Out soon here in the UK is My Beloved Other, a graphic memoir from a former Marvel UK editor who was always a pleasure to work with, the Eisner Award-winning Nick Abadzis, and his partner, psychotherapist Angela Watson.
As a fan of his powerful graphic novel Laika, and less well known work, Hugo Tate, you probably won’t be surprised to know I preordered this new work, published by First Second, over a year ago.
Already published in the United States, it will be available from all the usual outlets here in the UK from 28th September, but Nick has been encouraging fans to order from Gosh! in London, link here, and who am I to argue? (They have copies of his Doctor Who work, too, but you’ll have to head to larger outlets, such as AmazonUK, for Laika, if you’ve never read it).
The publicity machine for My Beloved Other, a long time in the making, first commissioned with the title Skin Trouble back in 2008, is deservedly ramping up ahead of the launch of this graphic memoir here, a story “of love, race and optimism in a time of denial”, and I’m eagerly awaiting my copy.
There’s a fantastic interview by Sacha Mardou, for example, here from Comics Journal, where Angela and Nick outline the long path to creating this graphic novel, and the background to its creation, from their very first meeting ahead of a race riot through to their lives today.
You might also want to check out Angela and Nick’s interview on Autobiographix, where both outline their introduction to comics, Nick’s in comics retail at Marvel UK and working on Deadline.
“It’s a memoir,” Angela emphasises. “We met in Britain, emigrated to the United States, and lived there for nearly fifteen years. That’s the story at the heart of the book: an interracial marriage, two family histories, and the racism we’ve encountered, both overt and subtle, in Britain and in America.
“In situations like that, you find out what it means to be outsiders. You find out what it costs to keep belonging to each other anyway.
“It might seem like we ask a lot of questions of the reader, but this is what we do for and to ourselves, too. Integration isn’t a policy. It’s a practice, a way of life, one that we’ve been living for all the time we’ve been together. My Beloved Other is that story, as told from the inside.”
“We hope the book will be understood,” says Nick. “It’s a plea for sanity, for consideration. Racism, and dealing with it, is a difficult, uncomfortable subject. In that sense, it may be a difficult book to market in terms of, ‘Well what’s it about?’ Broadly, it’s about racism and anti-racism, and it is also about hope. Hopefully, it is about opening up spaces where people can converse, and converse in a way where they can actually listen to what’s being said, and the quality of what’s being said, rather than making judgements.”
My Beloved Other: The Blurb…
My Beloved Other is a timely graphic memoir about the far-reaching impact of racism in today’s society, as seen through the lens of one couple’s interracial marriage.
Where does the concept of “the other” come from?
And who truly benefits when we allow fear of the other to steer our society?
Through charming banter and illuminating anecdotes from their personal lives, artist Nick Abadzis and psychotherapist Angela Watson chronicle their nearly forty-year interracial relationship, their respective family histories, and their ongoing experiences with anti-Black racism in Britain and America, from the overt racial taunts of childhood bullies to the more subtle biases of the adult workplace.
In the midst of a dangerous political backlash that threatens to derail decades, if not centuries, of movement towards a more equitable and diverse world, My Beloved Other puts questions of race front and centre and turns a critical eye to the systems that seek to exploit our differences.
Above all else, it challenges readers to do what can sometimes feel impossible: keep hope alive for a future where difference is embraced as a source of unity, not division.
• My Beloved Other by Nick Abadzis and Angela Watson is available now in the United States | ISBN: 978-1596433700 | Head here in the United States for various online retailers) | Order a copy here from Gosh! via this Bookshop.org Affiliate Link | AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)| Order here for France and the European Union
The Authors
Angela and Nick are based in and around New York City where they lives with their daughter.
Nick Abadzis has been creating books, magazines, comics and stories for both adults and children for over thirty years. As both cartoonist and writer, he’s been honoured with various international storytelling awards including an Eisner in 2008 for his graphic novel, Laika. He also works as an editorial consultant for publishing and a corporate scribe AKA graphic recorder. He has collaborated with clients such as EY, KPMG, ESPN, IBM, Google, TNM, and many others.
Nick has been published in the USA by Condé Nast, First Second, Marvel Comics, Titan Comics, DC Comics, in the UK by the BBC, various national newspapers including The Guardian, The Times and The Independent, and many other periodicals too numerous to mention; elsewhere in Europe by the likes of Dargaud and Glénat, and in Japan by Kodansha. His graphic novel Hugo Tate was described by Garth Ennis as “a road movie from Hell… one of the greatest comics of all time.”
He is also known to Doctor Who fandom as the writer of a great many Tenth Doctor adventures, on an acclaimed run of stories for Titan Comics, several collections of which are available.
Angela Watson is a psychotherapist and skilled leader of coaching, mentoring and training strategies in both social work and education. She has over twenty years of therapeutic work experience as a mental health and child development specialist, although she believes a highlight of her career so far was coaching staff and inmates at Riker’s Island Jail in New York City and is passionate about helping young people build their life skills in an ever-changing world. As both a Black Brit and, officially, an African American, she has a unique perspective on racism in the UK and United States.
• My Beloved Other by Nick Abadzis and Angela Watson is available now in the United States | ISBN: 978-1596433700 | Head here in the United States for various online retailers) | Order a copy here from Gosh! via this Bookshop.org Affiliate Link | AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)| Order here for France and the European Union
• Nick Abadzis is online at nickabadzis.com | Follow Nick on Bluesky and Substack
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
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