The Encyclopedia of Early Earth

By Isabel Greenberg. Published by Jonathan Cape. 

Hardcover, 176 pages, 4-Colour, 2013. 

Winner of the Best Book Award at the 2014 British Comic Awards
Readers! This book is not a real encyclopedia!

It is an epic work of fiction, detailing the many tales and adventures of one lonely storyteller, on a quest for Enlightenment and True Love. This book contains many stories, big and small, about and pertaining to the following things: Gods, monsters, mad kings, wise old crones, shamans, medicine men, brothers and sisters, strife, mystery, bad science, worse geography, and did we already mention true love?

Critics are saying it is probably the best thing since sliced bread. Maybe even since bread knives.

• There’s much myth and magic in the pages of this colossal work of illustrated fiction.

• This is a hugely enjoyable and remarkable book, with much to discover below the surface.

• It’s a whimsical, light-hearted book that reads like the best kind of bedtime story – a new take on something familiar and much loved.

• There is a pleasing unity to these far-flung stories appearing alongside one another. Greenberg is clearly fascinated by the universality of myth.

• Timelessly brilliant… Isabel Greenberg is clearly destined to make a big contribution to British comics.

• Greenberg’s book celebrates snow and storytelling in all their various forms.

• Greenberg both tells and illustrates with warm, whimsical beauty.

• Fantastical, often touching yarns, which graphic novelist Greenberg tells and illustrates with warm, whimsical beauty.

• A work of exquisite originality... This book has the sort of energy and depth that will appeal to readers of all ages. Early Earth encompasses humour, wit, tragedy, brutality and the most bittersweet love story you can imagine.

• I cannot recommend you getting a copy of The Encyclopedia of Early Earth enough. It really is just wonderful how every page will hold a story within a picture, yet all those pictures create another story which adds a layer, back story, or myth around the story we are following.