Restless
by Joseph Kai
PUBLICATION DATE: SEPTEMBER 2023
6” X 9”
160 PAGES
TRADE PAPERBACK
ISBN: 9781951491215
EBOOK ISBN:
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List Price
US $19.99
What People Are Saying
New York Public Library Best New Comics of 2023
“Shifting between dream and delusion, desire and defiance, Lebanon’s corrupted capital becomes the liminal backdrop for this sensuous and sensitive tale.” —Paul Gravett, author of Mangasia: The Definitive Guide to Asian Comics
“An absolutely stunning meditation on the anxieties of queer sex and of political revolution. Exploring the quiet tension of chosen family elegantly and precisely.” —Shing Yin Khor, author of The Legend of Aunti Po, a National Book Award finalist
“Sexy, inventive and thoroughly beautiful. Shifting focus elegantly between dreamlike sequences of the surreal, and then grounding firmly in what is clearly a complex reality.”—Lee Lai, author of Stone Fruit
“With beautiful color palettes, the silent moments speak as loud as the narrative ones.” —Lawrence Lindell, author of Blackward
“Trippy, gorgeous, and alive with colors so vivid you feel like you can taste them. Dancing in the spaces that constitute queer urban existence with astounding exuberance.” —Bishakh Som, author of Apsara Engine and Spellbound: A Graphic Memoir
“Beautifully and poetically capturing an uneasy feeling of longing and searching, both for self and for country. And helping us realize just how similar human experiences can be, despite seemingly large cultural and geographic differences.” —L. Nichols, author of Flocks
Synopsis
What would life feel like without fear and oppression? Is it possible to find solace in the power of chosen family, underground art collectives, and ultimately revolution?
Set in Beirut, Lebanon. It's 30 years after the end of the civil war, and a few months before the disastrous explosion of August 2020. Samar, a young queer comic book artist, wanders between anguished dreams, childhood memories, sexual experiences, and Beirut’s alternative communities. This abstractly autobiographical story tells of the author's anxiety over living in a complex city of changing colors and moods. Three powerful themes: art, sex, and political uprising, are interwoven in a compelling narrative and an otherwordly color palette.
About the Author
Joseph Kai is a queer artist from Beirut, Lebanon. He has published several works with the Lebanese collective of BD Samandal Comics. Joseph has participated in numerous festivals and exhibitions in Beirut, Lebanon; Berlin, Germany; Brussels, Belgium; and both Angouleme and Paris, France. He is currently living and working in Paris. This is his debut graphic novel.
