Gumballs

by Erin Nations

Overview

Discover the pioneering new comic from transgender cartoonist Erin Nations! Called by critics "funny, sincere, and just generally brilliant," Gumballs is a one-man variety show spanning graphic memoir, observational comedy, razor-sharp character studies, and so much more.

Gumballs dispenses an array of bright, candy-colored short comics about Erin's gender transition, anecdotal true tales of growing up as a triplet, and fictional stories of a socially inept lovestruck teenager named Tobias. The wide-ranging series is filled with single-page gag cartoons, visual diaries of everyday life, funny faux personal ads, and real-life horror stories of customers at his day job. Gumballs offers a variety of flavors that will surely delight anyone with a taste for candid self-reflection and observations of humanity.

Gumballs tips its hat to the classic alt-comic tradition of Eightball, Optic Nerve, and Box Office Poison, but speaks with a delightfully fresh voice for the modern age.

This book collects Gumballs #1-4, plus 32 pages of brand-new content!

Winner of the 2018 Dinky Award for Outstanding Work Showcasing Diversity

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781603094313
Publisher:	IDW Publishing
Publication date:	06/26/2018
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	6.60(w) x 9.40(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Erin Nations is an illustrator and cartoonist living in Portland, Oregon. He graduated from SOU in 2005 and was accepted into the summer semester of Comics/Graphic Novel Certificate Program at the IPRC in 2013.

He has shown work locally at The Pony Club Gallery, Benjamin Benjamin, and Gigantic Gallery. Since 2014, he has self-published a handful of zines and his first comic, Twins-Triplet.

He is a frequent contributor to the quarterly comics newspaper Vision Quest and has been featured in Original Plumbing magazine. His comic book series Gumballs launched in December 2016, from Top Shelf.

Editorial Reviews

04/30/2018
Nations’ first book-length anthology, collecting Gumballs #1–#4 plus 30 pages of new material, is whimsical and timely, though uneven. Much of Nations’ material is autobiographical, detailing his upbringing as the middle of three triplets, the tedium of work at a grocery store, and his journey through gender confirmation as a trans man. But the collection also contains several unrelated threads, such as vignettes from idiosyncratic or off-putting dating profiles, and the fictional saga of Tobias, a gay high school outcast. Blocky and bold, Nations’ novel, expressive character designs and depictions of his own character shift subtly over the course of his transition. But some of the diary comics meander, and Tobias’s struggle, while charming, feels out of place amid weightier personal comics. The collection is at its most resonant when Nations grapples with issues like his unwanted, troubling accumulation of male privilege, or the everyday perils of social anxiety and depression. While the far-ranging scope distracts from the central story line, Nations presents a much-needed perspective on modern American life with a nifty art style. (June)

Publishers Weekly

WINNER OF THE 2018 DINKy AWARD FOR DIVERSITY!

"Fantastic." — Virginia Library Association Graphic Novel Diversity Awards

"Nations is a standout, portraying his experience with humor and honesty, and with distinctive, whimsical art." — Publishers Weekly, Top 10 Comics & Graphic Novels for Spring 2018

"No comic in 2017 spoke as deeply and personally while entertaining as Gumballs did. A mix of autobiographical comic strips about the author’s journey as a trans man and other socially awkward funnies, Gumballs consistently delivered warmth, optimism in the face of challenge, and one of the finest printed publications around." — Comicosity

"Gumballs is funny, sincere, and just generally brilliant — when dealing with autobiography, fake personal ads, or any number of other events. Nations is a promising new voice in comics, and you need to read Gumballs." — ComicsVerse

"Gumballs lays bare a lot of serious, complicated stuff and presents it with a frankness and humor that really moved me to my core." — Multiversity Comics

From the Publisher

★ 09/01/2018
Part autobiography and part visual diary, this anthology collects the first four issues of the serialized comic of the same name. The volume includes nearly 80 short works separated into eight different categories using a color-coded key. In stories coded "Tales of Being Trans," which make up the bulk of the book, Nations chronicles his transition, documenting everything from the physical effects of testosterone injections to the reactions of those around him as he came out. In other autobiographical entries, he recounts interactions with siblings, encounters with rude patrons at work, and miscellaneous observations about life (for instance, how redheads protect themselves from the sun). Serialized comics about Tobias—a lone teenager who desperately longs for a boyfriend—and short dating ads for other fictional characters add dashes of quirky humor to the raw honesty of Nations's more painful memories. Since some readers will have to flip back and forth to decode the types of stories, the table of contents is slightly more cumbersome than helpful. Still, the thematic exploration of humanity weaves into a cohesive whole. References to Portland, OR, and other Pacific Northwest locales firmly establish a sense of place. Nations's trademark style combines angular black lines with a limited palette of bright colors. Most characters present as white, but there is some racial diversity among the supporting players. VERDICT This candy-colored treat is an essential addition to graphic novel collections.—Alec Chunn, Eugene Public Library, OR

School Library Journal