You Can Never Die: A Graphic Memoir

New Yorker cartoonist Bliss (A Wealth of Pigeons) lets it all hang out in this poignant, generously illustrated graphic memoir, which combines prose and comics in mordantly funny and moving vignettes. Confiding at the outset that “intimacy is my intention,” Bliss delves into the death of his beloved dog Penny, and springboards from that grief to all manner of life events and transitions. He grew up in a fractious household, and then as an adult had to manage his highly difficult parents as they got older (“My genuine fear is that Mom will burn the house down”). Bliss describes seeking solace in romantic partners, who harbor him from “the kind of sorrow that comes from living with family dysfunction marinated in narcissism.” Lighter anecdotes share stories about old jobs and friends, including notables like occasional collaborator Steve Martin and fellow New Yorker artist Edward Koren. Bliss frequently returns to Penny, comparing his human anxieties with her blissful, oblivious contentment—and how he’s “still discovering what I learned from loving her.” Bliss’s candor is easy company, bolstered with his cartoons and sketches—he’s adept at realism as well as a skilled caricaturist. Readers won’t need to be dog lovers to appreciate Bliss’s wit and insights. Agent: Esther Newberg, CAA. (Apr.)