Monday: An Apocryphal Comic Book

“If one measures a book by delight, Andy Hartzell’s Monday offers a treasury on every page. Equal parts Borgesian tale—a lost book of Biblical creation—and allegory of artistic creativity, Monday bristles with sharp humor, vivid characters, beautiful drawing, and inventive comix craft. Picture Mark Twain’s Diaries of Adam and Eve and Lynd Ward siphoned through Mad Magazine. The result offers an Eden one never wants to leave.”—Peter Rostovsky, author of Damnation Diaries

God’s creation has entered its second work week, the eighth day. A new entity is forming in the garden, and the Snake, once the garden’s manager, is filled with unease. Will this next-gen creature disrupt the established order? It falls upon Eden’s first couple to intervene with their Maker before His latest creation makes them redundant. Yet, they must be cautious, for interfering with the creative process is a perilous game.

In brushy black-and-white, Andy Hartzell has rendered into cartoon form the illuminated scriptures of “The People of the Eighth Day,” an ancient gnostic sect. Or maybe he just made the story up. Either way, Monday is a provocative metaphysical slapstick comic, a fable for our unstable age.

Andy Hartzell’s first graphic novel, Fox Bunny Funny, was a New York Times holiday pick. He has contributed to many anthologies, including No Straight Lines (Eisner nomination) and Qu33r (Ignatz Award), and he received an Xeric award for his first comic, Bread & Circuses. He makes his personal paradise in Oakland, CA, where his partner Ron tends the garden, and his boxador Louis tears it up again. He works as an interaction designer and creative strategist when he’s not making comics.