Travis Dandro

The beloved children's classic appears as a graphic novel for the first time Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize winner Travis Dandro takes a left turn from his detailed autobiography and returns with the charming tales of Winnie-the-Pooh. In 2015, the A. A. Milne childrens' classic, long since viewed as the benchmark for intelligent and whimsical storytelling, slipped into the public domain. The beloved series now gets the comics treatment from a gifted artist at the peak of his cartooning prowess. Dandro expands the world of Hundred Acre Wood in all directions, creating stunning full-page tableaus where Pooh and everybody's favorite characters--Piglet, Eeyore, Owl, Tigger, and of course, Christopher Robin--to romp, argue, fail, and love. Indebted to the unforgettable pen-and-ink drawings of E. H. Shephard, this addition to the canon of timeless literature for all ages encompasses all of Winnie-the-Pooh's original adventures.

A deeply emotional visual representation of a teenager s confusion. Still reeling from the death by suicide of his drug addicted father, Travis moves in with his grandmother to become her caretaker as she battles cancer. Meanwhile he tries to live a typical teen life of pulling pranks, occasional shoplifting, dating, and endless drives through the twisting backroads of Central Massachusetts with Nirvana s Nevermind as the soundtrack. When the police intervene after a prank backfires, the boys realize that their time as children is rapidly disappearing and they may never fully understand each other as they move apart. After his Lynd Ward Prize-winning graphic novel, King of King Court, explored the power that parents hold over their children s emotional lives, Travis Dandro employs his signature dream imagery and crass humour to tell the story of teenage independence and resilience as he prepares to head off to art school. Hummingbird Heart is a detailed and stylish account of a time of great uncertainty. Dandro s densely crafted pages create a deeply emotional experience as his story swings from character confrontation to finely-wrought domestic detail a slapstick cafeteria destroying brawl gives way to the beautifully rendered flight of the impossible hummingbird.

From a child s-eye view, Travis Dandro recounts growing up with a drug-addicted birth father, alcoholic step-dad, and overwhelmed mother. As a kid, Dandro would temper the tension of his every day with flights of fancy, finding refuge in toys and animals and insects rather than the unpredictable adults around him. Dandro perceptively details the effects of poverty and addiction on a family while maintaining a child s innocence for as long as he can. King of King Court spans from Travis s early childhood through his teen years, focusing not only on the obviously abusive actions, but also on the daily slights and snubs that further strain relations between him and his parents. Alongside Dandro s birth father committing crimes and shooting up, King of King Court lingers on scenes of him criticizing Travis and his siblings. Dandro gives equal heft to these anecdotes, emphasizing how damaging even relatively slight traumas can be to a child s worldview. As Travis matures into young adulthood and begins to understand the forces shaping his father s toxic behaviours, the story becomes even more nuanced. Travis is empathetic to his father s own tragic history, but unable to escape the cycle of misconduct and reprisals they are caught in. King of King Court is a revelatory autobiography that examines trauma, addiction, and familial relations in a unique and sensitive way.