Michael DeForge’s Birds of Maine will migrate from Instagram to print next year, as Drawn and Quarterly have announced plans to publish it as a graphic novel in the Spring of next year.
DeForge has been posting comics featuring a post-apocalyptic reality where birds live their best lives after the fall of humanity — until the last-remaining human crash lands from the moon.
Here’s how Drawn and Quarterly describes Birds of Maine:
Long after the demise of humankind, birds roam freely around a new earth complete with fruitful trees, sophisticated fungal networks, and an enviable socialist order. The universal worm feeds all, there are no weekends, and economics is as fantastical a study as unicorn psychology. No concept of money or wealth plagues the thoughts of these free-minded birds. Instead, there are angsty teens who form bands to show off their best bird song and other youngsters who yearn to become clothing designers even though clothes are only necessary during war. (The truly honourable professions for most birds are historian and/or librarian.) These birds are free to crush on hot pelicans and live their best lives until a crash-landed human from the moon threatens to change everything.
Birds of Maine has been nominated for an Ignatz Award this year in the “Outstanding Online Comic” category. DeForge joins creators Emma Grove, Rumi Hara and Travis Dandro, who also have books coming out from D + Q next Spring.