Briggs Land Volume 1 State Of Grace

A critically-acclaimed crime epic set in an American secessionist militia compound mixing politics with complex family issues, from NYT bestselling author of DMZ. Grace Briggs is the new head of the Briggs family, the largest and most secretive antigovernment secessionist movement in the United States. For over a hundred years it's been a safe harbor for anyone looking to live a simple, quiet life off the grid, but it has since devolved into a hotbed for white extremists, armed militia, and domestic terrorism. She seeks to take control of the Land—and her family—from the forces of extremism and hate, and return it to its core values. But can she accomplish that before law enforcement finds the evidence it needs to wipe Briggs Land off the map? From New York Times Bestselling author Brian Wood (DMZ, The Massive,Rebels) comes the latest in his critically-acclaimed line of socio-political graphic novels. Artist Mack Chater (Smoke/Ashes) illustrates this gritty and electrifying crime saga that speaks to the troubled, polarized world we live in now. [Briggs Land] "It’s smart, vibrant, original and well drawn. There’s nothing like it out there and it’s the best thing Wood may ever have done (and that’s saying A LOT…the man is a genius)." — Forces of Geek “Brian Wood is writing a Dangerous Story with Briggs Land, and that’s the kind of story most worth telling.”—John Arcudi “Given the current political state of the country, this series feels very relevant indeed." - IGN "BRIGGS LAND IS A UNIQUELY AMERICAN CRIME COMIC YOU NEED TO BE READING.”—NERDIST “[Briggs Land is] the Sopranos of secession.”—GWW

In a post-war, post-crash, post-disaster, post-everything world, the environmental-action trawler Kapital scours the earth's oceans for its mysteriously missing sistership, The Massive. Captain Callum Israel, a man who has dedicated his life to the ocean, now must ask himself--as our planet dies--what it means to be an environmentalist after the world's ended. This omnibus collects issues #0-#15 of acclaimed writer Brian Wood's sprawling, post-apocalyptic epic at a must-own value rate. Collects issues #0-#15 of The Massive.

Grace Briggs is now the leader of the largest antigovernment secessionist group in the United States, having outmaneuvered both Federal law enforcement and an attempted takeover by white power stormtroopers. But troubles at home remain, and when a chance encounter with innocent civilians blows up into an ugly hostage situation, the privacy and integrity of Briggs Land is compromised. Meanwhile, Jim Briggs, humiliated at losing control of the family, seeks revenge. With its gritty and realistic depiction of a fractured family in a polarized society, Brian Wood and Mack Chater's Briggs Land is an essential mirror of our times, "a uniquely American crime comic you need to be reading." (Nerdist)

A father and daughter continue their epic quest for revenge against the ruthless Vikings that destroyed their lives. New dangers await them as, under siege from the Forty Swords, they move toward the mountains. Driven by revenge for their murdered village, Elsbeth and Dag have been hunting those responsible: the criminal Forty Swords. But as winter falls and the enemy retaliates, the father and daughter fall back to a mountain refuge populated by religious fanatics and make a stand there.

"This collects issues 1-3 of the Oni Press comics series Pounded."

The sweeping story of cartoons, comic strips, and graphic novels and their hold on the American imagination. Comics have conquered America. From our multiplexes, where Marvel and DC movies reign supreme, to our television screens, where comics-based shows like The Walking Dead have become among the most popular in cable history, to convention halls, best-seller lists, Pulitzer Prize–winning titles, and MacArthur Fellowship recipients, comics shape American culture, in ways high and low, superficial, and deeply profound. In American Comics, Columbia professor Jeremy Dauber takes readers through their incredible but little-known history, starting with the Civil War and cartoonist Thomas Nast, creator of the lasting and iconic images of Uncle Sam and Santa Claus; the golden age of newspaper comic strips and the first great superhero boom; the moral panic of the Eisenhower era, the Marvel Comics revolution, and the underground comix movement of the 1960s and ’70s; and finally into the twenty-first century, taking in the grim and gritty Dark Knights and Watchmen alongside the brilliant rise of the graphic novel by acclaimed practitioners like Art Spiegelman and Alison Bechdel. Dauber’s story shows not only how comics have changed over the decades but how American politics and culture have changed them. Throughout, he describes the origins of beloved comics, champions neglected masterpieces, and argues that we can understand how America sees itself through whose stories comics tell. Striking and revelatory, American Comics is a rich chronicle of the last 150 years of American history through the lens of its comic strips, political cartoons, superheroes, graphic novels, and more. FEATURING… • American Splendor • Archie • The Avengers • Kyle Baker • Batman • C. C. Beck • Black Panther • Captain America • Roz Chast • Walt Disney • Will Eisner • Neil Gaiman • Bill Gaines • Bill Griffith • Harley Quinn • Jack Kirby • Denis Kitchen • Krazy Kat • Harvey Kurtzman • Stan Lee • Little Orphan Annie • Maus • Frank Miller • Alan Moore • Mutt and Jeff • Gary Panter • Peanuts • Dav Pilkey • Gail Simone • Spider-Man • Superman • Dick Tracy • Wonder Wart-Hog • Wonder Woman • The Yellow Kid • Zap Comix … AND MANY MORE OF YOUR FAVORITES!

