Daisy Goes to the Moon

by Mathew Klickstein, Rick Geary (Illustrator)

Overview

In 1919, Victorian author Daisy Ashford (1881–1972) published a book she wrote at 9 yearsold to great success. Inspired by her imaginative adventure, writer Mathew Klickstein and cartoonist Rick Geary have created a delightful graphic novel, in which little Daisy goes to outer space, visits the cosmic automat, watches TV with a time traveler, and more!

Rick Geary turns his pen from vintage true crime to whimsy in Daisy Goes to the Moon, an adaptation of a novella written by Mathew Klickstein inspired by the real-life Victorian author Daisy Ashford’s successfully published juvenilia, co-written with her parents.

Geary’s version stars little Daisy herself and pastiches everything in his unique visual stylization from Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz to late-19th-century and early-20th-century comics: Daisy is lured to adventure by a “rokitship” as she decides to go to the moon with a man named Mr. Z. They encounter many-eyed monsters, time travelers with TVs, her duplicate, a “troobador,” and more delights and vexations. Geary places his expressive, clean-line black-and-white figures, each with distinct body language, in ornate frames to denote settings and narrative layers. There’s rollicking verbal and physical comedy as characters (sometimes literally) bounce off each other.

Geary’s rare artistic gift of being able to depict ornate period detail without sacrificing storytelling clarity or fun pairs perfectly with Klickstein’s imaginative writing. Showcasing elements of Philip K. Dick, Douglas Adams, and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the book will delight readers as they discover Daisy's playful, madcap space adventures.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798875000546
Publisher:	Fantagraphics
Publication date:	01/14/2025
Pages:	96
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 10.20(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Rick Geary is a renowned artist, illustrator, and cartoonist whose logo work has been used for such high-profile entities as Recorded Books, the largest audiobook company worldwide, and Comic-Con International: San Diego. As a young man, Geary contributed cartoons, comics, and artwork to such publications as Heavy Metal and the National Lampoon. Geary later earned awards from the National Cartoonists Society throughout a prolific career that has seen him create comic books and graphic novels focusing on classic literature (such as Great Expectations and Wuthering Heights) and historical chronicling (the lives of: J. Edgar Hoover, Leon Trotsky, and infamous anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti). He earned his Inkpot Award from Comic-Con in 1980. (RickGeary.com)

Mathew Klickstein is a writer, producer and instructor whose work has appeared in outlets such as: WIRED, the NY Daily News and Vulture. He’s also written more than twenty books, including pop culture histories about Jewish cultural icons, The Simpsons and the Nickelodeon network. Additionally, Mathew is the screenwriter of Sony Pictures’ Against the Dark, as well as the creator of the acclaimed comic book series You Are Obsolete and the SiriusXM/Stitcher podcast series Comic-Con Begins, which was later expanded into the full-color, encyclopedic See You at San Diego: An Oral History of Comic-Con, Fandom, and the Triumph of Geek Culture. (MathewKlickstein.com)

Editorial Reviews

"[The] stories [in Daisy Goes to the Moon] are not only authentic in their voice but a time capsule to a different era."

Comicon

"Mathew Klickstein and Rick Geary’s Daisy Goes to the Moon admirably recreates the childlike creativity of a kid enthusiastically relaying a story without the sometimes cumbersome shackles of cause-and-effect rationality. The elegantly uncluttered illustrations perfectly capture the vibe the tale requires. I devoured the book in a single sitting. It’s charming, delightful, surprisingly educational, but mostly just fun."

CineDump

"Klickstein’s conceit of writing from the perspective of a child, coupled with Geary’s illustrations and Alice-in-Wonderland-like characterizations, makes for an excellent match"

The Book Beat