Comics Confidential ─ Thirteen Graphic Novelists Talk Story, Craft, and Life Outside the Box

A must-have collection for comics fans and creators everywhere, packed with interviews and original comics by today's foremost graphic novelists.

Respected anthologist Leonard S. Marcus turns his literary microscope to the world of comics, which has lately morphed and matured at a furious pace. Powerful influences from manga to the movies to underground comix have influenced the thirteen artists and writers interviewed in these pages to create their own word-and-picture narratives. Here are their moving, funny, inspirational stories: true tales from the crucible of creative struggles that led each to become a master of one of today's most vibrant art forms. The book also contains an original graphic short on the common theme of "the city" from each of the artists, a mini-comic set in a cityscape of their choosing—present-day, historical, or imaginary.

Featuring interviews with:
Harry Bliss
Catia Chien
Geoffrey Hayes
Kazu Kibuishi
Hope Larson
Danica Novgorodoff
Matt Phelan
Dave Roman
Mark and Siena Cherson Siegel
James Sturm
Sara Varon
Gene Luen Yang

Leonard S. Marcus is one of the world’s leading writers about children’s books and the people who create them. He is the award-winning author and editor ofThe Wand in the Word: Conversations with Writers of Fantasy; Funny Business: Conversations with Writers of Comedy; Show Me a Story! Why Picture Books Matter;Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom, as well as many other books. His essays, interviews, and reviews appear in theNew York Times Book Review and the Horn Book magazine. Leonard S. Marcus lives in Brooklyn.