January 6th is a day that no one will soon forget.
That’s why Alan Jenkins, civil rights attorney turned Harvard Law professor, decided to write a story about what might have happened (What If… for your Marvel fans) if 1/6 had turned out differently - if the insurrectionists had accomplished what they set out to do.
It’s a dark future painted (well, drawn) by Will Rosado that starts off how many of us remember the event to go but takes a hard right turn (pun intended) into a militaristic, dystopian future.
About the book:
Written by Alan Jenkins and Gan Golan and illustrated by Will Rosado, 1/6 asks and answers the question: What if the January 6, 2021 Insurrection had been successful?
The graphic novel chillingly illustrates how close we came to authoritarian rule in America and the threats to our democracy that we still face. In the tradition of speculative fiction from George Orwell’s 1984 to Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale to the Twilight Zone, it explores themes of autocracy, scapegoating, strategic disinformation, and more, all told through a compelling, character-driven story.
Drawing on real-life events, 1/6 travels the road that led from back-room meetings, white supremacist rallies, and the Four Seasons Landscaping parking lot to a violent attack on the Capitol that left several Americans dead and shook our nation to its core.
It then imagines a world in which the events of that day turned out very differently.
1/6 is for lovers of graphic novels, lovers of speculative fiction, lovers of politics, and lovers of our democracy. It’s a story that demands our attention and calls on us to take action…while we still can.
Issue #1 will be available and Alan and Will will both be on hand to sign copies, discuss why this book is so important to understanding where we are, where we’ve been and costs and implications of where we are (could be) headed. It’s all of our hope (the creators and East Side Mags) that this comic will foster conversation and communication.
From a Washington Post article about the book:
Jenkins says creating an alternative American history is a way to engage people of varying political views. “One of our storytelling efforts is to have empathy for everyone,” he says. “That doesn’t mean everyone is right or that there’s moral equivalence, but we need to understand each other.”
We hope you’ll join us on July 1 from 2pm-5pm for a signing unlike any other East Side Mags has hosted to date.