a plot full of surprising twists to create a multilayered masterpiece of the form that alludes to many of the genres that have defined the medium — war, romance, horror, crime, the supernatural, etc. — but in a mysterious, uncategorizable, and quintessentially Clowesian way that rewards multiple readings.

Six years in the making, Monica marks the creative apex of an artist whose generation of cartoonists has defined the literary graphic novel. A new book by Clowes is both cause for celebration among readers and a genuine literary event.

“Daniel Clowes had already created what might well be my favorite body of work in the medium’s history,” explains Fantagraphics Vice President Eric Reynolds. “But Monica raises his own bar even higher, as both a writer of fiction and as a cartoonist. It’s a masterpiece that is both utterly Clowes and unlike anything else I’ve ever read.”

Daniel Clowes is the legendary indie cartoonist whose comics have helped shape the modern literary landscape. His graphic novels have been translated into over 20 languages worldwide and have been adapted into film (he is an Academy Award nominated screenwriter for Ghost World), is the recipient of a PEN Award, and multiple Eisner and Harvey Awards. Retrospectives of his work have appeared at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the Oakland Museum, and the Wexner Center in Columbus, OH. Fantagraphics has been publishing Daniel Clowes since 1985.

Monica is slated to release in October 2023.