Leaving Richard's Valley - Hardcover

Michael Deforge

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1770463437 ISBN 13: 9781770463431

Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly, 2019

Synopsis

Richard is a benevolent but tough leader who oversees everything that happens in the valley. When Lyle the Raccoon becomes sick, his ragtag group of friends take matters into their own hands, breaking Richard's strict rules. Caroline Frog rats them out to Richard and they are immediately exiled from the only world they've ever known. DeForge's tale expands from a bizarre hero's quest into something more: they make it out of the valley and into the big city, and we see them coming to terms with different kinds of community: noise-rockers, gentrification protesters, squatters, and more.

About this title

Review:

"[Leaving Richard's Valley] highlights the value of finding one's place in a world that is constantly growing and changing... DeForge has skilfully created a twisted, bitingly funny parable about community and friendship in tough times."--Winnipeg Free Press

"DeForge is a machine; his work never stops being strange and beautiful and dark. I heard so many people talking about this strip before I stumbled across it and I couldn't help but consume it. You should read this and buy it for your friends AND enemies."--Tommi Parrish, cartoonist of The Lie and How We Told It

"[DeForge's] drawings consist of simple lines, flat perspective, and a limited palette of bright colors, but the worlds therein are a profusion of organic shapes that suggest a richness of interior emotion."--The Believer

"Cults, gentrification, supermodeling, and animals going crazy philosophising in the streets. Nature is cruel and hilarious! This is my favorite Michael DeForge book."--Simon Hanselmann, cartoonist of Megahex and Megg & Mogg in Amsterdam

"[Michael DeForge's comics] feel like an elaborate, extended joke -- one that you really want to be in on."--NPR

"An absurdist shaggy-dog story... DeForge diagnoses the appeal and the anguish of life in any community where utopian ideals give way to desperate impermanence."--The Globe and Mail

"I don't know if I've read a better story about friendship and loss than Leaving Richard's Valley. I have so much love and sadness in my heart for these characters and their crumbling paradise. DeForge keeps proving himself to be one of the most inventive and empathetic artists working today."--Carta Monir, cartoonist of Lara Croft Was My Family

"Oooh how much I loved reading DeForge's daily strip! Lyle, Ellie, Omar, Caroline, and Neville are such great characters. I instantly liked everybody, even stupid Jesus Richard. The way this comic looks is truly unique, every page is so beautiful. P.S. I was wondering the other day: Why is Julianne Napkin's fur so neat and shiny? Does he feed her a raw egg from time to time? Asking for a cat."--Anna Haifisch, cartoonist of Von Spatz and The Artist

About the Author:

Michael DeForge was born in 1987 and has written eight books including Ant Colony, First Year Healthy, Big Kids, and Sticks Angelica, Folk Hero. He has been a celebrity judge for the Midland Buttertart Festival. He is currently on a treadmill.

About this edition

• Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1770463437
• ISBN 13: 9781770463431
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 480