Finding Out How It All Ends: An Original Comic from Emma Hunsinger

Sometimes I just glance at someone’s work and I like it so much that I instantly know I’m going to be that person’s #1 fan for (checks watch) life. I felt it last year when I saw Mexikid for the very first time. I feel it this year now looking at the upcoming debut middle grade graphic novel How It All Ends (out August 6th). Or, to be more precise, I’m not looking at the GN quite yet. Instead, I’m looking at a comic that Emma Hunsinger, the personage behind the book, created to introduce YOU to the book.

But before we get into any of that, let’s meet Emma Hunsinger. You may already be familiar with her work. After all, her viral New Yorker piece “How to Draw a Horse” was nominated for an Eisner Award and included in the prestigious annual “Cartoon Takeover” print edition of the New Yorker. Not too shabby. Now take a gander at what her upcoming book entails:

“Thirteen-year-old Tara lives inside the nonstop adventure of her imagination. It’s far more entertaining than dull, everyday life. But when she’s bumped from seventh grade directly to high school, she gets a dramatic jolt to reality.

Now Tara is part of a future she doesn’t feel at all ready for. She’s not ready to watch the racy shows the high school kids like, or to listen to the angsty music, or to stop playing make-believe with her younger brother. She’s not ready to change for PE in front of everyone, or for the chaos of the hallways, or for the anarchy of an English class that’s overrun with fourteen-year-old boys.

But then there’s Libby.

Tara doesn’t know whether she’s ready for Libby. She can’t even explain who Libby is to her because she doesn’t know yet. She just knows that everything’s more fun when she and her new classmate are together. But what will happen next? How will it all end?

This debut graphic novel is a clever and candid portrait of a young girl grappling with the pressures of fitting in, finding your people, and sorting through confusing feelings. Emma Hunsinger has a pitch-perfect ear for the awkward yet endearing moments that accompany growing up, and her illustrations are downright hilarious. She brilliantly captures the humor and the horror of self-discovery and the first blushes of having a crush. How It All Ends deftly explores how unbearable—but exciting!—it is to grow up.

Today, I’ve the greatest of pleasures to debut an original comic from Ms. Hunsiger has created for all of us. Before showing it, I must apologize for my blog’s limitations. No matter what I do, I simply cannot make these images any larger than they currently stand. However, you will find that if you click on the first one, you should be able to scroll through them by selecting the right arrow next to each one.

(Also, if I’m not too far off, there is a character in here that sure as heck looks like Molly O’Neill and may be the greatest love letter from a cartoonist to her agent I’ve seen to date)

She’s dead on when it comes to pears. Mealy, yes.

I can’t thank Emma Hunsinger enough for allowing me the chance to debut this one my site today. How It All Ends is out August 6th, so be sure to look for it absolutely everywhere then. Thanks too to Samantha Brown and the team at Harper Collins for helping to put all of this together.

Filed under: Excerpts