From Nate Powell, the National Book Award-winning artist of March, a
collection of graphic nonfiction essays about living in a new era of
necessary protest
In seven interwoven comics essays, author and graphic novelist Nate
Powell addresses living in an era of what he calls "necessary protest."
Save It for Later: Promises, Parenthood, and the Urgency of Protest is
Powell's reflection on witnessing the collapse of discourse in real time
while drawing the award-winning trilogy March, written by Congressman
John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, this generation's preeminent historical
account of nonviolent revolution in the civil rights movement. Powell
highlights both the danger of normalized paramilitary presence symbols
in consumer pop culture, and the roles we play individually as we
interact with our communities, families, and society at large.
Each essay tracks Powell's journey from the night of the
election--promising his four-year-old daughter that Trump will never
win, to the reality of the authoritarian presidency, protesting the
administration's policies, and navigating the complications of teaching
his children how to raise their own voices in a world that is becoming
increasingly dangerous and more and more polarized. While six of the
seven essays are new, unpublished work, Powell has also included "About
Face," a comics essay first published by Popula Online that swiftly
went viral and inspired him to expand his work on Save It for Later.
The seventh and final essay will contextualize the myriad events of 2020
with the previous four years--from the COVID-19 pandemic to global
protests in the wake of George Floyd's murder to the 2020 presidential
election itself--highlighting both the consistencies and inversions of
widely shared experiences and observations amidst a massive social
upheaval.
As Powell moves between subjective and objective experiences raising his
children--depicted in their childhood innocence as imaginary
anthropomorphic animals--he reveals the electrifying sense of trust and
connection with neighbors and strangers in protest. He also explores how
to equip young people with tools to best make their own noise as they
grow up and help shape the direction and future of this country.
