OLIVIA’S PICK

I read Firebugs while sitting in the sun on a park bench and it was religiously revelatory. Every detail, no matter how minute, is deeply considered and full of warmth. Will cherish this read forever and ever. -OP

Everything is changing

but everything is also exactly the same. Ingken cant ignore it: ice caps stained brown from forest fires, pipeline construction, drought the whole world somehow persists despite the slow erosion of stability.

After a trip to Paris, Ingken returns home ready for a break from drugs. Their supportive partner, Lily, is flushed, excited about a new connection shes made. Although Ingken wants to be happy for her, theres a discomfort they cant shake. Sleepless nights fill with an endless scroll of images and headlines about climate disaster. A vague dysphoria simmers under their skin; they are able to identify that like Lily, they are changing, but theyre not sure exactly how and at what pace. Everyone keeps telling them to burn themself to the ground and build themself back up but they worry about the kind of debris that fire might leave behind.

Nino Bullings artwork is immediately familiar. Like a conversation with a good friend, their story is told as quiet as it can be loud. Crowds and landscapes squiggle in expressive black and white. Red cuts through panels with energy and persistence, bringing life to what might seem dead. In its most intimate moments,Firebugsasks what it means to transition in a transitioning world.

Hardcover | 164 pages | 6.70″ x 8.85″