The Nib #7

The Nib #7

by Matt Bors

Nonfiction comics anthology, edited abd published by Matt Bors. This is Volume 2 Issue 3, and themed on the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Genres: Comics, Nonfiction, Graphic Novels, Health, Politics, Anthologies, Humor

112 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2020

About the author

Matt Bors is a cartoonist, writer, editor, and the founder of The Nib. He was a Pulitzer Prize Finalist for his political cartoons in 2012 and 2020 and is the co-writer of the dystopian satire Justice Warriors with Ben Clarkson.

His cartoons have appeared in The Nation, The Guardian, CNN, The Intercept, and were collected in the book We Should Improve Society Somewhat. He also drew the graphic novel War Is Boring written by David Axe.

Reviews

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still fresh.

[Matt Graupman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is probably my favorite issue of “The Nib.” Every piece is a banger and there’s an urgency to the whole thing given the theme. It’s smart, honest, desperate, and jammed full of acidic humor. It’s a great time capsule of our terrible shared history.

FAVORITES:
“Plague Rats” by Lisa Rosalie Eisenberg - An icky reminder that the COVID-19 pandemic affected more than just humans
“Comfort Food” by Victoria Ying - A bittersweet commentary on cultural identity and racism as seen through the author’s native cuisine
Comic strip by Ben Passmore - A brief diary comic about an ally helping rip down a monument to Philadelphia’s racist past
BONUS: ALL the interstitial drawings by Noah Van Sciver and Eleanor Davis

[Kelsey Atherton · Rating 5 out of 5]

It will be hard, after the pandemic, to describe what exactly life was like inside of it, in the endless months of social distance and similar days. The Nib, always an unflinching witness to the truth of the present, manages with the Pandemic issue to capture something that would be otherwise lost. Reading the issue feels like living inside the late summer and early fall months of 2020, with a grim acceptance of the present and a lack of knowledge about when an end might come.

This is valuable for that, though I should also say it tells these stories with a powerful humanity. It is not just that it was bad, it is that people made jokes in the midst of it all, while knowing how bad it was. Worrh reading, and especially, worth rereading five years from now.

[meg (the.hidden.colophon) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this at a used bookstore for $3. I now am subscribed to The Nib.

I wish I’d had this during the actual pandemic, and am sad to just be aware of its existence. However! I’m so glad to have discovered it regardless, and reading it now brings up a lot of buried feelings around the pandemic and it’s effect even today.

[Leonardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Descubrí The Nib durante la pandemia. Me divierte, me encanta y me inspira todo lo que hacen. Este volumen de cómics es de lo mejor que he leído en mi vida.

[Ula · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think it’s important to work through and learn from what’s happened since 2020 and this issue is a wonderful complex and heartening collection of experiences around the world. In the rush to move forward, I’m afraid we’re not going to learn anything and continue to make mistakes that will result in mass illness, poverty, and death.

[T. Augenblick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ran across this in a Little Free Library in 2023. It's a good reminder of what it felt like to live in 2020, at least from liberal points of view. Most of these short pieces are more informational than dramatically gripping, but they are valuable and well-drawn. Brilliant artwork on the cover and inside by Eleanor Davis.

[Sara-Zoe Patterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredible like all The Nib.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good one. It’ll give people an insight to the early days of the pandemic. Given how long it may last, they may want to do another pandemic issue next year.

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I had read many of these comics before, this volume really does speak to the realities of the pandemic and I love that.