King of King Court

by Travis Dandro

Overview

A dynamic and devastating memoir about the cycle of trauma caused by addiction within one family

From a child’s-eye view, Travis Dandro recounts growing up with a drug-addicted birth father, alcoholic step-dad, and overwhelmed mother. As a kid, Dandro would temper the everyday tension with flights of fancy, finding refuge in toys and animals and insects rather than in the unpredictable adults around him. He perceptively details the effects of poverty and addiction on a family while maintaining a child’s innocence for as long as he can.

King of King Court

spans from Travis’s early childhood through his teen years, focusing not only on the obviously abusive actions but also on the daily slights and snubs that further strain relations between him and his parents. Alongside his birth father committing crimes and shooting up, King of King Court lingers on scenes of him criticizing Travis and his siblings. Dandro gives equal heft to these anecdotes, emphasizing how damaging even relatively slight traumas can be to a child’s worldview.

As Travis matures into young adulthood and begins to understand the forces shaping his father’s toxic behaviors, the story becomes even more nuanced. Travis is empathetic to his father’s own tragic history but unable to escape the cycle of misconduct and reprisals. King of King Court is a revelatory autobiography that examines trauma, addiction, and familial relations in a unique and sensitive way.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781770464216
Publisher:	Drawn & Quarterly
Publication date:	08/28/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	437
File size:	342 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	15 - 18 Years

About the Author

Travis Dandro was born in Leicester, Massachusetts. He started publishing his first comic strip, Twerp, in the local weekly newspaper when he was 13 years old. In 1996 Travis graduated from Montserrat College of Art with a degree in fine art. Since then, his comics have appeared in dozens of college newspapers in the United States and Canada, and his first graphic novel, King of King Court, won the Lynd Ward Prize for graphic novel of the year. He currently lives in Belfast, Maine, with his sons.

Editorial Reviews

★ 05/13/2019

Punctuated with close-ups of the details that fill a small boy’s life, Dandro’s debut memoir is an extended poetic gaze on intergenerational helplessness and the violence it begets. Dandro draws both his six-year-old and teenage self with empty circles for eyes, as if he is a vessel for receiving his surroundings—including the inconsistent presence of his father, Dave, a tough guy with dark sunglasses, a muscle car, and a drug problem. It doesn’t help that his mother, despite marrying Dandro's stepfather, alternates between fleeing Dave and rekindling their affair. This is the ’80s, and when Travis hears a story about the kidnapping of Adam Walsh, his anxieties bloom into nightmares. Dandro expertly balances a child’s-eye view with authorial empathy; Dave is drawn both larger-than-life and human and hurting; and Dandro's mother as loving, even as she fails her son. Though over 400 pages, the story flies by in often wordless, poignant sequences. At the end, Dandro watches a fish tank scuba diver repeatedly surge toward the surface, only to be pulled down by the weight of a sunken chest that undoubtedly contains both treasure and tragedy. This gloriously scribbled story doesn’t rest on easy morals, or even attempt to forgive the past—Dandro’s triumph is drawing the reader through both the pain and beauty of his upbringing, and then moving forward. (Aug.) Correction: An earlier version of this reviews incorrectly stated the author's mother was married to his father.

Publishers Weekly

This is a powerful debut, skilfully drawn, cleverly told and as raw as a wasp sting.”—The Guardian

“Travis Dandro has elevated the graphic memoir form. [King of King Court] captures the complexity of the abusive scene — the troubling dissonance that someone can make you laugh and feel loved, and also be a source of terror and pain, a waking manifestation of nightmare.”—Boston Globe

“As an illustrator, Dandro has a gift for the cinematic.”—Times Literary Supplement

“An extended poetic gaze on intergenerational helplessness and the violence it begets... Dandro expertly balances a child’s-eye view with authorial empathy. This gloriously scribbled story doesn’t rest on easy morals, or even attempt to forgive the past—Dandro’s triumph is drawing the reader through both the pain and beauty of his upbringing, and then moving forward.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“It’s a rare memoir that immediately engages and builds a story of family dysfunction that is as startling and heartbreaking as it is imaginative.”—School Library Journal, starred review

