9781937541040 • 104 pp • 9 × 6.8" • 2013
"This is one of the most unique, 'no similarities to any other working cartoonist whatsoever,' totally out of left field books I've come across in a while." —Austin English
"I like this Strong Eye Contact thing... LOL. Fucking weird [a]nd quite pretty." —Simon Hanselmann
"Rarely have magic markers worked such luminous brilliance." —Matt Seneca
"Weird, imaginative, and raw. Adams creates a textural experience leading you through the follies of his character's life." —Aidan Koch
"A bloody Q-tip, the crumbs of a waffle and an airplane on fire...it all comes together with Christopher's unique drawing system. Is the comedian dreaming or is the comedy a dream?" —Eamon Espey
"Like a Mr. Hulot transposed into the America of soft-serve and mini-golf, Adams’ comedian is a normal guy trying to deal with work and relaxation in a landscape of perplexing patterns." —Matthew Thurber
"...Adams takes [comics] further, deconstructing linear storytelling and blurring the line between wakefulness and dreaming." —Panel Patter
"There's a vividness to each image that speaks to Adams' background as a painter [while t]he way that he "rhymes" images back and forth speaks to his background as a musician; each strip very much feels like the verse of a song..." —Rob Clough
"This is the graphic novel as abstract expressionism ... at once disorienting and mesmerizing..." —Indie Reader
Strong Eye Contact stars an unnamed immigrant and aspiring comedian as he tries to make his way in America. It is a BEST AMERICAN COMICS 2014 Notable title, selected by Bill Kartalopoulos.
Part comic strip collection, part art book. The reader is led by a Buster Keaton-like figure through his memories as he tries, with limited success, to be a typical American: using consumer products, failed vacations, and a fabricated family life.
Using mediums often associated with childhood mark-making (crayons, colored pens, markers) gives the book a simplistic sheen that belies the formal sophistication operating just beneath the surface.
about
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airplane mode — publisher
melissa carraher — publicity
brianna perry — publicity assistant
kristina tzekova — house illustrator
publisher in search of some transcendent moment — a piece of liberating information. comics, art, literature, and the internet. est. 2007.
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praise...
i had a hard time coming up with a way to say this — i want to read all of [ 2dcloud’s ] books. [ 2dcloud is ] one of the few publishers who consistently puts out material I love. maybe that's better than the quote below.
2dcloud has a specific, idiosyncratic voice, like that of an artist. it’s a point of view that’s recognizable, but hard to define. it’s art books-meet-comics with a sense of warmth, humanity and vulnerability. it’s pain, with hope, always beautiful and surprising. —keiler roberts, author of rat time, and chlorine gardens
nobody is publishing weird, avant-garde, and visually innovative art comix like 2dcloud. it’s the kind of work that, by its very nature, will never be lucrative, but they do it because they believe in artists, and i believe in them.
i want to see art with a unique hand. i want artists that tell stories no one else can. i want my visual vocabulary expanded when I look at what you do. comics that look how a comic should look are for babies and for the birds. —julia gfrörer, author of laid waste, and black is the color
[this] small publisher [is] upping the whole country’s alt-comics game. —aiga eye on design
2dcloud takes its inspiration from the loose, in-progress aesthetic of some conceptual artists. —hyperallergic
2dcloud continues to publish work that, with exhilarating honesty and fresh illustration, captures the vastness of what it is like to be alive in this moment. —rachel davies, rookie magazine
2dcloud [is] one of the most interesting and exciting independent publishers working today. —blouin artinfo
2dcloud is king of the jungle! their books are wild! Their artists are nuts! I love everything they're doing. —anna haifisch, author of the artist
2dcloud takes chances on work that takes chances. their optimism is contagious. the world of comics — and the world of culture — can’t afford to be without them. —bill kartalopoulos, the best american comics series editor
"2dcloud goes boldly where other comics publishers fear to tread. —anders nilsen, Poetry is Useless
everything 2dcloud is doing right now isn’t just good; it’s exciting. there’s no better publisher of its size and orientation working in comics." —tom spurgeon, the comics reporter
it doesn't make sense not to support 2dcloud. —dash shaw, director of my entire high school sinking into the sea
2dcloud is a vital force within the comics industry and print publishing as a whole. they showcase the work of experimental practitioners of the medium; [work that] widen[s] the scope of comics beyond what most readers think is possible. 2dcloud’s dedication to creating books with the highest quality production value exemplifies their understanding of what consumers in the mass market are attracted to. comic shops and bookstores alike would benefit from carrying the 2dcloud line. —jacquelene cohen, director of publicity & promotion for fantagraphics books inc.
