Rescue Party

A Graphic Anthology of COVID Lockdown

Foreword by Hillary Chute
Edited by Gabe Fowler
"An ode to the power of art and comics to capture a moment and to crystallize the wish for a better world."—Françoise Mouly, The New Yorker

More than 140 single-page comics from artists the world over, documenting humanity’s retreat into COVID-19 lockdown and imagining our eventual, boisterous reemergence, gathered by the founder of the annual Comic Arts Brooklyn festival and owner of the beloved indie comics shop Desert Island


On April 1, 2020, the Instagram account of Desert Island, Brooklyn’s celebrated alternative comics shop, put out a call. By then Desert Island had been shuttered indefinitely, and cities all over the world had been locked down as the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.

“We all need something positive to think about, and a lot of us have time on our hands,” the post read. “Who wants to make something?”

What happened next was nothing short of remarkable, as hundreds of short comics from more than fifty countries poured into Desert Island’s inbox. Some came from notable cartoonists. Most, astonishingly, came from amateur artists just looking for an outlet to create in the midst of tragedy—for a chance to join the rescue party that leads us out of isolation.

Collected in this book are more than 140 notable entries from the Rescue Party project, capturing the loneliness and the surprising comforts of early lockdown; the mania of its middle days as the mind begins to fray; and the many paths forward toward humanity’s future, as we re-enter a world wracked with injustice.

Bracing, beautiful, and conspicuously optimistic, Rescue Party is part graphic diary, part time capsule, and part field guide: a grassroots project that tells the collective story of lockdown from a chorus of global voices and charts a course toward a more just future.
"Rescue Party charts bold fantasies about post-pandemic days in wildly ranging imagery and colors, from simple doodles to intricate designs, from psychedelic neon to stark black and white."
Poets & Writers

"Rescue Party is a chronicle of the ebb and flow of how an epic event was lived across many countries, but it is also an ode to the power of art and comics to capture a moment and to crystallize the wish for a better world."
—Françoise Mouly, The New Yorker

"A head-spinning variety and breadth of visual invention incredibly housed in a single anthology. This stunning, kaleidoscopic assemblage of comics captures a time and an experience, somehow both individually and collectively . . . The fragments form an epic."
—Ivan Brunetti, cartoonist, illustrator, comics scholar, and author of Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice

"One of the most essential projects of the earliest days of the COVID pandemic, Rescue Party . . . made each day just a little better. I’ve been waiting for this collection since its genesis, and I’m thrilled that it’s finally appeared."
—Karen Green, Curator for Comics and Cartoons at Columbia University

"An invaluable time capsule and an arresting expression of the human condition."
Kirkus Reviews (starred)

About

"An ode to the power of art and comics to capture a moment and to crystallize the wish for a better world."—Françoise Mouly, The New Yorker

More than 140 single-page comics from artists the world over, documenting humanity’s retreat into COVID-19 lockdown and imagining our eventual, boisterous reemergence, gathered by the founder of the annual Comic Arts Brooklyn festival and owner of the beloved indie comics shop Desert Island


On April 1, 2020, the Instagram account of Desert Island, Brooklyn’s celebrated alternative comics shop, put out a call. By then Desert Island had been shuttered indefinitely, and cities all over the world had been locked down as the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.

“We all need something positive to think about, and a lot of us have time on our hands,” the post read. “Who wants to make something?”

What happened next was nothing short of remarkable, as hundreds of short comics from more than fifty countries poured into Desert Island’s inbox. Some came from notable cartoonists. Most, astonishingly, came from amateur artists just looking for an outlet to create in the midst of tragedy—for a chance to join the rescue party that leads us out of isolation.

Collected in this book are more than 140 notable entries from the Rescue Party project, capturing the loneliness and the surprising comforts of early lockdown; the mania of its middle days as the mind begins to fray; and the many paths forward toward humanity’s future, as we re-enter a world wracked with injustice.

Bracing, beautiful, and conspicuously optimistic, Rescue Party is part graphic diary, part time capsule, and part field guide: a grassroots project that tells the collective story of lockdown from a chorus of global voices and charts a course toward a more just future.

Praise

"Rescue Party charts bold fantasies about post-pandemic days in wildly ranging imagery and colors, from simple doodles to intricate designs, from psychedelic neon to stark black and white."
Poets & Writers

"Rescue Party is a chronicle of the ebb and flow of how an epic event was lived across many countries, but it is also an ode to the power of art and comics to capture a moment and to crystallize the wish for a better world."
—Françoise Mouly, The New Yorker

"A head-spinning variety and breadth of visual invention incredibly housed in a single anthology. This stunning, kaleidoscopic assemblage of comics captures a time and an experience, somehow both individually and collectively . . . The fragments form an epic."
—Ivan Brunetti, cartoonist, illustrator, comics scholar, and author of Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice

"One of the most essential projects of the earliest days of the COVID pandemic, Rescue Party . . . made each day just a little better. I’ve been waiting for this collection since its genesis, and I’m thrilled that it’s finally appeared."
—Karen Green, Curator for Comics and Cartoons at Columbia University

"An invaluable time capsule and an arresting expression of the human condition."
Kirkus Reviews (starred)

Books for Native American Heritage Month

In celebration of Native American Heritage Month this November, Penguin Random House Education is highlighting books that detail the history of Native Americans, and stories that explore Native American culture and experiences. Browse our collections here: Native American Creators Native American History & Culture

Read more

2024 Middle and High School Collections

The Penguin Random House Education Middle School and High School Digital Collections feature outstanding fiction and nonfiction from the children’s, adult, DK, and Grupo Editorial divisions, as well as publishers distributed by Penguin Random House. Peruse online or download these valuable resources to discover great books in specific topic areas such as: English Language Arts,

Read more

PRH Education High School Collections

All reading communities should contain protected time for the sake of reading. Independent reading practices emphasize the process of making meaning through reading, not an end product. The school culture (teachers, administration, etc.) should affirm this daily practice time as inherently important instructional time for all readers. (NCTE, 2019)   The Penguin Random House High

Read more

PRH Education Translanguaging Collections

Translanguaging is a communicative practice of bilinguals and multilinguals, that is, it is a practice whereby bilinguals and multilinguals use their entire linguistic repertoire to communicate and make meaning (García, 2009; García, Ibarra Johnson, & Seltzer, 2017)   It is through that lens that we have partnered with teacher educators and bilingual education experts, Drs.

Read more