My War with Brian
Graphic Novel, 1998
NBM Paperback, 6″x9″, 64 pp., $8.95
Ted’s second graphic novel, the semiautobiographical MY WAR WITH BRIAN, was nominated for an Eisner Award for its staggeringly honest portrait of junior-high school brutality. Set in suburban Ohio during the 1970s, MY WAR WITH BRIAN exposes the experience of being bullied – and what happens when you fight back.
Booklist says: “Known for his acerbic political cartoons, Rall turns his caustic gaze inward in an autobiographical graphic novel about his misery in junior high in suburban Ohio. He was an alienated nerd, tormented by a loutish, psychotic bully who, for no apparent reason, chose Rall as his personalvictim. Teachers and other adults refused to help Rall, leaving him to deal with Brian through violence that started out defensive but gradually turned sadistically vengeful. The escalating battle forced Rall into an ultimate assault that he then saw as the only way to prevent being marked as a victim for the rest of his life. Two decades later, a more introspective Rall ponders the lasting effect of Brian’s harassment on his personality. To this day, Rall’s behavior remains confrontational and defensive; he wonders whether his superior attitude prompted the bully’s abuse. Rall’s memoir is fueled by the bitterness and anger that inform his editorial cartoons and sports their vaguely cubist figures and distinctive scratchboard technique that makes them look like punk woodcuts.”
To order: Amazon or directly from NBM Publishing.
