Preview - Marzi

"I am Marzi, born in 1979, ten years before the end of communism in Poland. My father works at a factory, my mother at a dairy. Social problems are at their height. Empty stores are our daily bread. I'm scared of spiders, and the world of adults doesn't seem like a walk in the park."

That's a trying statement in itself, but what makes it even more trying is when you realize it's the perspective of a young girl. Marzena Sowa's memoir of a childhood shaped by politics has a fresh feeling to it and is structured as a series of vignettes that build on one another in Marzi. The coming-of-age story portrays the harsh realities behind the Iron Curtain.

The title is written and illustrated by Sowa and will set you back $17.99 from Vertigo when it hits stores.