BUMPERHEADMedia Release -- As reported on the Comics Reporter, Drawn & Quarterly has acquired world rights to Gilbert Hernandez's original graphic novel, BUMPERHEAD, it was announced today by Tom Devlin, Creative Director and Acquiring Editor of Drawn & Quarterly. BUMPERHEAD is the follow-up to Hernandez's New York Times bestseller, MARBLE SEASON. This October, Hernandez will be honoured as the 2013 recipient of Graphic Literature award for Outstanding Body of Work by Pen Center USA.

"Thirty years into this career and Gilbert is at the peak of his powers. It's very gratifying to be even a tiny part in bringing his brilliant comics to the world, " said Devlin. "I was thrilled with how people reacted to MARBLE SEASON and BUMPERHEAD promises to be on the shortlist of Gilbert's funniest, most affecting stories ever."

To be released in Fall 2014, BUMPERHEAD is the story of a young Hispanic boy and his immigrant father who doesn't speak English. Nicknamed "Bumperhead" by the neighbourhood bullies--due to his odd-shaped head--he frets over his dad's inability to understand the world around him. On top of that he's trying to gain the attentions of his dream girl and fit into American culture. BUMPERHEAD explores the intergenerational immigrant identity, and the complexities of the father-son relationship.

Hernandez, along with his brothers Jaime and Mario, is the co-creator and cartoonist behind the iconic comic book series LOVE & ROCKETS. Hernandez's seminal contribution to the series and the medium is the generation-spanning, cross-cultural, literary soap-opera masterpiece about a tight-knit Central American town, Palomar. Hernandez has won numerous awards for his stories, including the Kirby, Inkpot, Harvey, and the United States Artists Literature Fellowship. Hernandez was born in Oxnard, California and lives in Las Vegas with his wife and daughter.

BUMPERHEAD will be distributed in the U.S. by Farrar, Straus & Giroux and in Canada by Raincoast Books. International rights are represented by Samantha Haywood of the Transatlantic Literary Agency.

PRAISE FOR MARBLE SEASON:

"MARBLE SEASON is a benign, lovely, encouraging view of that time in our lives, and a tribute to those that have made this journey before Hernandez did. Marble Season is a formidable work from one of our best cartoonists. It's Beto's year."–Tom Spurgeon, The Comics Reporter

"In this semi-autobiographical tale, Mr. Hernandez captures the wonder of childhood — the joy of imagination, an appreciation for comic books and all the ultimately petty but seemingly world-shattering trials and tribulations of friendships during that time in one's life."–George Gene Gustines, New York Times

"Hernandez is brilliant on the particular embarrassments of growing up and on the way its disappointments, however trivial, linger into adulthood...Marble Season is a treat: beady, nostalgic and sometimes unexpectedly piercing."–Rachel Cooke, The Guardian UK

"Wistful and wise, deft in its portrait of the psychology of childhood…"–Jeet Heer, The Globe & Mail

"Hernandez gets into his characters' heads, making the trivial seem incredibly profound, while coaxing the reader toward the moment that Huey realizes that he's reached the highest state of childhood enlightenment—the moment when he understands that his time at this age is almost up."–Noel Murray, AV Club

"Deceptively straightforward but absolutely brilliant and heartfelt…"–Peter Gutierrez, School Library Journal

"This lyrical, memorable book stands alongside the sequential work of Stanley's Little Lulu, Fitzgerald's Dennis the Menace comic books, and Schulz's Peanuts as a masterful, involving, funny, and real portrait of kids and their wide world, unlimited by reality—until, at least, it's time to go home for dinner. "–Publishers Weekly

"Gilbert Hernandez's quasi-autobiographical Marble Season is a remarkable work of verisimilitude as well as a gift to his long-time fans."–Rob Clough, The Comics Journal