Ex Libris, dazzling new graphic novel
​by Matt Madden​

BY JOHN HEON     |     September 13, 2021

Matt Madden's EX LIBRIS is "endlessly inventive," says Publishers Weekly. Published by UNCIVILIZED BOOKS.

#pascarts
#phillyavantgarde

Ex Libris, the latest work by graphic novelist (and PASC symposium presenter) Matt Madden, will be published by Uncivilized Books on October 12, 2021. The pre-publication reviews are glowing, and it will likely be one of the most important releases of the fall season in any category. Publisher’s Weekly selected Ex Libris as the only graphic novel on its 2021 Top 20 Independent Publishers list, calling it an “endlessly inventive work” that “is a metafictional master class in comics.” Foreword Reviews describes Ex Libris as “a dazzling graphic novel,” and Library Journal says it is “a formally inventive, deeply emotional tale” that “displays a keen mastery of numerous visual and narrative styles.”

As its title suggests, Ex Libris is, among many other things, a book of books—both comic and serious. Madden takes his readers on a mind-bending journey through an wide array of genres and states of consciousness, inducing and examining the Rimbaudian “long, immense, and reasoned derangement of all the senses” and demonstrating its centrality to reading, writing, viewing, and drawing. In doing so, he explores not only the graphic novel and comic book, but much of intellectual and artistic history from modernism to the present, artfully juggling Borges, Calvino, Wittgenstein, Beckett, Lacan, ‘Pataphysics, Dada, Surrealism, and Oulipo, to name just a few of the balls he puts in the air. Again and again, Madden pulls off the trick of grappling with some of the most complex and consequential ideas about art, culture, and theory while also being side-splittingly funny—both verbally and visually. The stylistic and tonal shifts in his words and images keep the reader off balance, never able to predict what the next page will bring. In short, it’s delightfully instructive to get lost in Madden’s funhouse.

All images from EX LIBRIS are copyrighted by Matt Madden and used with permission.

All images from EX LIBRIS are copyrighted by Matt Madden and used with permission.

All images from EX LIBRIS are copyrighted by Matt Madden and used with permission.

Click here to pre-order Ex Libris from Uncivilized Books.

Images from EX LIBRIS copyright Matt Madden; used with permission

Click here to pre-order Ex Libris from Uncivilized Books.

Events

SEPT. 18, 6:45 - 7:45 p.m. Eastern Time, Matt Madden at Small Press Expo (SPX) virtual festival on YouTube, "Playing with the Medium." For more information on SPX 2021, click here. 

SEPT. 27, 7 p.m. BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL. Reading by Matt Madden at City Reliquary, 370 Metropolitan Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York. 
Hosted by R. Sikoryak, a Bookend event of the Brooklyn Book Festival, Carousel Reading Series.
You must bring proof of covid vaccination; click here for for information and tickets.

Stay tuned for more Ex Libris events, including an interview with
​Matt Madden by PASC co-director, John Heon.

Matt Madden (photo by Nicolas Guerin)

For more about Matt Madden and his work, visit his website.
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