Bubble

Bubble cover
Jordan Morris and Sarah Morgan
with art by Tony Cliff and colors by Natalie Riess
Bubble
(First Second, July 2021)

Eisner Award Nominee for Best Humor Publication

Eisner Award Nominee for Best Adaptation from Another Medium

A Publishers Weekly Summer Reads 2021: Comics pick
Featured on Polygon‘s list of “The new science fiction and fantasy books to read this summer”

Based on the smash-hit audio serial, Bubble is a hilarious high-energy graphic novel with a satirical take on the “gig economy.”

Built and maintained by corporate benevolence, the city of Fairhaven is a literal bubble of safety and order (and amazing coffee) in the midst of the Brush, a harsh alien wilderness ruled by monstrous Imps and rogue bands of humans. Humans like Morgan, who’s Brush-born and Bubble-raised and fully capable of fending off an Imp attack during her morning jog. She’s got a great routine going―she has a chill day job, she recreationally kills the occasional Imp, then she takes that Imp home for her roommate and BFF, Annie, to transform into drugs as a side hustle. But cracks appear in her tidy life when one of those Imps nearly murders a delivery guy in her apartment, accidentally transforming him into a Brush-powered mutant in the process. And when Morgan’s company launches Huntr, a gig economy app for Imp extermination, she finds herself press-ganged into kicking her stabby side job up to the next level as she battles a parade of monsters and monstrously Brush-turned citizens, from a living hipster beard to a book club hive mind.

Praise for BUBBLE

“Barely ever stopping for a breath, this sci-fi adventure comedy (adapted from the popular podcast) bounds from one escapade to another while keeping up a running satirical patter. The critique of the gig economy is just discernible beneath the smashmouth confrontations, and the relationship comedy (tangled on-again, off-again connections and flirtations throughout) is surprisingly earnest.It’s a recklessly fun, hoot and holler of a ride.”
–Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Wild, adventurous, quick-witted, and current!” — Ryan North, How to Invent Everything

“Bubble is timely satire, but NOT what ‘timely satire’ usually means (BORING). Instead, it’s ridiculous, warm, absurdly funny, genuinely human, and, what is most important to me: ANTI-MONSTER. I would like to be trapped in a bubble with these people—the ones who made it, and the characters they created. BUT NO MONSTERS PLEASE. Seriously. I’ve had enough of those guys!“
—John Hodgeman, Medallion Status
 
“Don’t be fooled. Though BUBBLE is the smart, irreverent sci-fi romp it’s billed as, it’s also an abundant stream of keen social commentary, complex characters, and gut-busting hilarity that’ll have you howling. As someone who’d listened to the podcast, I had no idea how brightly the story would shine in comics, nor how much I’m now looking forward to the next volume. Hurry up, please.”
— Samuel Sattin, author BEZKAMP and the official WOLFWALKERS graphic novel adaptation

“A timely skewering of the Millennial mindset? Check. Beasts that could disembowel you with the flick of a wrist? Check. An appearance by the bassist of our favorite band from high school? Check. Bubble meets all our criteria for a work of fiction. We’re in.”
—Rhett and Link, Good Mythical Morning, The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek
“Bubble is an allegorical tale of the horrors facing American millennials that just also happens to be a perfectly exhilarating, monster-hunting action adventure. Wait, don’t buy it yet, because you should be warned it’s also beautifully humane and hilarious. OK, now you can buy it.”
—Justin McElroy, The Adventure Zone
 
The best thing about Bubble is that it’s delightfully funny, sometimes to a laugh-out-loud degree…It has monsters to punch, and something important to say about the state of the economy, especially the struggle for stability many people in their late twenties go through as they try to build the life and family they want. But with this weird, wonderful sense of humor, Bubble becomes a must-read.
—The AV Club
 
What makes Bubble so instantly engaging isn’t the clever elevator pitch (monster-slaying in a gig economy) or even Tony Cliff’s immaculate artwork (which is worth the price of admission on its own) — it lies in the immediacy with which the book fully asserts its characters…No bull, all cards on the table: Bubble blindsided me, pushing its way to the top spot of my favorite release of the year. It scratches a comedy itch that’s been unsatisfied since the conclusion of Giant Days, and I can’t wait to read it again. I can’t recommend it enough.
—Colin Moon, AIPT

Read Publishers Weekly‘s starred review of BUBBLE
Listen to Jordan Morris on the Comic Book Couples Counseling podcast
Read Jordan Morris and Sarah Morgan’s interview on The Nerdist< Read The AV Club‘s review of BUBBLE
Read AIPT‘s review of BUBBLE

Jordan Morris is a writer and podcaster living in Los Angeles. He’s worked on projects for Comedy Central, Cartoon Network and Disney. He’s also the co-host of the well-liked but not super popular podcast Jordan, Jesse, Go! He lives with one cat and still knows all the fatalities for the original Mortal Kombat. He is beyond thrilled to be making comics. Seriously, it feels like a dream.