The Strange Ones

by Jeremy Jusay

Overview

Filled with visceral and engaging prose, this graphic novella offers a nostalgic look at two young misfits who manage to find belonging and heartbreak in each other’s friendship.

Anjeline walks with an open heart, but alone, through a world that consistently rejects her; Franck, another loner, never smiles. After the hand of fate literally shoves them together in the roiling mosh pit at a Midtown rock concert, they bond over the long commute back to Staten Island, and begin a friendship that makes the world a little better for them both. Together, this strange pair turns the sharp-edged, gloomy New York City into their playground...even as pain and heartbreak await around the corner.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781982101121
Publisher:	Gallery
Publication date:	01/14/2020
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	1,039,159
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Jeremy Jusay received his arts education at NYC’s School of Visual Arts, and he is currently the senior background designer at Augenblick Studios, which has produced animation for such acclaimed TV series as Wonder Showzen, Superjail!, and Ugly Americans. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Editorial Reviews

12/23/2019

This arch coming-of-age graphic novel, originally serialized in zines in the 1990s and completed in the 2010s, unfolds predictably unevenly with flashes of poetry. Gen X hipsters Anjeline and Franck meet at a Belly concert and keep crossing paths until they become friends, despite Franck’s scowling pose of disinterest. They swap sardonic in-jokes and explore New York City together, hitting the Cloisters, the Staten Island Ferry, a screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and hole-in-the-wall diners. In this gentle, nostalgic vision of the 1990s alternative scene, “strangeness” doesn’t get much more extreme than wearing Army surplus and silly-walking like a Monty Python routine; Julie Doucet would eat these kids alive. The early chapters meander, but gradually the protagonists expose vulnerabilities and face the question of what kind of adults they want to become. Like the story, the art gets better as it matures, shuffling from scratchy alternative-zine hatching to strong, sure inks. Jusay wears his artistic influences, especially clean-line indie cartoonists such as Jaime Hernandez and Dan Clowes, on his sleeve. A comic produced over a 25-year period can’t help but show growing pains, but it’s hard not to share at least some of the artist’s love for the characters and the very particular time and place they inhabit.(Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

Flashes of poetry....in this gentle, nostalgic vision of the 1990s alternative scene....Jusay wears his artistic influences, especially clean-line indie cartoonists such as Jaime Hernandez and Dan Clowes, on his sleeve....It’s hard not to share...the artist’s love for the characters and the very particular time and place they inhabit.” —Publishers Weekly

“Sweetly poignant....A sensitive, understated depiction of how miraculous it feels to encounter a soul similar to one’s own.” —Library Journal (starred review)

“Rating 9/10...a story that any outcast/loner can relate to....The world that Jusay presents to the reader can feel somewhat bleak, which is only heightened because it’s in black-and-white. Yet there is so much heart and little moments of humor that it never makes you sad when you’re reading it....touching and beautiful....This might just be one of the best books you read this upcoming year.” —The Comic Lounge

"Jusay captures something essential here in Anjeline’s feelings for Franck: that hard-to-articulate teenage fascination....Jusay’s black inking style is crisp and detailed for both figures and scenery, especially in the architecture of landmarks like the Cloisters, Brooklyn Bridge, and Staten Island Ferry." —Booklist

From the Publisher

★ 02/01/2020

Riding the ferry home to Staten Island after a Radiohead concert in Manhattan, a lonesome college freshman named Anjeline spots a boy she recognizes from the show and introduces herself. His name is Franck. He wears combat boots, as well as a homemade Star of David on his trench coat, "in solidarity with Jews and their suffering from the Holocaust." The two become friends, and as they spend more time together—roaming museums, exploring the Cloisters, strolling the Brooklyn Heights promenade—Anjeline is intrigued by Franck's strange behavior. He's typically withdrawn and withholding but rambles when asked about literature or aerodynamics; he attempts to order haddock at every restaurant he visits, even McDonalds. Creator Jusay (animation for TV's Wonder Showzen; Superjail!) allows subtle dialog and quietly affectionate gestures to establish how vitally important Franck and Anjeline become to each other, making the sudden tragedy that befalls one of them achingly sad and the other's struggle to find peace in the aftermath sweetly poignant. VERDICT A sensitive, understated depiction of how miraculous it feels to encounter a soul similar to one's own.

Library Journal