Black Project

Set in an English suburb in the early 1990s, The Black Project is the story of Richard's allconsuming passion for creating 'girls' from household objects. But as his hobby begins to flourish, his real life friendships and family relationships deteriorate. Richard is an unreliable narrator, and the reader responds to his loneliness and his dogged attempt to find a companion, while being horrified by his warped creations. The novel's theme is that of adolescence, of the divide between childhood and adulthood; where sex, perversion, and the grotesque feature in their many forms.

Winner of Festival d'Angoulême Selection Officielle 2018 Winner of Broken Frontier Awards – Best Original Graphic Novel 2013 Winner of Myriad First Graphic Novel Competition 2013

“'One of the most powerful and distinctive graphic novels to come out in a long time. I can't recommend this strongly enough - but brace yourself. It may make your skin crawl.' - Dylan Horrocks 'Completely bloody amazing. Dark and funny and sad and moving and totally original.' - Stephen Collins, Winner of the 9th Art Award 'Brilliant. Clever, inventive and beautifully written.' - Sarah Lightman, LDComics co-founder and author of The Book of Sarah 'Sublimely creepy... The matter of fact delivery, through both word and image, works like a gift.' - Ed Hillyer 'Extraordinary emphasis on doing and making almost in real time.' - Sacha Craddock 'I enjoyed his weirdness.' - Will Self 'Utterly bizarre and quite brilliant.' - Steve Bell 'A masterpiece of comic timing and an extraordinary feat of imagination and creativity.' - Pamreader 'You know a story is great when you want to believe it's real, and I do believe this is real. Also I'm a big fan of nostalgia, I lap it up, and this book is piled high with it.' - Joe Decie, Comics and Cola 'All 208 pages of this ominous tale are spectacular, mixing dark lino cuts with embroidery and hand-written text. Pack away the craft materials and get reading.' - It's Nice That 'Brookes has created something truly incredible with his first book... The Black Project is genuinely unlike anything else happening in the graphic medium at the moment.' - We Love This Book 'Brilliantly excruciating.' - Nicola Streeten 'If you're in any way interested in alternative comics, and or contemporary textile crafts I urge you to look this one out.' - Cherry and Cinnamon 'Like Cath Kidston embroidering for David Lynch.' - Teddy Jamieson, Herald 'Very clever, packed with lots of detail, and incredibly well executed.' - Page 45 'Exquisite, excruciating and exceptional... a landmark, once read, not easily forgotten.Paul Gravett 'Clandestine first love with a papier mache twist is the order of the day in this remarkable debut... the perfect entry point into the wicked whimsy of [Brookes's] creative mind.' - Andy Oliver, Broken Frontier 'You could follow every detail of the story if you only heard the words, but you'd be missing the half the pointwork.' - Andrew Moreton, Comiczine FA 'Brookes plays on that [creeping horror] feeling, adding dark humour and deadpan first-person voiceover to create something really unsettling, genuinely creepy.' - Richard Bruton, Forbidden Planet 'Painstaking and wonderfully original.' - Paul Ashley Brown, Comics Bits Online”

'One of the most powerful and distinctive graphic novels to come out in a long time. I can't recommend this strongly enough - but brace yourself. It may make your skin crawl.'-Dylan Horrocks; 'Completely bloody amazing. Dark and funny and sad and moving and totally original.'-Stephen Collins; 'Brilliant. Clever, inventive and beautifully written.'-Sarah Lightman; 'Utterly bizarre and quite brilliant.'-Steve Bell; 'You know a story is great when you want to believe it's real, and I do believe this is real. Also I'm a big fan of nostalgia, I lap it up, and this book is piled high with it.'-Joe Decie; 'All 208 pages of this ominous tale are spectacular, mixing dark lino cuts with embroidery and hand-written text. Pack away the craft materials and get reading.'-It's Nice That; 'Brookes has created something truly incredible with his first book... The Black Project is genuinely unlike anything else happening in the graphic medium at the moment.'-We Love This Book; 'Brilliantly excruciating.'-Dr Nicola Streeten; 'Like Cath Kidston embroidering for David Lynch.'-Teddy Jamieson, Herald Scotland; 'Exquisite, excruciating and exceptional... a landmark, once read, not easily forgotten.'- Paul Gravett; 'Clandestine first love with a papier mache twist is the order of the day in this remarkable debut... the perfect entry point into the wicked whimsy of [Brookes's] creative mind.'-Andy Oliver, Broken Frontier; 'Brookes plays on that [creeping horror] feeling, adding dark humour and deadpan first person voiceover to create something really unsettling, genuinely creepy.'-Richard Bruton, Forbidden Planet

Gareth Brookes studied printmaking at the Royal College of Art. Known for an unusual approach to materials, which include, embroidery, linocut, monoprint, pressed flowers and pyrography, he has published two graphic novels with Myriad Editions. The first of these, The Black Project, won the Myriad First Graphic Novel Competition in 2012, was featured in the 'Comics Unmasked, Art and Anarchy in the UK' exhibition at the British Library, London and was nominated in the Selection Officielle at the 2018 Festival de la Bande Dessinee in Angouleme.

In 2017 he took part in the British Council Korea's Storytelling City exchange project to Seoul, South Korea, culminating in an exhibition and webcomic. He has been a guest speaker at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, The Manchester Literature Festival, The Bradford Literature Festival and The Toronto Comic Arts Festival. He is a Tutor in Foundation Studies at City and Guilds of London Art School, and a regular visiting Lecturer on Illustration at Lincoln University.

Since then Gareth has produced a number of self-published books, including The Land of My Heart Chokes on Its Abundance. His work is also published by collectives such as The Alternative Press and The Comix Reader, while his two-comic collaboration with artist Steve Tillotson, Manly Boys and Comely Girls, is available from Avery Hill Publishing. Gareth's second graphic novel, A Thousand Coloured Castles, was published by Myriad in April 2017.

In the past year Gareth has been a visiting lecturer at Wimbledon School of Art, the University of York St Johns, Staffordshire University and The Royal College of Art. He runs regular workshops in embroidery, printmaking, comic and zine making, most recently running workshops in embroidery at Bradford Literary Festival and in monoprint printmaking (with Islington Centre for Refugees and Migrants) at The ICA, London. He also organises South London Comic and Zine Fair, an annual book fair featuring over 40 small press publishers and artists, which is focused on encouraging new artists to exhibit their work.

Set in an English suburb in the early 1990s, The Black Project is the story of Richard's allconsuming passion for creating 'girls' from household objects. But as his hobby begins to flourish, his real life friendships and family relationships deteriorate. Richard is an unreliable narrator, and the reader responds to his loneliness and his dogged attempt to find a companion, while being horrified by his warped creations. The novel's theme is that of adolescence, of the divide between childhood and adulthood; where sex, perversion, and the grotesque feature in their many forms.

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