Columbus, Ohio: SPACE this weekend!

This weekend I’ll be in Columbus, Ohio at SPACE— the Small Press & Alternative Comics Expo— at the Rhodes Center (Ohio State Fair & Expo Grounds) 10am-6pm Saturday and 10am-5pm Sunday. I’ll have both new books, Fall Through and Lies My Teacher Told Me, as well as a limited quantity of both signed/numbered Fall Through prints ($20 each, or $30 for both).

I’ll also be doing a talk/slideshow/Q&A on Saturday at 2pm about my work on Lies My Teacher Told Me, and my approach back & forth between fiction and nonfiction over the years.

See you there!

'LIES MY TEACHER TOLD ME' is out today!

Today’s the day!

Four years ago I was locked down in my house just like you, starting work on my adaptation of Lies My Teacher Told Me— utterly uncertain what kind of world the book would be released into. It’s out everywhere today, more relevant and crucial than ever before. My thoughts and gratitude are with the late, great James Loewen for trusting me with his work!

Get a copy from your local book/comics shop, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, Powell’s, Amazon, or signed/sketched copies directly from me— and my other brand-new graphic novel Fall Through is still hot off the presses too!

Thanks, everybody.

Praise for 'LIES' & a new 'FALL THROUGH' podcast interview!

What an honor to recieve a 4.5-star review from The Slings & Arrows for Lies My Teacher Told Me: “Powell takes a landmark book (and its updates) and presents a version maintaining its integrity while making it more accessible. It’s important and it’s magnificent.”

Lies My Teacher Told Me will be released this Tuesday, April 16th, and is already available in comics shops! You can also order them both (as well as most of my other books) from me directly, signed & sketched here.

My other brand-new graphic novel Fall Through is still hot off the presses, and here’s a new podcast interview I did with Ryan Zlomek from Meditations podcast.

If you’re in Indiana, I’ll be doing a double-book-release signing for both Fall Through and Lies My Teacher Told Me this Saturday, April 20th at Vintage Phoenix Comics (114 E. 6th) from 2-4pm. See you there!

One week until 'LIES MY TEACHER TOLD ME' hits shelves!

My full comics adaptation of the late, great James Loewen’s Lies My Teacher Told Me will be out in just a week!

You can grab one via your local shop, Bookshop, Powells, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or order signed/sketched copies directly from me here. And while you’re at it, pick up a copy of my still-brand-new graphic novel Fall Through, which has enjoyed a tremendous reader response over the last two months!

If you’re in Bloomington, I’ll be doing a double book-release signing at Vintage Phoenix Comics (114 E. 6th) on Saturday, April 20th from 2-4pm. See you there!

Double book-release signing on 4/20

If you’re around Bloomington, I’ll be doing a double book-release signing for Lies My Teacher Told Me (out April 16th from The New Press) and Fall Through (out now from Abrams) at my local shop, Vintage Phoenix Comics (114 E. 6th)— Saturday, April 20th from 2-4 pm. If you’re downtown for Record Store Day, come hop over two blocks and grab some books!

I’ll also have a limited quantity of my Fall Through 16”x20” prints at the signing. See you there!

'LIES' starred review from Publishers Weekly

I’m very pleased to find a starred review for my adaptation of Lies My Teacher Told Me at Publishers Weekly— it’ll be out April 16th from The New Press!

“Powell’s characteristically fluid art lends new depth to revisited figures including Helen Keller, known by most Americans solely for her disabilities and not for her radical activism, and abolitionist John Brown, condemned by U.S. history books as a mentally disturbed violent extremist rather than a dedicated social progressive. Long a favorite of radical educators, Loewen’s original text receives the vital and accessible adaptation it deserves.”

'LIES MY TEACHER TOLD ME' direct mailorders shipping now!

A huge shipment of Lies My Teacher Told Me just arrived at my house, and I’m shipping out signed mailorders starting in the next few days! The book will be available everywhere on April 16th— you can also preorder it via your local bookstore, comics shop, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon.

It’s wild to have two new books out in two months— Fall Through is still hot off the presses, and the response has been incredible! You can order that one directly from me as well, or through your local shop, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon.

Stay tuned for updated events throughout the year for both of these new books— thanks as always for your warm reception and support!

'FALL THROUGH' featured in New York Times + weekly roundup

It’s great to see a write-up of Fall Through in this week’s New York Times, in which it’s referred to as “devastating and gorgeous”— the print edition will be published on the 18th!

Also from this week: a Fall Through video review from Graphic Policy, a very thoughtful piece about the book from Matthew Teutsch via Medium, a write-up of my book release talk at Indiana Daily Student, and an interview about the book at Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s Northwest edition.

Thanks for supporting my work— and I have yet another new book coming out April 16th from The New Press: my full comics adaptation of James Loewen’s Lies My Teacher Told Me. Final copies just arrived at my house, and they look fantastic!

