SLG Publishing is pleased to announce the publication of the graphic novel Chi by Jennifer Feinberg, co-creator, along with writer Todd Meister, of the comic book series Little Scrowlie. Feinberg made her start in the comics world with Chi, a mini-comic full of charming stories told with intricate black-and-white artwork. The graphic novel, which will be released this December, collects the three mini-comics, which features some of Feinberg's earliest works, along with fifteen pages of new stories and artwork.
Chi includes dreamy, stream-of-consciousness stories about motorcycle trips, parties and animal- and alien-encounters, but most of the stories are about Feinberg's cats, Hopey and Chi. "The stories in Chi aren't all about cats, but the ones about cats are my favorite," admitted Feinberg. All are illustrated with stylized figures and elaborate borders in Feinberg's signature Art-Nouveau-meets-psychedelia style. "There are a lot of patterns, swirls, and designs in the Chi comics. They are really more illustrations than comics," explained Feinberg.
This focus on design and illustration in Chi is what most impressed Meister and what led him to work with Feinberg on Little Scrowlie. When a mutual friend showed Meister a story from Chi #1 called "The Motorcycle Trip," he was instantly drawn in. "I loved it. It didn't fit in with comics I'd previously read," said Meister. "The art was supreme in the story. The lettering and story were made to submit to the art, rather than the other way around."
Feinberg's art-first method of storytelling does not detract from her talents as a storyteller, however. Her keen, playful observations, matched with an imaginative flair for the bizarre, supernatural and, sometimes, just the everyday unlikely, make for stories and scenarios that charm and captivate.
"It is a rare artist who can create cute cat stories and surreal stories, and it's an even rarer one who can create surreal cute cat stories. If you add to that drawing it all with a certain kind of gothy, Beardsley-esque sensibility, you get only one artist, and that's Jen." said SLG editor-in-chief Jennifer de Guzman. "She's unique, and her art is beautiful."
Chi is a 96-page graphic novel in 5.5 x 7-inch digest format. It will retail for $8.95. A preview is available at SLG Publishing's website, http://www.slavelabor.com
