Surviving on Mars

by Brandon Graham

From daily routines and art-making, to dealing with depression, and living among porn performers in Las Vegas, Eisner Award winning cartoonist Brandon Graham (King City, Rain like Hammers, Prophet, Moonray) takes readers through his full-color diary comics and offers a funny and touching look into the life of an artist making his way in the 21st century.

Graham, who has been known primarily for his strange far future science-fiction and pun-filled fantasy works, has been making diary comics for decades. This is the first major collection of this work, exploring Graham's life in the seedy alien landscape of Las Vegas, while he strives at making art as a tool for surviving the chaotic universe.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Nonfiction

116 pages, Paperback

Published October 8, 2024

About the author

Brandon Graham (born 1976) is an American comic book creator.

Born in Oregon, Graham grew up in Seattle, Washington, where he was a graffiti artist. He wrote and illustrated comic books for Antarctic Press and Radio Comix, but got his start drawing pornographic comics like Pillow Fight and Multiple Warheads (Warheads would go on to become its own comic published by Oni Press in 2007). In 1997, he moved to New York City where he found work with NBM Publishing and became a founding member of comics collective Meathaus. His book Escalator was published by Alternative Comics in January 2005, when he returned to Seattle. His book King City was published by Tokyopop in 2007 and was nominated for an Eisner Award. In May 2009 Graham announced that King City would continue publication at Image Comics and his Oni Press title Multiple Warheads would resume publication after a delay, this time in color. Also at Image he is the writer on Prophet, the return of a 1990s series, with the rotating roster of artists Giannis Milonogiannis, Farel Dalrymple, Simon Roy, and himself.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Rick Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps not the comic I'd expect from Brandon Graham, a cartoonist I've mostly come to associate with offbeat sci-fi and irreverent comics, but reading an autobio/diary comic felt like a surprisingly refreshing change of pace. It's easy to dismiss comics about making comics as being a little self-aggrandizing, but Graham approaches this in a rather humbling fashion. A quaint life of making art and other daily routines exists within the context of a more frenetic existence in Las Vegas amidst adult performers on porn sets, Graham's narrative is highly immersive. His swooping yet delicate linework from works like Rain Like Hammers and Multiple Warheads is still very much present, though it works well within the more slice-of-life setting compared to the eclectic sci-fi worlds from the other corners of his bibliography.

Standout sections involve his depictions of depression, his slow recovery towards normalcy with the help of his girlfriend, and a marvelous homage to Hergé towards the end. Graham, who underwent his own round of cancellation some years prior, reflects in a rather blunt yet humbled manner about this. In a one-page heartfelt tribute to the late Ed Piskor entitled "Comic Will Break Your Heart", Graham contextualizes his own feelings further. Irrespective of your opinions on the matter, Graham finds a way to present the situation as empathetically. Alongside the heavier stuff is an easiness and wry humor to the text, accompanied by some genuinely great bits of visual humor. The brazen lifestyle of a Vegas-based cartoonist working alongside porn stars allows Graham to go all out at times, with hilarious depictions of awkward circumstances that would be fairly routine. There's just a genuinely great balance of humanity with goofiness to make Surviving on Mars an engaging read.

[Stephen]

an interesting look into Graham's life over the past several years, offered up through the lens of diary comics, sketches and a few previously published short comics. Looking forward to checking out Moonray.

[Alex Sarll]

There's often something either figuratively or literally masturbatory about diary comics, and Brandon Graham's adult industry connections ensure this is no exception, with reports from behind the scenes of cinematic masterpieces John Wank (complete with dildo weapons) and Jurassic Wood: Swollen Dingdong. At one point Graham meets someone who once got stuck in a lift with one of his comics, and says they really appreciated all the little hidden details in his art; I can absolutely see that, while also being sufficiently British that I could never have pored over something with this many butts if I'd had any company in there. But while Graham does draw good backsides, his scrublands and Oregon coastlines draw the eye just as well, and sometimes here he's working through different ways of making a page as well as his emotions; can he make a spare, open page he likes? Can he let go of the negativity that besets him? I could wish that the collection didn't come quite as up to the minute as it does; towards the end we get his reaction to the death of Ed Piskor last month, where, to put it mildly, Graham and I have very different responses. But even that is followed by an exploration of (and little coda to) Tintin, meaning at least I didn't leave on a sour note. And I'm glad about that, because for the most part this is a deeply humane and sympathetic glimpse inside a creative, unsettled mind. And more than anything, I do love his line.

(Edelweiss ARC)

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brandon making art for art’s sake will never get old to me.

That he’s also been able to use this to help process the shit he’s been through over the last few years is a large bonus.

Part slice of life, part sketch book, Graham puts it all in the page for all to see and I’m just glad that Graham is still around to continue making art, unlike his fellow mega talented peer Ed Piskor, whom Brandon pays tribute to in these pages.

[Lucas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably interesting if you're a big fan of his and want to know what happened inside his head over the past few years. He's clearly been through tough times, but I don't think I care much about what he has to say, and how he chose to say it.. I'll keep reading Moonray though, that's a banger

[Jefferson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of interesting for a diary/sketchbook, but it's very disjointed and often lacks context -- it's not entirely clear what he's talking about a lot of the time.

[Avi Alany · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the Old Tintin story towards the end of the book!

[Ed Erwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't realize this was nonfiction when I picked it up. Almost didn't read it when I realized it was sort of a diary. I stuck with it, though and enjoyed it for what it is.