Joshua Kemble’s debut graphic novel is Two Stories: Book One is now available from Amazon and comic book retailers for pre-order. UK publisher Markosia, one of the UK’s leading publishers of graphic novels, will officially launch the book on Dec. 14.
Because of the struggles many of us are facing due to the global pandemic, purpose in life, and grappling with mental health issues, his novel is even more relevant now than when it was first created. This debut novel “Two Stories: Book One” speaks to the things we have in common and the things we deal with. Kemble spent many years painstakingly hand-drawing, lettering, and inking this brutally honest graphic memoir.
Joshua Kemble is a full-time art director, freelance illustrator, and Xeric Award-winning cartoonist. He writes and illustrates his own comic books while creating freelance illustrations for t-shirts, magazines, and other media. His illustration clients have ranged from Scholastic to Random House, and his comic work has been published in anthologies and self-published mini-comics.
Two Stories: One Book
It is the story of a young comic book artist’s loss and eventual rediscovery of his faith. In it, he juxtaposes his sometimes humorous, often painful childhood experiences attending a Christian school with his adult descent into a mental health crisis that leads to the erosion of his faith.
An ambitious comic creator with a hip Portland apartment, an artist fiancé, and an exciting life ahead of him, Josh thinks he’s living the artist’s dream. Until the night he finds himself on Burnside Bridge, willing himself to jump. How did he get here? Two Stories is a confessional comic that grapples with questions of faith, mental illness, and redemption in a fallen world.
Joshua Kemble’s Inspiration
Kemble was inspired to create Two Stories in the hope that a frank discussion of topics often considered taboo—including suicidal ideation, panic disorder, trauma, and mental health—would help readers feel less alone “in the fight.”
“People who suffer from mental illness often feel alone and frustrated because people, especially those in faith communities, rarely share their experiences with subjects like suicide, panic disorder, and caregiving in relationships,” he said. “If we are dishonest about what that fight looks like, we do a disservice to the many people in our communities who are suffering and don’t speak of these things for fear of social shaming.”
Find out more
Joshua Kemble is co-hosts both The Artcasters and 48-Hour Art Check and is a member of the Los Angeles Chapter of the National Cartoonist’s Society. To see more of his work, visit www.joshuakemble.com.
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