The Peanutbutter Sisters and Other American Stories

Rumi Hara is a new talent in the medium of comics, with her debut collection, Nori, showcasing her playful cartooning. The Peanutbutter Sisters and Other American Stories is a glorious balance of contradictions, at once escapism and realism; science fiction and slice of life. Hara's magical realist tendencies and diverse cast of characters all contort the tropes of the American comics canon, but her innate control of the comics language is refreshingly unrivaled.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 180 pages
Publication date: 17 May 2022
Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly

Rumi Hara is a new talent in the medium, with immersive art and a clear-eyed storytelling rhythm. Her debut, Nori, showcases her playful cartooning. Her new collection, The Peanutbutter Sisters and Other American Stories, is a glorious balance of contradictions, at once escapism and realism; science fiction and slice of life. Two students explore the urban landscape while following Newton Creek, the polluted Queens-Brooklyn border. They plan a traditional Japanese play with contemporary pop culture. Another story features an intergalactic race of all living things set in 2099 and is a dazzling treatise on the environment and journalism. However, sometimes the fantastical collides with the quotidian in the same story. A man struggling with vertigo during quarantine encounters a world of sexual revelry whenever he has a dizzy spell. The Peanutbutter sisters ride a hurricane into NYC and yet aren't able to hitch a ride back with a whale due to a heavily polluted ocean.

Hara's magical realist tendencies and diverse cast of characters all contort the tropes of the American comics canon. However, her innate control of the comics language, her ability to weave the absurd with the real on such a charming and commanding level, is refreshingly unrivaled.

Dimension: 213 x 159 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781770464957