“A graphic novel memoir about intergenerational trauma in Western Mass.”—Boing Boing

“Inventive... A visually engaging and human story of early trauma and how art and the imagination persist through the toughest of times.”—Library Journal

“King of King Court uses patient, sustained scenes, to conjure the way in which the euphoria and terror of childhood get tangled together.”—Lit Hub

“What is striking is how Dandro continually deepens and complicates our understanding of the lives we are being shown. He manages to offer empathy to all the people in his life, even the ones he hates.”—The Scotland Herald

“[King of King Court is] a trip down a bumpy memory lane, one that winds through Travis Dandro’s life from age 6 to 16 and contemplates the ways in which love, anger and loneliness collide. Dandro’s art is expressive, his storylines often impressionistic. Kinetic dream sequences feel whimsical yet enlightening, dark shadows reveal even as they conceal, and scenes of kids making mischief are unquestionably cute.”—Bookpage
“The pace of the book is always crucial in comics, and this one, focused throughout on images more than words, is a page-turner in the best way, even if the subject matter isn’t an easy read.”—The Toronto Star

“King of King Court is an excellent reminder of how evocatively effective comics are in the hands of a skilled memoirist.”—Pop Matters

“Viewed through the innocent eyes of childhood and those of a world-weary young adult, this is a tough but illuminating read.”—Booklist

“Travis Dandro’s gripping comic memoir recounts a childhood shaped by addiction and abuse... As Dandro grows to adulthood, he comes to a greater understanding of the roots of his family’s damaging and toxic behaviors, and the book becomes not just an exploration of abuse but a nuanced and sensitive look at a troubled family.”—Barnes & Noble Blog

From the Publisher

08/30/2019

DEBUT In his first full-length graphic memoir, Dandro (Mr. Gnu comic strip) presents the story of his tumultuous family life in Massachusetts, from childhood through high school. This portrait of the artist as a young man in some very bad circumstances depicts how the author's biological father's increasing violence and drug habit intertwine in a boy's life of play, school, and pop culture. The art style is likewise a blend, with straightforward line drawings mixing with hyperrealistic scenes that give way to flights of fancy. The combination of whimsy and trauma create an arresting and compelling read, and work as a whole shares a spiritual kinship to Emil Ferris's My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, the real world presented through a lens of imagination. Using inventive designs and page layouts, Dandro shows how effective the graphic format can be in relating personal narratives. VERDICT A visually engaging and human story of early trauma and how art and the imagination persist through the toughest of times. For those interested in real-world stories of accounts of people coping with difficult family situations.—Chris Kretz, Southampton Lib., Stony Brook Univ., NY

Library Journal

10/18/2019

Gr 10 Up-It's a rare memoir that immediately engages and builds a story of family dysfunction that is as startling and heartbreaking as it is imaginative. It spans the youth of six-year-old Travis, an inquisitive, dreamy child who spends his time drawing and playing with his siblings while shuttled between homes and forced to tip-toe around a drunken stepfather, a volatile biological father (Dave), and a codependent mother. As Dave slips further into the grips of heroin addiction, Dandro focuses on Travis's relationships with relatives and schoolmates to show how he builds resilience while he is repeatedly uprooted from his homes. As Travis matures, so does his understanding of his father's demons. What makes this compelling story doubly affecting are the subtle, authentic glimpses of reality as seen through a child's point of view. Dandro captures Travis's musings through clever renderings, such as Travis's nightmare of being kidnapped by an enraged Dave, which melds into the real-life newsreel of the notorious Adam Walsh kidnapping in the 1980s. The less frightening but no less poignant detailing of the walls and fixtures of Travis's grandparents' houses convey the function and fluidity of memory. VERDICT This painful but rewarding read about family dysfunction belongs in all libraries' graphic novel collections.-Michael Marie Jacobs, Darlington School, GA

School Library Journal