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Book Cover for: Night Fisher, R. Kikuo Johnson

Night Fisher

R. Kikuo Johnson

2023 Whiting Award WINNER in Fiction

First-rate prep school, SUV, and a dream house in the heights -- an island paradise was handed to Loren Foster when he moved to Hawaii with his father six years ago. Now, with the end of high school just around the corner, his best friend, Shane, has grown distant. Rumors abound. Loren suspects that Shane has left him behind for a new group of friends. Their friendship is put to the test when they get mixed up in a petty crime. Johnson has a naturalistic ease in exploring these relationships, which sets this drama apart. This graphic novel debut is at once an unsentimental portrait of that most awkward period between adolescence and young adulthood and that rarest of things -- a mature depiction of immature lives. His lush-yet-unsentimental-depiction of Maui creates an immersive, visceral sense of place.

In 2006, critics heralded R. Kikuo Johnson's Night Fisher as one of the most exciting debuts in the medium's history. Johnson won the prestigious Russ Manning Newcomer Award at the 2006 Eisner Awards, the Harvey Award for Best New Talent, and a Harvey Award nomination for Best Graphic Novel. On its 15th anniversary, Fantagraphics is proud to publish this new edition of Night Fisher in hardcover for the first time.


Book Details

  • Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
  • Publish Date: Oct 12nd, 2021
  • Pages: 144
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 9.90in - 6.90in - 0.70in - 1.26lb
  • EAN: 9781683964704
  • Categories: LiteraryCrime & Mystery

About the Author

Johnson, R. Kikuo: - R. Kikuo Johnson was born in 1981 in Maui, Hawaii. He graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design and is an illustrator, educator, and graphic novelist based in Brooklyn. His bold, graphic, comic-styled illustrations have appeared on multiple covers of The New Yorker, book covers, and the acclaimed children's book, The Shark King (Toon Books, 2012).

Praise for this book

Lauded illustrator R. Kikuo Johnson's potent, career-making debut, Night Fisher, returns in a handsome hardcover edition. Narratively and visually, Johnson definitively underscores his initial well-earned success.-- "Shelf Awareness (starred review)"
Johnson draws with a confident bravado that is particularly impressive in a young cartoonist, and his narrative skills are equally assured. Seldom has an artist's debut graphic novel been this accomplished and rewarding.-- "Booklist (starred review)"
It's a coming-of-age story with teeth.-- "The New York Times Book Review"
Johnson's first graphic novel [Night Fisher] has a force and elliptical grace that suggests he's been drawing comics and writing fiction for much longer than he really has... Johnson's storytelling is clear and masterful, and his characters' body language says as much about them as their words. An exciting debut from a talent to watch.-- "Publishers Weekly"
Night Fisher expresses a longing that we can all probably sympathize with, a longing to be somewhere else, to be someone else.-- "From Cover to Cover"