I’ll be doing talks, signings, and slangin books here in the next week or so:

Feb. 17th: Indianapolis IN @ Chapstick Zine Fest, Ujamaa Bookstore (2424 MLK) @11am-5pm

Feb. 18th: Bloomington IN @ Monroe County Public Library, downstairs Room 1B @ 2pm

Feb. 22nd: St. Louis MO @ Left Bank Books (399 N. Euclid), in conversation with Steenz @ 6:30pm

Feb. 23rd: Little Rock AR @ Wordsworth Books (5920 R St.) @ 6:30pm

Feb. 24th: Fayetteville AR @ Fayetteville Public Library @ 2pm

Feb. 25th: Evansville IN @ Your Brother’s Bookstore (504 Main St.) @ 4pm

See you there!

First 'LIES MY TEACHER TOLD ME' interview.

Thanks, everyone, for helping Fall Through have a strong week for its release!

Switching gears, here’s a new interview at Booklist— my first for the forthcoming book, Lies My Teacher Told Me, which’ll be out April 16th from The New Press. Find more info and preorder options here, or you can preorder a signed/sketched copy directly from me here.

'LIES MY TEACHER TOLD ME' & 'FALL THROUGH' direct signed preorders up now.

Hi there! I now have both Lies My Teacher Told Me (out April 16th) and Fall Through (out February 6th) available for signed/sketched preorders directly from me here.

I’ll begin sending out Fall Through orders in early/mid January, as soon as my shipment arrives, and will send out copies of Lies in March once those books arrive.

Thanks for your patience— the wait is almost over, and yesterday I shipped out about ten early copies of Fall Through!

It's all done.

Here’s the past 3 years’ worth of unpublished work: about 500 individual pages making up Fall Through (out 2/6/24) and Lies My Teacher Told Me (out 4/16/24).

I’ve mostly been drawing 2 pages a day, 6 days a week with very few breaks— I do not recommend this— and now I’m done with everything for a while.

Taking a break to breathe, and then to experiment and play with my drawing and painting, hopefully giving it space for a long-awaited evolutionary step.

I’ll be traveling all over in 2024 for the release of both books— stay tuned for dates, and I’ll see you there.

LIES MY TEACHER TOLD ME-- cover reveal & preorders up now!

Announcing my full-length comics adaptation of James Loewen’s influential Lies My Teacher Told Me, out April 16th, 2024 from The New Press!

I like to describe this book as a history book about history textbooks: it both illuminates and corrects many misconceptions and outright falsehoods commonly accepted in American history, while outlining how these errors, myths, and lies have found themselves embedded in our historical understanding and education—and a path to fixing what our miseducation has broken, developing critical thinking skills, empathy, and room for contradiction along the way. Loewen’s book has sold over two million copies since its initial release in 1995.

“Every teacher, every student of history, every citizen should read this book.” –Howard Zinn

Preorder here from Bookshop, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Powells.

(So there’s no confusion: I also recently announced my next fiction graphic novel, Fall Through, which is out February 6, 2024 from Abrams ComicArts— you can preorder that and get more info here.)

 Lies My Teacher Told Me was an earthshaking reading experience for me in the early 2000s, and I had reread it several times when the late, great James Loewen contacted me in early 2020 about adapting his text into the comics medium. I said yes on the spot, and we worked out details and approach over the phone during his final year. Jim was a very kind, open person and it hurts knowing that we never got a chance to meet in person—and so it’s my deepest honor to bring his work across the finish line, hopefully doing justice to his ideas, knowledge, and humanity.

 I also want to clarify that my role on this book is not merely as artist. This is a full comics adaptation for which I am the sole creator, comparing and synthesizing multiple editions of his book and updating and recontextualizing parts of the text to meet with both standards of knowledge and perspective after his 2017 edition was released, and after his passing in 2021. Mr. Loewen and I overwhelmingly see eye-to-eye in our worldviews, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we agree on everything, so in my role adapting his work I let him speak for himself and allow room for a more complex understanding of our joint perspectives on this history—which is the entire point of the book.

 I look forward to new conversations and a deepened understanding of the world we share once this book hits shelves—please preorder and spread the word. Thank you for your support and faith, as always!

2024 events for new books.

Hi there! I’ll have two new books out next year (Fall Through in February from Abrams ComicArts & Lies My Teacher Told Me in the spring from The New Press), and I’d love to be a guest at your expo/con/show!

I’m happy to be on any panels/programming, and can can do some artwork for your show as well. Get in touch with me at seemybrotherdance@yahoo.com, and we’ll figure it out— thanks for your support!

Uncomfortable truths & accurate history.

James Loewen penned the above words back in 1995 for the original edition of Lies My Teacher Told Me— and it’s truer than ever today, in the face of increasingly hostile and violent opposition. This book helped lay the foundation for so much of how we think about and discuss American history at the high school and college levels, and I’m so eager to release my forthcoming comics adaptation in spring 2024 from The New Press.

More info and an official announcement later in the year!

Another book finished-- and starting the next.

Last week I finished drawing my next original graphic novel, Fall Through— it’s a sweaty, interdimensional 1990’s underground punk soap opera (starring the band Diamond Mine from their appearance in my 2018 book Come Again) that’ll be out next August or so from Abrams ComicArts. More details and an official announcement in a few months!

Next up on the drawing table: my adaptation of the late, great James Loewen’s influential book Lies My Teacher Told Me, which will be released in 2024 by The New Press.