Broken Frontier

Readers ordering THE LONE AND LEVEL SANDS from Diamond’s February PREVIEWS catalogue will be rewarded with an additional treat not originally revealed in the book’s early solicitation materials: Eisner-nominee and comic book educator Ben Towle will be contributing the Foreword to this original graphic novel by A. David Lewis and mpMann.

Towle, a graduate of the Savannah College of Art & Design, is perhaps best-known for his Slave Labor Graphics comic book FAREWELL GEORGIA (ISBN 0943151783), nominated in 2003 for a Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards. In addition to work appearing in the 24-HOUR COMICS: HIGHLIGHTS 2004 and SPX 2004 anthologies, Towle serves as a steering committee member for the National Association of Comic Arts Educators and has taught at North Carolina Governor's School, and the Sawtooth Center for Visual Art. He is currently at work on the new STRANGE EGGS anthology for SLG.

Even as an Eisner-nominee is contributing to The Lone and Level Sands, an Eisner judge, Tom McLean, has early praise for the Exodus-revisionist graphic novel. “I greatly enjoyed reading it. As I am not religious myself, I think [Lewis and mpMann] really succeeded in adapting this story so that it doesn't have the preachy tone many people expect from biblical stories.” The VARIETY Special Reports Editor and comic review blogger also noted, “Those who are intimately familiar with the Bible and those who don't will both find something to like in this book. [...Personally, mpMann’s] art is my favorite part of the book. He evokes everyone from Eisner to Miller to Mazzuchelli but remains his own artist.”

Slated for an April release, THE LONE AND LEVEL SANDS can be ordered now from Diamond Comic Distributors under item code FEB052673. Further information on the book is located at www.LoneAndLevelSands.com. The work of Ben Towle is online at www.TrainedChimp.com, and the NACAE’s web site is www.NACAE.org. Tom McLean’s “Bags and Boards” weblog can be found at http://weblogs.variety.com/bags_and_boards/.