Love

Originally appeared in Holland in 2017 as Liefde in Beeld.
Text & drawings: Margreet de Heer
Color: Yiri T. Kohl & Margreet de Heer
Translation: Margreet de Heer & Dan Schiff
8×8″, 128pp.

Content

This book is from the same makers as Philosophy: a Discovery in ComicsScience: a Discovery in Comics and Religion: a Discovery in Comics – a series that is praised for the colorful, comic and concise way it deals with tough and/or sensitive subjects. Love is the fifth book in the series, and is the most personal one.

Written and drawn by a heterosexual, white comics maker, the book starts with this disclaimer:

The book gives a very broad and inclusive view of love. What is love? How many different kinds are there? And what happens in your brain when you fall in love?

There are many stories and theories about love. Often they include the big search for The One. But does The One even exist? And if so, how will you recognize him/her…?

Fairy tales and Hollywood movies supply us with a very specific view on what love is. But is this a correct view? And do these tales tell the whole story…? This book tells you what happens after the fairy tale ends, and warns about the dangers of living together and having kids.

This book talks about marriage (and divorce), about how you can keep a long-term love, about heartbreak and, of course, about sex.

The artist tells a lot about herself in this book, and about her marriage to Yiri (who is also her colorist). They seem to have the Perfect Love – but will it be able to withstand the inevitable Seven Year Itch…?

Will this investigation into the nature of love tragically end in separation…?
Or can True Love really conquer everything?

This book contains many tips: tips for dating, tips for overcoming heartbreak, and maybe most importantly of all, tips for keeping your love going in the long term.

Target groups

This book is fun and informative for anyone who loves someone, or is planning to do so.
It contains general information about sex and shows some naked (drawn) bodies.
The book is suitable for children and grownups from about the age of 13.

About the author

Margreet de Heer (1972) grew up in a family of theologians who encouraged questions and debate. She studied theology herself at the University of Amsterdam where she graduated in 1999. After this, she decided to become a comic artist. She got a job in comic store Lambiek (where she worked on a book about Dutch comics, together with Kees Kousemaker) while working on her production and skills as a graphic novelist, and in 2005 she was able to quit her job and become a full-time artist. Her comics range from kids’ comics for magazines like Flo’Yes and Jippo, to cartoons made on location at business congresses, to newspaper comics for NRC.Next and Trouw. For the latter she made monthly “comic reports” about philosophical and spiritual subjects, between 2007 and 2011.

These comic reports caught the attention of publishing house Meinema, who asked her to draw a comic book on philosophy, which was published as Filosofie in Beeld in The Netherlands in 2010 and in 2012 in the U.S. as Philosophy: a Discovery in Comics through NBM Publishing. The philosophy book was a success, and in 2011 Margreet’s book about religion appeared as Religie in Beeld. In 2012 followed a book on science, Wetenschappen in Beeld, which appeared (as the second book in the series) at NBM as Science: a Discovery in Comics. In Fall 2015 the book about religion appeared at NBM (as the third book in the U.S.) with the title Religion: a Discovery in Comics.

Margreet is assisted by her husband Yiri T. Kohl (1975), who is himself a comic artist. He started out making obscure “underground” comix in the nineties, took a detour to paint, make poems and produce clay figurines, and finally rediscovered comics when he met Margreet in 2008. He does a lot of his wife’s coloring.

Margreet and Yiri got married in 2009 and have been doing projects ever since, not the least of which is their graphic novel series (they also dabble a bit in theater). They live and work in Amsterdam with their two cats Ronja and Loesje.

The Discovery in Comics series has found international acclaim through publications in the U.S., Brasil and Korea.

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© Margreet de Heer 2024