“Pants Optional” is PopCultHQ’s Zoom video interview feature where we connect with individuals within the comic book community. It’s a way to see/hear what creators have been doing during the pandemic, projects which may be in motion during this downtime, and noteworthy events and happenings taking place in lieu of conventions, appearances, and the weekly NCBD grind.
For Episode XXX, I spoke with Glenn Head. The cartoonist has a new original graphic novel CHARTWELL MANOR being released in bookstores and online retailers on Tuesday, May 25th. The black and white, 224-page memoir is published by Fantagraphics. Take a look at the synopsis and the trailer for Glenn’s CHARTWELL MANOR!
CHARTWELL MANOR
Written & Illustrated by Glenn Head
Color: Black and white
Format: Hardback
Pages: 244
No one asks for the childhood they get, and no child ever deserved to go to Chartwell Manor. For Glenn Head, his two years spent at the now-defunct Mendham, NJ, boarding school — run by a serial sexual and emotional abuser of young boys in the early 1970s — left emotional scars in ways that he continues to process. This graphic memoir — a book almost 50 years in the making — tells the story of that experience, and then delves with even greater detail into the reverberations of that experience in adulthood, including addiction and other self-destructive behavior. Head tells his story with unsparing honesty, depicting himself as a deeply flawed human struggling to make sense of the childhood he was given.
PREVIEW PAGES
Time to kick back and watch our conversation with Glenn Head and learn more about his latest project. Enjoy!
Special thanks to Glenn Head for taking the time to speak with us. Be sure to follow Glenn and Fantagraphics online (links below). And go pick up your copy of CHARTWELL MANOR at bookstores or favorite online retailer now!
If you are an industry professional and are interested in being featured in our “Pants Optional” segment, drop me a line at tahoejbennett@popculthq.com and let’s see what we can put together!
Writer – Glenn Head
Glenn Head was born in 1958 in Morristown, New Jersey, and began drawing comics when he was fourteen. In the early 1990s, Head co-created (with cartoonist Kaz) and edited Snake Eyes, the Harvey-Award nominated cutting edge comix anthology series and he was a frequent contributor to the Fantagraphics’ comix anthology quarterly Zero Zero. From 2005 to 2010, Glenn edited and contributed to the Harvey and Eisner-nominated anthology HOTWIRE Comics and recently created his graphic epic, Chicago (2015). He lives in New York City.
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Publisher – Fantagraphics
For over 40 years, Fantagraphics has published the very best comics and graphic novels that the medium has to offer. Our mission is to celebrate great cartooning in all of its incarnations, from the form’s early luminaries to contemporary artists currently forging the future of visual storytelling. Not content to rest on our laurels and extensive roster of talented artists, we constantly seek out fresh voices from across the globe. Thus, we honor the rich history of comics while providing a platform for bold new stories, styles, and perspectives that push the boundaries of the medium. Fantagraphics remains peerless in our commitment to be the publisher of the world’s greatest cartoonists.
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