Arbeiter Ring Publishing

Reviews

• Indie Street writes:

  Seven years in the making, The Listener is David Lester’s (Mecca Normal) epic graphic novel that blends historical fiction, art, and politics. The result is a dark, black-and-white, forward work that will certainly challenge its reader.

• Joshua Malbin, in joshuamalbin.com writes:

  The best thing about The Listener is its art. I’m not exactly sure how writer/artist David Lester achieved its effect, maybe some combination of pen for outlines and brush for the smeary shading? In any case, the pages all look like the rough studies a serious artist might draw when preparing a painting or a sculpture, and that fits perfectly with the framing story, which follows an artist making such drawings.

• Kristin Bomba, in ComicAttack.net writes:

  As for Lester’s art, it sweeps across the pages, changing as if it is alive with his thoughts.

• Bernard C. Cormier, in Times & Transcript writes:

  The Listener is a good book for anyone who would be classified as either a history buff, an art buff, or a basic comic/graphic novel fan (unless they require the inclusion of spandex or rayon).

• Jessica Pena , in Daily Californian writes:

  Art Spiegelman has already covered the tragedies and travails of that epic conflict in his deeply personal and poignant graphic novel, Maus: A Survivor’s Tale. But, Lester’s take on the story is slightly different. Just as Spiegelman juxtaposes his contemporary life and his father’s struggles during the Holocaust, Lester similarly contrasts the past and present. Only, The Listener seems more like a political treatise than a personal memoir.

• BK Munn, in Sequential writes:

  Lester’s drawing is wonderfully expressive and the book is an intense and well-structured look at a forgotten pivotal moment in history that uses the medium of comics to revisit that time and propose an antidote to generalized political malaise and anomie. In this sense the book is a fitting tribute to the work of Lester’s cartooning precursors who fought the good fight in the 1930s, as well as a modern call to arms.

• Adrian Mack, in Georgia Straight writes:

  Lester’s monochrome panels are lovely, bringing an emotional payload to all that heavy subject matter—quite powerfully in a couple of places. A timeline of Nazi history is included, up to the U.S. Department of Justice’s 2010 admission that America granted protection to Nazi war criminals. It further seals the case that this affecting and thoughtful debut belongs on any grown-up comic bookshelf that also includes, say, Art Spiegelman’s Maus, and Alan Moore and Joyce Brabner’s Iran-Contra history, Brought to Light.

• Publishers Weekly writes:

  A dense and fiercely intelligent work that asks important questions about art, history, and the responsibility of the individual, all in a lyrical and stirring tone.

• Francisca Goldsmith, in School Library Journal writes:

  This is an excellent graphic novel for teens who appreciate history or have an interest in contemporary politics as well as for young artists and writers who can both learn from and appreciate the storytelling that brings the past to life while focusing on a character’s present. From the opening passages, the tension never lets up, yet the story remains accessible and memorable.

• Richard Jenkins Blog writes:

  David Lester skillfully executes the artwork in an expressionistic dreamlike gray wash, which is well suited to the disorientation the protagonist feels, as well as to the many moments of memory in the story. He is adept at both creating straight-forward narrative imagery, and in creating the montage images, combining elements of different subjects into a dream/memory like image.

• Les Wiseman, in Times Colonist writes:

  The Listener’s impact as a cautionary tale is a nausea-inducing jackboot in the gut. As art, it is a blend of many styles and a meditation on the use of art itself for good and evil. As a novel, it has a real ending and a carefully plotted story arc. As a graphic novel, it raises the stakes on the whole genre. For a Vancouver artist and writer it is a launch into the big leagues.

News

• Frequency Squared Interview With David Lester
  Interview   January 19th 2012
• David Lester Interviewed by Bill Baker for The Morton Report
  Interview   September 6th 2011
• David Lester on CBC Radio
  Audio   August 22nd 2011
• David Lester in The Globe and Mail
  News   July 28th 2011
• The Listener - What is it about?
  Video   May 26th 2011
• The Listener - Who is the listener?
  Video   May 26th 2011
• The Listener - What’s the history behind the story?
  Video   May 26th 2011
• The Listener - The process
  Video   May 26th 2011
• The Listener - Why is this book important?
  Video   May 26th 2011
• The Listener - What are your plans for the book?
  Video   May 26th 2011

About the Author

David Lester is a cartoonist, painter, graphic designer, and guitarist in the rock duo Mecca Normal. He created the poster series “Inspired Agitators,” now archived at The Center for the Study of Political Graphics in Los Angeles. Lester also does a weekly illustration, with text by Mecca Normal bandmate Jean Smith, for Magnet Magazine. His artwork has been published in MungBeing, Z Magazine, Reproduce & Revolt: A Graphic Toolbox for the 21st Century Activist, The San Diego Reader, and Warburger. He lives in Vancouver, Canada.

Visit David’s website

Also by David Lester

• The Gruesome Acts of Capitalism – Second Edition