Sabrina (comics)

Last updated

Sabrina
Cover of Sabrina by Nick Drnaso.jpg
Cover of Sabrina, art by Nick Drnaso
DateMay 2018 [1]
Page count204 pages
Publisher Drawn & Quarterly
Creative team
Writer Nick Drnaso
ArtistNick Drnaso
ISBN 978-1-77046-316-5

Sabrina is a graphic novel by Nick Drnaso that was first published by Drawn & Quarterly in May 2018. In the story, the murder of a woman named Sabrina spawns various conspiracy theories, and the book examines the impact these false narratives have on the lives of the victim's friends and family.

Contents

Drnaso first came up with the idea for Sabrina in late 2014, though the graphic novel was not finished until the end of 2017. He found the project very difficult to work on and initially canceled it after being unsatisfied with the first draft. Sabrina received critical acclaim and is the first graphic novel to be longlisted for the Booker Prize.

Plot summary

A woman named Sabrina goes missing in Chicago, leaving behind her sister Sandra and her boyfriend Teddy. A month later, a grieving Teddy goes to stay with his childhood friend Calvin, an Air Force airman living in an isolated military base in Colorado. The recently divorced Calvin looks after Teddy, who is depressed and spends most of his time lying in bed in his underwear. A few days in, a video of Sabrina's brutal death surfaces, having been sent by her killer to various news agencies. The murderer is identified as Timmy, and the police find both his and Sabrina's bodies in Timmy's house. The video spreads rapidly across the internet and becomes the focus of the 24-hour news cycle. Conspiracy theories surrounding Sabrina's murder emerge, with accusations that it is a false flag operation and that Teddy, Calvin, and Sandra are crisis actors. As they try to cope with the aftermath, Calvin and Sandra are harassed by members of the public searching for the "truth", while Teddy finds himself obsessively listening to a conspiracy radio show even though it makes him miserable. The three protagonists eventually try to move on with their lives.

Themes and development

Although the story centers around a fictional murder, the focus of Sabrina is not on the crime itself but on the effects of the conspiracy theories that arise from it. [2] The book serves as a commentary on the modern-day climate of "fake news". [3] [4] [5] [6]

Drnaso first had the idea for the story in late 2014. The character of Calvin, an airman based in Colorado, was inspired by a friend of his. [7] For research, he visited his friend in Colorado Springs and toured the Peterson Air Force Base. [7] [8] Drnaso began illustrating Sabrina at the start of 2015 and the first draft was completed by mid-2017. The final version was not finished until the end of the year. [7]

Drnaso struggled to complete the graphic novel, as its themes reflected anxieties he was dealing with in his own life at the time. He was also concerned that the narrative surrounding the fictional murder was exploitative of people's grief. [7] Drnaso initially dropped the project as he was "so ashamed" [9] with the way the first draft turned out. [7] He returned to it about a month later and made some changes to the book. He has since noted that the final version may not be significantly different from the original draft, explaining: "Maybe it was more of a mind-set where the change of heart kind of was more internal than anything I actually did to change the book." [7] One of the changes was to make Sandra's role more prominent in the story. [7]

Publication

The graphic novel was first published by Drawn & Quarterly in the United States and Canada in May 2018. [10] Sales for the novel increased following the July announcement that it had been longlisted for the 2018 Booker Prize, [11] and a third reprint was ordered by the publisher. [12] The book was published in the UK by Granta on June 7, 2018. [13] The overseas rights to the novel have also been picked up by Coconino Press (Italy), Ginkgo (China), Salamandra (Spain), Presque Lune (France) [14] and Veneta (Brazil). [15]

Reception

Sabrina was very well-received by critics. GQ proclaimed it to be "[t]he first great work about our current age of disinformation, paranoia, and fake news." [5] In his review for The Guardian , Chris Ware agreed that the novel was "a perspicacious and chilling analysis" of these contemporary issues. [16] Ware was also unnerved by Drnaso's use of discrepancies in the narrative to "incriminat[e] the reader" by luring them to speculate over the fictional murder. [16] NPR found the narrative to be "far more than just a character study," becoming increasingly gripping and unsettling as it progresses. [17] Writing for The New York Times , Ed Park called the book "a shattering work of art" and praised Drnaso's art for its attention to background detail, as well as the "deceptively plain" character designs which "somehow mak[e] their awful plight all the more intimate." [18] io9 concluded the book was "a powerful document of emotional catalog, giving a glimpse at the quietly awful imploded lives left behind by overheated sociopolitical discourse." [6] Los Angeles Review of Books noted that the book was at times "heavy-handed" in its approach to Teddy's development, but ultimately found the story to be "surprising, relevant, and humane." [19]

Sabrina became the first graphic novel to be longlisted for the Booker Prize. [2] [20] It was featured on BBC Radio 4's A Good Read in November 2020. [21]

