Gigs

"Mosedale and Smith deliver a glimpse into a world that evokes many of our worst AI-driven, dystopian fears while maintaining a firm grip on hope, the importance of mutual aid, and the power of simply “doing the next right thing.” - Booklist

STARRED Review; "Mosedale’s debut graphic novel, an impressively humane work of speculative fiction, is intense, riveting, and profound." - Library Journal

4/4 Stars; "Gigs is sophisticated social guidance with a human heart, and for anyone with concerns about where we’re headed it couldn’t have been handled better." - Slings & Arrows

"Author Mosedale adds humor, hope, sarcasm, and genuine human connection to an otherwise bleak story that, at nearly 300 pages, allows the six stories to breathe and unfold in interesting, cinematic ways." - Kirkus Reviews

STARRED Review; "Empathy and attention to everyday yearnings are evoked in Smith’s wonderfully expressive faces. A smart mix of tight panel grids and sudden wide shots keeps the pace brisk. The result exhilarates, provokes, and—in every sense of the word—moves." - Publishers Weekly

"In this world, the future is bleak but hope and ingenuity are hiding in plain sight." - Kirkus Reviews

"the creativity that has gone into this gorgeous 6.75- by 9.5-inch book will renew your faith in humanity. Literally." - Creative Boom

"Through friendship, punk rock, and teamwork, a handful of people rebel against this Orwellian future."  - Kirkus Reviews

"hand-drawn images are layered, full of texture and depth, with haze, and the English weather thickening the atmosphere." - Creative Boom

“A sharp, funny look at where the future’s heading and what we can do about it. Emotive, thought-provoking, beautifully drawn and written with wit, this is the sort of science-fiction we need more of.” —Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of the Hugo Award–winning Children of Time series

“A look at the future, colored by pills-past, shaped with care, intention, wit and beauty, reminding me a little of Jeff Noon’s visions of Cyber-Madchester. My highest compliments: it made me actively jealous.” —Kieron Gillen, writer of The Wicked + the Divine, Phonogram, The Power Fantasy, Die

“Beautifully drawn and languidly paced, Gigs is a moving meditation on heroes, fandom, and how each generation fails the next.” —Mark Russell, writer of Not All Robots, Polis, DC’s The Flintstones, Batman: Dark Age, and Fantastic Four: Life Story

“It will make you want to burn your mobile phone, destroy the app store, and go to see live music while you’ve still got the chance. A vivid and moving account of what the future might look like if we throw our liberty away.” —Rob Pursey, label boss at Skep Wax records, bassist/songwriter in Heavenly/Swansea Sound/Catenary Wires/Marine Research, and founding member of Talulah Gosh

“Wonderful—an astute, memorable and very human vision of the future that capitalism offers. A reminder that comics at their best can take the temperature of society far more accurately than other mediums.” —John Higgs, author of Exterminate/Regenerate: The Story of Doctor Who, Love and Let Die: Bond, The Beatles and the British Psyche, and The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band Who Burned a Million Pounds

“It begins with the blip blip blip of mobile phones and ends with a fetishwear shop named ‘Typical Girls.’ Gigs is a punk-inspired future full of twists and turns and criss-crossing storylines, a typically dystopian near-future (where so many graphic novels go to die—not this one) where relationships solidify and melt away in the messy tangle of technology. When Orwell finished writing 1984 he told people that the book was ‘a warning.’ And that’s how we can read Gigs—as a warning brought to life beautifully by stunning artwork and truly believable dialogue, as the novel’s characters weave their way through the chaotic storylines to meet in a place where…oh, actually I don’t want to give away the ending. Read it yourself. Wonderful stuff.” —Boff Whalley, founding member of Chumbawamba, author of Run Wild, Faster! Louder!, and But: Life Isn't Like That, Is It?