A New York Times Notable Book for 2011 A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book for 2011 The first authoritative biography of Kurt Vonnegut Jr., a writer who changed the conversation of American literature. In 2006, Charles Shields reached out to Kurt Vonnegut in a letter, asking for his endorsement for a planned biography. The first response was no ("A most respectful demurring by me for the excellent writer Charles J. Shields, who offered to be my biographer"). Unwilling to take no for an answer, propelled by a passion for his subject, and already deep into his research, Shields wrote again and this time, to his delight, the answer came back: "O.K." For the next year—a year that ended up being Vonnegut's last—Shields had access to Vonnegut and his letters. And So It Goes is the culmination of five years of research and writing—the first-ever biography of the life of Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut resonates with readers of all generations from the baby boomers who grew up with him to high-school and college students who are discovering his work for the first time. Vonnegut's concise collection of personal essays, Man Without a Country, published in 2006, spent fifteen weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and has sold more than 300,000 copies to date. The twenty-first century has seen interest in and scholarship about Vonnegut's works grow even stronger, and this is the first book to examine in full the life of one of the most influential iconoclasts of his time.

From Brian Wood (DEMO, DMZ, NORTHLANDERS) and Ryan Kelly (LUCIFER, AMERICA VIRGIN) comes Local, a collection of twelve interconnected short stories. Crossing genres as it crosses the country, LOCAL examines Megan McKeenan, a young woman who sets off from Portland, OR with nothing but a backpack and a bad case of wanderlust. Each emotional vignette is a self-contained story that represents one year in the life of this young vagabond as she struggles to find a place to call home, both physically and spiritually.

This groundbreaking exposé of the mistreatment of nuns by the Catholic Church reveals a history of unfulfilled promises, misuse of clerical power, and a devastating failure to recognize the singular contributions of these religious women. The Roman Catholic Church in America has lost nearly 100,000 religious sisters in the last forty years, a much greater loss than the priesthood. While the explanation is partly cultural—contemporary women have more choices in work and life—Kenneth Briggs contends that the rapid disappearance of convents can be traced directly to the Church’s betrayal of the promises of reform made by the Second Vatican Council. In Double Crossed, Briggs documents the pattern of marginalization and exploitation that has reduced nuns to second-, even third-class citizens within the Catholic Church. America’s religious sisters were remarkable, adventurous women. They educated children, managed health care of the sick, and reached out to the poor and homeless. They went to universities and into executive chairs. Their efforts and successes, however, brought little appreciation from the Church, which demeaned their roles, deprived them of power, and placed them under the absolute authority of the all-male clergy. Replete with quotations from nuns and former nuns, Double Crossed uncovers a dark secret at the heart of the Catholic Church. Their voices and Briggs’s research provide compelling insights into why the number of religious sisters has declined so precipitously in recent decades—and why, unless reforms are introduced, nuns may vanish forever in America.

Sometime around 1500 AD, an African farmer planted a maize seed imported from the New World. That act set in motion the remarkable saga of one of the world’s most influential crops—one that would transform the future of Africa and of the Atlantic world. Africa’s experience with maize is distinctive but also instructive from a global perspective: experts predict that by 2020 maize will become the world’s most cultivated crop. James C. McCann moves easily from the village level to the continental scale, from the medieval to the modern, as he explains the science of maize production and explores how the crop has imprinted itself on Africa’s agrarian and urban landscapes. Today, maize accounts for more than half the calories people consume in many African countries. During the twentieth century, a tidal wave of maize engulfed the continent, and supplanted Africa’s own historical grain crops—sorghum, millet, and rice. In the metamorphosis of maize from an exotic visitor into a quintessentially African crop, in its transformation from vegetable to grain, and from curiosity to staple, lies a revealing story of cultural adaptation. As it unfolds, we see how this sixteenth-century stranger has become indispensable to Africa’s fields, storehouses, and diets, and has embedded itself in Africa’s political, economic, and social relations. The recent spread of maize has been alarmingly fast, with implications largely overlooked by the media and policymakers. McCann’s compelling history offers insight into the profound influence of a single crop on African culture, health, technological innovation, and the future of the world’s food supply.