Film adaptation

It was announced in April 2019 that Drew Goddard will write, produce, and possibly direct a Sabrina movie for RT Features and Regency Enterprises. [22]

Related Research Articles

Sabrina may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Ware</span> American artist

Franklin Christenson "Chris" Ware is an American cartoonist known for his Acme Novelty Library series and the graphic novels Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth (2000), Building Stories (2012) and Rusty Brown (2019). His works explore themes of social isolation, emotional torment and depression. He tends to use a vivid color palette and realistic, meticulous detail. His lettering and images are often elaborate and sometimes evoke the ragtime era or another early 20th-century American design style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drawn & Quarterly</span> Canadian publishing house

Drawn & Quarterly (D+Q) is a publishing company based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, specializing in comics. It publishes primarily comic books, graphic novels and comic strip collections. The books it publishes are noted for their artistic content, as well as the quality of printing and design. The name of the company is a pun on "drawing", "quarterly", and the practice of hanging, drawing and quartering. Initially it specialized in underground and alternative comics, but has since expanded into classic reprints and translations of foreign works. Drawn & Quarterly was the company's flagship quarterly anthology during the 1990s.

The Ignatz Awards recognize outstanding achievements in comics and cartooning by small press creators or creator-owned projects published by larger publishers. They have been awarded each year at the Small Press Expo since 1997, only skipping a year in 2001 due to the show's cancellation after the September 11 attacks. As of 2014 SPX has been held in either Bethesda, North Bethesda, or Silver Spring, Maryland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adrian Tomine</span> Artist

Adrian Tomine is an American cartoonist. He is best known for his ongoing comic book series Optic Nerve and his illustrations in The New Yorker.

<i>Its a Good Life, If You Dont Weaken</i> Graphic novel by Seth

It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken is a graphic novel by Canadian cartoonist Seth. It appeared in a collected volume in 1996 after serialization from 1993 to 1996 in issues #4–9 of Seth's comic book series Palookaville. The mock-autobiographical story tells of its author's obsessive search for the work of a fictional forgotten cartoonist.

Brian Ralph is an American alternative cartoonist. His illustrations have appeared in Wired and the New York Post. His debut graphic novel, Cave-In, was nominated for three Harvey Awards, one Eisner Award, and listed as one of the Comics Journal's "five best comics of 1999". His second graphic novel, Climbing Out, was awarded a Xeric Grant in 2001. His third graphic novel, Daybreak, was published by Drawn & Quarterly in September 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guy Delisle</span> Cartoonist, animator and comic book author

Guy Delisle is a Canadian cartoonist and animator, best known for his graphic novels about his travels, such as Shenzhen (2000), Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea (2003), Burma Chronicles (2007), and Jerusalem (2011).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Sturm</span> American cartoonist

James Sturm is an American cartoonist and co-founder of the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, Vermont. Sturm is also the founder of the National Association of Comics Art Educators (NACAE), an organization committed to helping facilitate the teaching of comics in higher education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mimi Pond</span> American cartoonist and writer

Mimi Pond is an American cartoonist, comics artist, illustrator, humorist, and writer.

The 2008 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit: Finalists in 14 categories were announced October 21, winners announced November 18. The prize for writers and illustrators was $25,000 and "a specially bound copy of the winning book".

<i>Skim</i> (comics) Canadian graphic novel written by Mariko Tamaki

Skim is a Canadian graphic novel written by Mariko Tamaki and drawn by Jillian Tamaki. Set in 1993, in a Toronto Catholic girls high school, it is about an outsider girl called Skim.

<i>Clyde Fans</i> Graphic novel by Seth

Clyde Fans is a graphic novel by Canadian cartoonist Seth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jillian Tamaki</span> Canadian American illustrator and comic artist

Jillian Tamaki is a Canadian American illustrator and comic artist known for her work in The New York Times and The New Yorker in addition to the graphic novels Boundless, as well as Skim, This One Summer and Roaming written by her cousin Mariko Tamaki.

Graphic medicine connotes the use of comics in medical education and patient care.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graeme Macrae Burnet</span> Scottish author and Booker Prize nominee

Graeme Macrae Burnet is a Scottish writer. His first novel, The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau, earned him the Scottish Book Trust New Writer Award in 2013, and his second novel, His Bloody Project (2015), was shortlisted for the 2016 Man Booker Prize. In 2017, he won the Author of the Year category in the Sunday Herald Culture Awards. One review in The Guardian described Burnet's novels as an experiment with a genre that might be called "false true crime". In July 2022, Burnet's novel Case Study (2021) was named on the longlist of the Booker Prize.

The 2018 Booker Prize for Fiction was awarded at a ceremony on 16 October 2018. The Man Booker dozen of 13 books was announced on 24 July, and was narrowed down to a shortlist of six on 20 September. The longlist included Sabrina by Nick Drnaso, the first in Booker Prize history to nominate a graphic novel.

