Precious Rubbish

A landmark graphic novel debut and groundbreaking work of trauma recollection told in the style of post-war children's comics.

Publisher Marketing: A landmark comics achievement... joins a lineage of classic memoirs about unbelievably difficult childhoods. What clearly sets it apart is the way it uses comics storytelling in unique ways that I've never seen before and am not sure I'll ever see again.-- "The Beat" Review Quotes : A staggering achievement.--Rob Clough Review Quotes : Kayla E.'s comics remind me of the orphan-in-jeopardy genre. She is cast as a plucky heroine you root for and yet wonder, 'How can she possibly escape?' The answer is through the author's courage, wit, and originality. If one person's trash is another's treasure, Precious Rubbish is transmutation at its most therapeutic.--Tim Hensley Review Quotes : Precious Rubbish may help you come to terms with some things you've been privately avoiding or even things about yourself you didn't know.--Chris Ware Review Quotes : This is the scariest book I have ever read.--Mark Newgarden Review Quotes : This four-color atomic bomb of a comic signals the arrival of a formidable talent.-- "Publishers Weekly Starred Review" Review Quotes : FIVE STARS STUNNING! Precious Rubbish has the biblical-level artistry and poetry of William Blake combined with the playful commercialism of Mad Magazine .--Maria Bamford, comedian and NYT bestselling author of Sure, I'll Join Your Cult Review Quotes : Precious Rubbish is a triumph of pure resilience--a psychic thick, dark syrup of personal pain, humiliation, and suffering. And it will make you laugh inappropriately (and guiltily), which is the highest praise I can give.--Ivan Brunetti Brief Description : "'If an exorcism can ever be slow and quiet, then every panel I've finished has felt something like an exorcism. The gutters give me space to make sense of things: to connect dots and close gaps. To remember.' Kayla E.'s Precious Rubbish is an experimental graphic memoir drawn in a style that references the aesthetics of mid-century children's comics and tells the story of a childhood shaped by maternal emotional dysregulation, rural poverty, and incest. The author's childhood is portrayed as a collection of short-form comics and gag panels punctuated by interactive elements like paper dolls, satirical advertisements, games, and puzzles"-- Review Quotes : Kayla E.'s uniquely unconventional, hauntingly shocking debut graphic memoir is reminiscent of a complicated mosaic that's missing pieces but has been filled in with unexpected replacements to create a disturbing collage both horrific and beautiful.-- "Booklist Starred Review" Review Quotes : Kayla E. uses her medium to striking effect: her wry portrait reveals a fresh eye, at once vulnerable and undaunted.-- "The New Yorker" Review Quotes : Several times before I could finish it, I had to put Kayla E.'s Precious Rubbish aside -- [it's] just that intense and powerful. Before you think I'm being too coy or flippant about something so heavy and real, let me tell you that the book is also funny -- albeit in the driest, darkest, laughing-so-as-not-to-cry way.-- "Style Weekly" Review Quotes : Precious Rubbish is a scream as precisely pitched as a middle C from a tuning fork. ... Her work is such an unexpected mixture of control and frankness that it is impossible to ignore.-- "The New York Times" Review Quotes : Precious Rubbish is a book about processing personal trauma through obsessive art practice. There is no substitute for the hard work necessary to produce the images in this book. Nothing here was cast off in a moment. The visual conceit is fully formed on every page, every fake advertisement and Archie pin-up transformed into excoriating personal testimony.-- "The Comics Journal" Review Quotes : I experience another intentional wall when it comes to the pages of puzzles, recipes, and fake advertisements that are interspersed throughout the book. Designed with gold type and images on a yellow background, they at first appear to be a cheeky, cheerful break. But the pages aren't breathers; they aren't fun. The monochromatic color-on-color means one has to expend extra energy to simply read the words. And then comes the realization that the words and images are simply a different way to express the pain.-- "D Magazine" Review Quotes : I really recommend it if you want to see how you can use comic books and graphic novels in a very innovative and emotional way.-- "14 News Evansville, IN" Review Quotes : Kayla works in this impossibly fluid cartooning style... It's a gorgeous production of a book that shows us Lil' Kayla descending into depression, substance-abuse, self-harm, and everything else while trying to make sense of the horrific family around her.-- "The Virtual Memories Show" Review Quotes : Memoir and childhood trauma are expertly woven into panels, paper dolls, board games and other experiments in a way that is gut-wrenching and emotionally impactful. It is a brilliant and innovative use of the comic form, one that will stay with you long after you read.-- "Southern Review" Review Quotes : Awash in bright primary colors, Precious Rubbish finds Kayla wedding the look and feel of mid-century children's comics such as "Little Lulu" to an unbroken stream of traumatic occurrences, the artist's playful approach to form bringing pleasure even as she wrangles with the deeply unpleasurable.-- "Matter News" Publisher Marketing :

Format: Hardcover | Pages: 196 | Publication Date: 2025-04-08