Self-Esteem and the End of the World : A Guardian Best Graphic Novel of 2024

Playful, funny.’ Guardian, BEST GRAPHIC NOVELS OF 2024’Hilarious … there’s no one else quite like him working today.’ RACHEL COOKE, Observer Graphic Novel of the month’Full of unexpected laughs; at once both absurd and sincere.’ SOPHIE YANOW, author of The Contradictions’A joy to read.’RAFEL FRUMKIN, author of ConfidenceThe funniest, most moving and expansive graphic novel yet from the acclaimed author of The Con Artists and Americana. ‘Who is Luke Healy?’For over ten years, a graphic novelist called Luke Healy has invested all of his self-esteem into his career. Then, almost overnight, just as his brother is getting married, both seem to vanish. Spiralling and lacking purpose, he searches for identity – in self-help books, replacement jobs and human connection – and visits cheesy British hotels and abandoned Greek islands. Set against the backdrop of a dangerously changing global climate, with melting ice-caps and flooding cities, Self-Esteem and the End of the World spans two decades of tragicomic self-discovery until the unlikely prospect of a Hollywood revival of Luke’s work comes into view – but what might be the cost?’One of the finest cartoonists working today.’ James Sturm