A collaboration between myself (co-author, illustrator, designer) and journalist Michael Crowley, this project was an 18-month marathon. I traveled for the primaries, then was at the drafting table the rest of the race.
And while Brooklynites danced in the streets and on top of cars outside my window after Obama's win was announced, I was indoors drawing the epilogue at lightning speed so the book would make it back from the printers in time for Inauguration Day.
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08 strikes out on its own to create a method of visual storytelling that owes as much to '60s magazine layouts as it does to modern Web design. It's largely thanks to Goldman's singular graphical style that this book, essentially a time capsule of the campaign's conventional wisdom, feels so defiantly and refreshingly unconventional. — Glen Weldon, NPR Books
From the book jacket:
Beyond the pandering focus groups, the billion-dollar fund-raising machinery, and the relentless myopia of the 24-hour news cycle, it was clear that something deep in the American psyche was stirring as the rumblings of the 2008 election first began. 08’ follows the epic 2008 presidential campaign and its dramatic cast of characters: the inevitable former first lady with a terrible plan to win, the freshman African-American Senator who skyrockets onto the national stage, and a former POW’s hangdog campaign that overcomes both a Mormon Governor and a thrice-married (occasionally cross-dressing) Mayor.
Taking its cur from campaign classics like Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72 and The Making of the President Series, 08 brings politico journalism into the graphic novel form. Reflect on all the single-issue candidates, the pundits, the meltdowns, the awkward missteps, and the ruthless maneuvers of the scorched-earth campaign trail as they knit themselves into a political tale of the present-day battle for the future of America.
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