Nick Drnaso is an American cartoonist and illustrator, best known for his books Beverly and Sabrina, the latter being the first graphic novel nominated for a Man Booker Prize in 2018. His third book Acting Class is rumored to be currently in development into a feature film directed by Ari Aster and produced by A24.

Unflattening is a graphic novel by artist and researcher Nick Sousanis that was originally the first dissertation from Columbia University to be written in a comic book format. The book was published by Harvard University Press in April 2015 and won the 2015 Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize, taking top honor as book of the year. The Brazilian edition of the book, won the 2018 Troféu HQ Mix in the category "best theoretical book".

<i>The Betrayal</i> (Dunmore novel) 2010 historical novel by Helen Dunmore

The Betrayal is a 2010 historical novel by English writer Helen Dunmore. It is set in Leningrad in 1952, ten years after the Siege of Leningrad, and takes place during political repression in the Soviet Union and the plot against doctors in the Stalin era. The book was longlisted for the 2010 Man Booker Prize, and shortlisted for the 2011 Commonwealth Writer's Prize and the Orwell Prize.

References

  1. ↑ "Comics Book Review: Sabrina by Nick Drnaso". Publishers Weekly . January 1, 2018. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  2. 1 2 Marshall, Alex (July 23, 2018). "Graphic Novel in Running for Man Booker Prize for First Time". The New York Times . Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  3. ↑ "Sabrina by Nick Drnaso". Drawn & Quarterly . Retrieved September 15, 2018.
  4. ↑ Seven, John (June 26, 2018). "Review: Nick Drnaso's 'Sabrina' won't stop haunting me". ComicsBeat . Retrieved September 16, 2018.
  5. 1 2 McGurk, Stuart (July 15, 2018). "Why Nick Drnaso's Sabrina is a masterpiece". GQ . Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  6. 1 2 Narcisse, Evan (May 7, 2018). "Sabrina Is an Excruciating Portrait of How the Fake News Era Is Crushing Our Souls". io9 . Retrieved September 4, 2018.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Riesman, Abraham (July 25, 2018). "Nick Drnaso on Sabrina, the First Comic to Make the Man Booker Long List". Vulture.com . Retrieved September 1, 2018.
  8. ↑ Zarley, B. David (July 3, 2018). "Sabrina Cartoonist Nick Drnaso on Paranoia, Conspiracies & Air Force Tattoos". Paste . Retrieved September 3, 2018.
  9. ↑ Nealie, Toni (May 1, 2018). "Modern Tragedy and Fake News: Nick Drnaso discusses "Sabrina"". Newcity . Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  10. ↑ Gamerman, Ellen (August 4, 2018). "Graphic Novels Get New Respect". The Wall Street Journal . Archived from the original on September 1, 2018. Retrieved September 1, 2018.
  11. ↑ "Montreal's Drawn & Quarterly publishes 1st graphic novel to be longlisted for Man Booker Prize". CBC.ca. July 24, 2018. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
  12. ↑ Wheeler, Brad (July 25, 2018). "What's next for Canadian publisher Drawn & Quarterly after making the Booker Prize long list?". The Globe and Mail . Archived from the original on August 1, 2018. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
  13. ↑ "Sabrina". Granta . Retrieved September 1, 2018.
  14. ↑ Balmazovic, Ana (July 30, 2018). "D&Q's Sabrina by Nick Drnaso Long-listed for the 2018 Man Booker Prize!". Transatlantic Agency. Retrieved September 1, 2018.
  15. ↑ Naliato, Samir (May 6, 2020). "Sabrina, lançamento da Veneta, aborda fake news e espetacularização da violência" . Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  16. 1 2 Ware, Chris (June 2, 2018). "Sabrina by Nick Drnaso review – an extraordinary graphic novel". The Guardian . Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  17. ↑ Lehoczky, Etelka (May 22, 2018). "Murder Is Minimal In Spooky 'Sabrina'". NPR . Retrieved September 4, 2018.
  18. ↑ Park, Ed (May 31, 2018). "Can You Illustrate Emotional Absence? These Graphic Novels Do". The New York Times . Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  19. ↑ "A Humane Remove: Nick Drnaso's "Sabrina"". Los Angeles Review of Books . July 14, 2018. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
  20. ↑ Flood, Alison (July 24, 2018). "Man Booker prize 2018 longlist includes graphic novel for the first time". The Guardian . Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  21. ↑ Presenter: Harriett Gilbert; Guests: Jonathan Porritt, Vanessa Kisuule; Producer: Becky Ripley (November 17, 2020). "A Good Read: Vanessa Kisuule & Jonathon Porritt". A Good Read . BBC. BBC Radio 4 . Retrieved November 17, 2020.
  22. ↑ Hipes, Patrick (April 8, 2019). "Drew Goddard To Write, Maybe Direct Movie Based On 'Sabrina' Graphic Novel". Deadline. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.