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Book Cover for: Quarantine Comix: A Memoir of Life in Lockdown, Rachael Smith

Quarantine Comix: A Memoir of Life in Lockdown

Rachael Smith

'Funny and sad and relatable and wise - Rachael Smith's Quarantine Comix are like the hug from a friend you didn't know you needed.' Chris Addison

'In a period where every day seemed the same, Rachael found a way to make every day different. A tiny, comforting light of understanding, humour and hope in a dark time.' Kieron Gillen, author and creator of The Wicked + The Divine

An award-winning graphic memoir of lockdown life, Quarantine Comix is a funny, tender, heartfelt and insightful look at isolation.


Written and drawn every day during the 2020 lockdown and shared online with #QuarantineComix, 2020 Comedy Women in Print-shortlisted Rachael Smith's delightful comics helped people who were isolated all over the world to feel connected.


At times laugh-out-loud funny, at others bitter-sweet, philosophical or downright silly, this collection of 200 drawings tells the story of one woman overcoming loneliness and self-doubt with exquisite, wry humour and raw honesty.


During a time when many feel anxious and apart from loved ones, Quarantine Comix offers relief in shared experiences.


Praise for Stand in Your Power, shortlisted for the 2020 Comedy Women in Print prize:

'Funny, fierce, poignant and reaches the lonely inside us all' Helen Lederer

'Rachael uses humour to address her mental health and she does that successfully.' Jen Brister, author of The Other Mother

'The tone is self-deprecating - she takes a sad situation and creates an invitation to laugh at it.' Hannah Berry, UK Comics Laureate 2019-21

'The execution is one to admire' Janet Ellis

'An important subject turned into pages of visual pathos' Nicola Streeton, LDComic

Book Details

  • Publisher: Icon Books
  • Publish Date: May 13rd, 2021
  • Pages: 224
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.19in - 5.75in - 0.71in - 1.05lb
  • EAN: 9781785787836
  • Categories: Nonfiction - Biography & MemoirHumorousForm - Comic Strips & Cartoons

About the Author

Rachael Smith is a comic artist and writer. She's created many critically acclaimed graphic novels including Wired Up Wrong, Stand in Your Power, Artificial Flowers and The Rabbit, which was nominated for Best Book in the 2015 British Comic Awards, following her nomination for Emerging Talent. Rachael's worked on Titan's Doctor Who comic series and is currently working on Isabella & Blodwen as well as continuing making her #QuarantineComix series inspired by the lockdown. Quarantine Comix is the winner of Comicon.com's Best Digital/Webcomic of 2020 and Pipedream Comics' Winner of Best Indie/Small Press Comic of 2020, among other awards.

Praise for this book

"Harrowing! Heartfelt! Hilarious! Cartoonist Rachael Smith's Quarantine Comix are a brutally honest assessment of our internal strife, with more vim and vigour than a Yorkie bar and wine chaser."

- Shelly Bond, creator/editor of Black Crown

"In a period where every day seemed the same, Rachael found a way to make every day different. A tiny, comforting light of understanding, humour and hope in a dark time."

- Kieron Gillen, author and creator of The Wicked + The Divine

"One of the best things to come out of lockdown."

- Lew Stringer, comic artist

"These comics were a lifeline to so many of us. A ridiculous, humane insightful, pointed lifeline."

- Paul Cornell, author of London Falling and the Witches of Lynchford series

"Rachael Smith's trademark bittersweet, funny and very personal comics make for the perfect chronicle of the weird times we've been living through. They are funny and sad and relatable and wise."

- Chris Addison, comedian and director of Veep

"Brilliantly observed and illustrated stories of everyday triumphs, failures, and insecurities."

- Adam Buxton

Praise for Stand in Your Power, shortlisted for the 2020 Comedy Women in Print prize:

"Funny, fierce, poignant and reaches the lonely inside us all" Helen Lederer

"Rachael uses humour to address her mental health and she does that successfully." Jen Brister, author of The Other Mother

"The tone is self-deprecating - she takes a sad situation and creates an invitation to laugh at it." Hannah Berry, UK Comics Laureate 2019-21

"The execution is one to admire"

Janet Ellis

"An important subject turned into pages of visual pathos" Nicola Streeton, LDComic

"No wonder people respond strongly to Rachael's work, brave is a term people like to bandy around personal comics, but it's appropriate sometimes. The real wonder of her work is the easy comic touch."

- Kate Beaton, author of Hark! A Vagrant, King Baby, and The Princess and the Pony

"Bloody brilliant storytelling, bloody brilliant comics ... I honestly dare you not to be impressed."

- Richard Bruton, Forbidden Planet International

"One of 2020's most remarkable achievements in comics."

Broken Frontier

"These comics were a lifeline to so many of us. A ridiculous, humane, insightful, pointed lifeline."

- Paul Cornell, author of London Falling and the Witches of Lynchford series