Making Nonfiction Comics
A Guide for Graphic Narrative
Will be published approx. on 4. December 2025
Book
Hardback
272 pages
978-1-4197-6927-6 (ISBN)
Description
The definitive guide to writing, drawing, and publishing nonfiction comics from award-winning creators Shay Mirk and Eleri Harris-"absolutely essential reading" (Nate Powell)
Making Nonfiction Comics is an accessible guide to nonfiction comics perfect for graphic novel readers, writers, and of course, aspiring comics artists. This new classic is a must-have for readers of Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics and Lynda Barry's Making Comics.
Sarah Shay Mirk and Eleri Mai Harris, award-winning graphic journalists and longtime editors of the critically acclaimed graphic journalism site the Nib, have compiled the perfect field guide to graphic journalism while showcasing valuable skills and practices for creating nonfiction comics.
Mixing comics, prose, infographics, illustrations, and interviews with some of the world's most influential nonfiction comics creators, Harris and Mirk introduce readers to nonfiction visual stories while also articulating the standards and ethics around blending traditional journalism with the visual language of comics.
Featuring contributions from Derf Backderf, Box Brown, Thi Bui, Nicole Georges, Malaka Gharib, Nate Powell, Kristen Radtke, Victoria Ying, and more.
Making Nonfiction Comics is an accessible guide to nonfiction comics perfect for graphic novel readers, writers, and of course, aspiring comics artists. This new classic is a must-have for readers of Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics and Lynda Barry's Making Comics.
Sarah Shay Mirk and Eleri Mai Harris, award-winning graphic journalists and longtime editors of the critically acclaimed graphic journalism site the Nib, have compiled the perfect field guide to graphic journalism while showcasing valuable skills and practices for creating nonfiction comics.
Mixing comics, prose, infographics, illustrations, and interviews with some of the world's most influential nonfiction comics creators, Harris and Mirk introduce readers to nonfiction visual stories while also articulating the standards and ethics around blending traditional journalism with the visual language of comics.
Featuring contributions from Derf Backderf, Box Brown, Thi Bui, Nicole Georges, Malaka Gharib, Nate Powell, Kristen Radtke, Victoria Ying, and more.
Reviews / Votes
"Far from being a book with niche interest (aspiring and current cartoonists), this will inspire anyone with a vested interest in how creative nonfiction is made and why it so thoroughly captures our limited attention." * Booklist, starred review * "It is absolutely essential reading, claiming a spot next to Understanding Comics on everyone's shelves." -- Nate Powell, National Book Award-winning artist of March and Save It for Later "Eleri Harris and Shay Mirk's soon-to-be indispensable guide to nonfiction comics is a triumph of metanarrative that both adores and articulates how the intertwining of reporting, writing, and drawing elevates those media into something powerful, exciting, and relevant." -- Hari Raj * Washington Post * "In distilling years of experience interviewing, researching, reporting, editing, writing, and drawing, Eleri Harris and Shay Mirk have created an instant classic-an unprecedented, accessible, passionate, and beautiful guide to visual storytelling. Making Nonfiction Comics does not just set the bar for its subject matter; it expands the sense of what's possible in the medium itself and invites everyone to join in." -- Jason Lutes, author of Berlin "An indispensable resource, put together with a lot of love by the two best people imaginable to do that. Just jam-packed with useful information for someone looking into nonfiction comics, anyone needing a refresher, or even an old hand." -- Mattie Lubchansky, author of Boys Weekend "I learned so much from this book! Making Nonfiction Comics is packed with pro tips, expert interviews, and, best of all, drawings! Any comics artist, from beginner to seasoned professional, will be glad to have this on their shelf to reference for years to come!" -- Aubrey Hirsch, author of Graphic Rage "An insightful and inspiring how-to on the power everyone has to create comics about our world. When it comes to making nonfiction comics, Harris and Mirk are the best of the best. We need comics now more than ever!" -- Matt Bors, founder of The NibMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
Abrams
Illustrations
Full-color illustrations throughout
Dimensions
Height: 233 mm
Width: 186 mm
Thickness: 34 mm
Weight
844 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4197-6927-6 (9781419769276)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
11/2025
Abrams ComicArts
€26.49
Available for download
Persons
Sarah "Shay" Mirk (she/they) is a graphic journalist, editor, and teacher. She is the author of Guantanamo Voices (Abrams ComicArts, 2020), which received a starred Kirkus review and was named a Best Book of 2020 by the New York Times. They were a contributing editor at graphic journalism website the Nib, where they wrote and edited nonfiction comics, including Be Gay Do Comics, which won the 2020 Ignatz for Best Anthology. They also cowrote the investigative comics series In/Vulnerable, illustrated by Thi Bui, which won an RFK Human Rights Award for Journalism in 2021. She resides in Portland, Oregon. Eleri Harris (she/her) is an Eisner Award-winning cartoonist, journalist and editor working on Ngunnawal and Ngambri country in Canberra, Australia. For a decade she was features editor at the Nib, where her work received an Eisner Award, two Ignatz Awards, a Ringo Award, and two Comic Art Awards of Australia. Eleri is the author of the children's book A Loo of One's Own: The Mostly True Story of Australia's First Female Parliamentarians (Allen & Unwin 2025). She loves drawing tiny pictures in her studio at Gorman House Arts Centre, nerding out over fancy drawings and building sweet comics communities.