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Comics & Graphic Novels Literary

Heartless

by (artist) Nina Bunjevac

Publisher
Conundrum Press
Initial publish date
Jan 2023
Category
Literary, Contemporary Women, Dystopian
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781894994644
    Publish Date
    Sep 2012
    List Price
    $20.00
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781772620801
    Publish Date
    Jan 2023
    List Price
    $20

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Description

Nina Bunjevac's brilliant debut graphic novel returns in this expanded 10th Anniversary edition.
"Powered by an expressive black and white drawing style, reminiscent of Robert Crumb and the meticulous pointillist technique of Drew Friedman, the dark undertone of Bunjevac's humour brings into light the range of socio-political issues her comics deal with, such as gender, nationalism or urban alienation, always from an ironic feminist perspective. Her chain-smoking, slightly alcoholic and manically depressed character Zorka may just be today's ultimate antiheroine. A Balkan immigrant in the Brave New World, working in that same meat factory for the last twenty years, tormented by family constraints and her own secret desires. . . we simply can't get enough of her." - BTurn

About the author

Although Canadian born, Nina Bunjevac spent her formative years in Yugoslavia, where she began her art education before returning to Canada at onset of the war of the 1990s. She continued her education in graphic design at the iconic Art Centre of Central Technical School in Toronto, subsequently graduating from the Drawing and Painting department at OCAD. After a decade of drawing and painting she discovered the passion for the narrative through sculpture installation work, eventually returning to her childhood passion for comics.

Nina's comics have been published in a number of international periodicals and anthologies, including The National Post, Le Monde Diplomatique, ArtReview and Best American Comics. Her first book Heartless (2012, Conundrum Press, Nova Scotia) won a Doug Wright Award in Best Debut category. Her second book, Fatherland (2014, Jonathan Cape, London) has reached international acclaim, appearing on the New York Times best-seller list and receiving a Doug Wright Award in Best Book category; it was also shortlisted for PACA Regional Literary Award in France. Bezimena (2018, Ici Même, Nantes; 2019, Fantagraphics, Seattle), Nina's third book, made the official selection at Angoulême International Comics Festival 2019, won Artemisia prize in the category of Best Drawing in France, and was awarded Best Book Jury Prize at 2019 Lucca Comics and Games in Lucca, Italy.

Her artwork has been included in a number of exhibitions, both in Canada and internationally. Notable exhibits include the 2014 installation Out of Fatherland, at Art Gallery of Ontario, commissioned mural pieces for The Idea of North, and Galerie Martel in Paris, France.

She lives in Toronto where she divides her time between comics, illustration, teaching and fine arts.

Nina Bunjevac's profile page

Editorial Reviews

"This book is a wild thrill ride through hell on a Tilt-A-Whirl! It's a triple-dip banana split with a live cockroach at the bottom! I dig it the most, and so will you!" - Jay Lynch
"Heartless is just amazing! I laughed out loud a lot. It is chock full of great stuff and I'm hard to please! Nina Bunjevac's art is a pleasure to look at. The writing is seriously demented, but in a totally brilliant, highly entertaining way. It is its own thing, imitating no one." – Kim Deitch
"The most vitally reinvigorating change in modern comics is the unstoppable rise of women, as creators, as readers, and as characters. In her impressive debut collection, Nina Bunjevac stuns as a distinctive, innovative voice, adept at hyper detailed cartooning and deliciously disturbing as she probes the darkest depths of desire and despair." – Paul Gravett
"Her drawing chops are stunning, yet she's no mere illustrator, as she breathes life into her characters as they are the vessels of her bawdy but bone-dry and pitch-black sense of humor." – Rob Clough, The Comics Journal
"Visually, Bunjevac employs a stippled, shadowed approach that accentuates the noirish aspects of her narratives while also providing a high degree of almost documentary detail. The result is an irony-laden tour though a seedy milieu that is as visually impressive as it is emotionally provocative." – Steven W. Beattie, Quill & Quire

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