Overview
Teenage Nick Pope - born with prominent birthmarks around his eyes and bullied because of them - quits his therapist and starts writing and drawing in his diary again. When Nick is offered a solo gallery show of his art, he's forced to face internal and familial demons. Does Nick have the courage to draw self-portraits? Will his family stay together, even though his sister gets a job with the doomed Michael Dukakis campaign and his father refuses to show money-making films at his single-screen theater? And more immediately for Nick, are his feelings for fellow artist Max real - and does that mean he's gay? Tracy Chapman, Jean Michel-Basquiat and The Last Temptation of Christ all play a part as Nick makes his way through the life-changing summer of 1988.
Full Product Details
Author: Christopher Stanton ,
Raymond Klecker
Publisher: Cobbler Books
Imprint: Cobbler Books
Dimensions:
Width: 20.30cm
, Height: 0.80cm
, Length: 25.40cm
Weight: 0.295kg
ISBN: 9798234068880
Pages: 142
Publication Date: 24 April 2026
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
""Klecker's black-and-white artwork, edged with a punk sensibility, complements Nick's adolescent voice and masterfully illuminates his interior life without overwhelming the story. The text and illustrations authentically portray grief and mental health struggles in a way that speaks to the past as much as to today. A great addition to the literature of teenage angst."" - Kirkus Reviews (starred) ""Stanton and Klecker's innovative, affecting coming-of-age diary comic is a love letter to an adolescence spent imagining oneself as an artist, learning to assert one's beliefs, and grappling with the pain of adolescent aspirations and the confusing feelings that come with working out one's sexuality in a time that was especially homophobic.""- BookLife (Editor's Pick) ""The sequel revisits Stanton's sensitive, artistically inclined protagonist at a pivotal moment: the summer after his sophomore year of high school, when Nick's private creative world begins to edge into public view. The result is a reflective narrative that explores art, vulnerability, sexuality, and the fragile exhilaration of being seen.""- Independent Book Review (Staff Pick) ""Stanton and Klecker create a work that is both aesthetically compelling and emotionally resonant, demonstrating the power of graphic narratives to engage with complex questions of mental health, identity, and embodiment."" - Graphic Medicine ""It was an absolute delight to return to the world of Nick Pope -- a place where nostalgia and real human struggles cross paths effortlessly. Chris Stanton's truly bittersweet storytelling and Raymond Klecker's inventive artwork pulled me back into a time when everything in life was both fun and exciting and yet totally devastating""- Pedro Martin, creator of MexiKid
Author Information
Christopher Stanton's novel in stories Dandelion Crossing, about the first week of a brand-new suburban shopping mall in 1983, is now available, as are Kings of the Earth, the story of a haunted surfing town on Lake Michigan, and The Underachiever: Collected Stories (2000-2010).He also created the acclaimed graphic novel Nick Pope, illustrated by Christopher Darling. Nick Pope: Summer of '88, a sequel illustrated by Raymond Klecker, arrived in March 2026.
