Ball Peen Hammer - Softcover

Rapp, Adam

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1596433000 ISBN 13: 9781596433007

Publisher: First Second, 2009

Synopsis

The world is dying.  After most of the city succumbed to the plague, Welton's staying inside -- permanently.  But hiding in his claustrophobic basement room -- the only place he knows is safe -- exacts a gruesome price, and he becomes part of a collective that's killing children.  Infected with the plague himself, with no way to find the woman he loves, Welton takes refuge in apathy -- until someone knocks on his door. 

 

Ball Peen Hammer gives us a window into life in a half-deserted apartment building in a time of raw love, sacrifice, fear, and death. 

About this title

About the Author

Adam Rapp is a novelist, playwright, screenwriter, and filmmaker. He has written several young adult novels, including Punkzilla, The Buffalo Tree, and 33 Snowfish, and the adult novel, The Year of Endless Sorrows. His plays include Nocturne, the Pulitzer Prize finalist Red Light Winter, and The Metal Children. In 2005 he directed his first film, Winter Passing, starring Ed Harris, Zooey Deschanel and Will Ferrell.

 

George O’Connor is an author, illustrator and cartoonist. His graphic novel work includes Journey Into Mohawk Country, in which he illustrated the journal of the seventeenth-century Dutch trader Harmen Meyndertsz van den Bogaert, and his Olympians series, which retells the classic Greek myths in comics form. He has also published several children’s picture books, including the New York Times best-selling Kapow, Sally and the Some-Thing, and Uncle Bigfoot. He lives in Brooklyn, NY. 

Reviews

In an eerie postapocalyptic urban world, humanity is turning on itself. This graphic novel revolves around a trio who were likely downtown hipsters before the crisis began. Welton, a musician, and Aaron, an author, still have the energy to discuss the purpose of art, but find themselves committing unpardonable acts to save themselves. Exley, an actress, unexpectedly ends up caring for Horlick, a young boy who is teetering between playing childish pranks and becoming a menacing criminal like his older brother. All three adults reminisce about previous loves, and one tries to seek out a passionate one-night stand from the past. Rapp, best known as a novelist and playwright, reflects on the ways we cling to art and passion in the face of destruction and the horror we feel as those things slip away. His story can be thought provoking, although at times his plotting and metaphors—and the unrelenting grimness of the story—feel heavy-handed. O'Connor's sinister, stunning artwork, with rich coloring by Hilary Sycamore, helps propel the story and, in the end, is the most haunting aspect of the book. (Oct.)
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Edition details

• Publisher: First Second
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1596433000
• ISBN 13: 9781596433007
• Binding: Paperback
• Illustrator: O'Connor George
• Number of pages: 144