Rock Steady: Brilliant Advice From My Bipolar Life
Rock Steady: Brilliant Advice from My Bipolar Life is the eagerly awaited companion book to Forney’s 2012 best-selling graphic memoir, Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me. Whereas Marbles was a memoir about her bipolar disorder, Rock Steady turns the focus outward, offering a self-help guide of tips, tricks, and tools by someone who has been through it all and come through stronger for it.
With Marbles, Forney helped de-stigmatize mood disorders with her candid presentation of her struggle to find mental stability while retaining her passion and creativity. This is the jumping off point for her new book, Rock Steady: Brilliant Advice from My Bipolar Life. Personal stories and solid advice from Forney on how to overcome the hassle of meds, recognize red flags, and other tools from her own experience of 14 years of stability — all in comics form. Rock Steady: Brilliant Advice from My Bipolar Life invites readers into Ellen’s home, head, and Peanuts pill box.
“Rock Steady is a smart, funny, and helpful book, not only for those of us who have a diagnosed mood disorder, but for anyone who experiences any emotions whatsoever. " — Roz Chast, author of Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?: A Memoir
“Ellen Forney’s greatest strength as a cartoonist is her gift for explanation — getting information across with vigor, wit and visual inventiveness.” —New York Times
Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me: A Graphic Memoir
Gotham/Penguin Books, 2012
Shortly before her thirtieth birthday, cartoonist Ellen Forney was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Flagrantly manic and terrified that medications would cause her to lose creativity and her livelihood, she began a years-long struggle to find mental stability while retaining her passion and creativity.
Named a Best Graphic Novel of 2012 by Washington Post, Time Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, SELF Magazine, and Publishers Weekly. A New York Times bestseller, Marbles has been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, German, and Portuguese.
“Marbles isn't just a great story; it's proof that artists don't have to be tortured to be brilliant. A” -Entertainment Weekly
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie, Art by Ellen Forney
National Book Award winner, New York Times Book of the Year
Little Brown, 2007
In this funny and heartbreaking novel for young adults, bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Poignant comics and illustrations by acclaimed cartoonist Ellen Forney provide “Junior’s” sketchbooks and journals.
"Alexie gave [Junior] his sharp voice, and Forney gave him his art: 65 comic illustrations that vary from one-page comic strips to notebook doodles taped to the page."
-Jami Attenberg, Print Magazine
Lust: Kinky Online Personal Ads from Seattle's The Stranger, by Ellen Forney
Fantagraphics Books, 2008
A collection of cartoon adaptations of the stunningly crude, surprisingly sweet world of kinky personal classifieds. Forney has for several years been illustrating Seattle alt-weekly The Stranger's "Lustlab" classified ads by adapting the most interesting, outrageous, or idiosyncratic ad in that week's paper. She uses a variety of resource materials for inspiration, from early erotic photography to Tom of Finland to Wacky Packages-style send-ups of consumer products to original designs. Introduction by sex advice columnist and Stranger editor, Dan Savage.
“Ellen Forney’s drawing is more versatile, more erotic, and more adventurous than the entire sexual underbelly of Seattle put together. Which is saying quite a lot, after having read some of these ads.”
-Alison Bechdel, Fun Home
I Love Led Zeppelin: Panty-Dropping Comics By Ellen Forney
Fantagraphics Books, 2006
Eisner-nominated I Love Led Zeppelin collects full-page comics published in magazines and weekly newspapers, including the L.A. Weekly, Seattle's The Stranger, and BUST Magazine. Stories include "How to Smoke Pot and Stay Out of Jail,” "How to Twirl Your Tassels In Opposite Directions,” "How to Sew an Amputated Finger Back On,” and "The Final Soundtrack," a death fantasy involving blood, glamour, and Led Zeppelin, and collaborations with Margaret Cho, Kristin Gore, Camille Paglia, and Dan Savage. Introduction by Sherman Alexie.
"One big, zany breath of fresh air."
-L.A. Times Book Review
MONKEY FOOD: The Complete "I Was Seven in '75" Collection
Fantagraphics Books, 1999
Forney's autobiographical comic strip, "I Was Seven in '75," celebrates all the wacky details of growing up in a liberal, suburban hipster "Free to Be...You and Me" family in the '70s. Here are true stories about parents who throw pot parties and take the family to spend the summer at a nudist colony, little Ellen arm-wrestling the second-grade class bully, and older brother Matt demonstrating how to comb your winged hair. This is a collection of hilarious, light-hearted, and fondly-remembered stories.
"Sweet, funny, and refreshing."
-Trina Robbins, author, A Century of Women Cartoonists