Self-Esteem and the End of the World

“Luke Healy stumbles through the elegantly drawn frames of Self-Esteem and the End of the World like a gay millennial Harvey Pekar, asking himself the questions currently dogging an entire generation: How can we save the Earth? How can we survive late-stage capitalism? And most importantly: How can we love ourselves? What makes Healy such a joy to read is his canny awareness that these questions aren’t easily answered through pithy self-help psychobabble, nor even through finally getting all the things we want. The answers are lived, not spoken, and look more like having a heart-to-heart with your mam at a crime scene or caring for an AI whale with a glitching fin: in other words, the messy, confounding, lovely business of being human in extraordinary times.” —Rafel Frumkin, author of Confidence

“Full of unexpected laughs; at once both absurd and sincere.” —Sophie Yanow, author of The Contradictions

“Enhanced with a philosophical chorus of mice, seagulls, and cleverly inserted extras… Healy produces a poignant graphic meditation on grasping identity amid relentless unpredictability.” —Booklist

Praise for Luke Healy:

“Full of deadpan humour… a deeply felt exploration of happiness, trust and the lies we tell our friends and ourselves.” —The Guardian Best Graphic Novels of 2022

“The Con Artists feels like a tender little indie film—about friendship and trust between twenty-somethings floundering for whatever it takes to survive into their thirties.” —The Stranger

Luke Healy was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, where he also received a BA in Journalism. He has an MFA from the Centre for Cartoon Studies in Vermont, USA. Healy’s graphic novels include Americana (And the Act of Getting Over It), How to Survive in the North, Permanent Press, and The Con Artists (published by Drawn & Quarterly). His work has been exhibited in the Museum of Comics and Cartoon Art in Manhattan, and his clients include The New Yorker, BBC, Vice, and Narratively.

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