Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen #[nn]

Dylan Horrocks wears every creative hat on this 2014 Victoria University Press graphic novel — writing, drawing, inking, coloring, and lettering entirely his own work. The cover draws you in immediately: a weary, downcast man (Sam Zabel himself) is surrounded by a crowd of green-tinted figures pressing close, a pencil tucked behind his ear as if the act of creating has become its own kind of burden. It's a quietly unsettling image that hints at a story where imagination and artistic identity carry real weight.