The Science of Things Familiar

by Johnny Damm

"To say [Damm] has created a fusion of poetry, art, storytelling, and pulp comics doesn’t seem to do the work justice, principally because it’s a great deal more sophisticated and delightfully bizarre than that. There’s really no way to describe the experience of reading this book as it juxtaposes and repurposes textbook diagrams, prose poetry, and comics panel sequences while opining on the imagined comings and goings of literary giants, failed mid-20th-century filmmakers, and the history of the blues. Damm’s ideal reader is an open-minded culture junkie and fan of poetry, high art, and comics, someone with a penchant for everything from Dada to Derrida." -Publishers Weekly, starred review

210 pages, Paperback

First published February 14, 2017

About the author

Johnny Damm’s newest comic book series, “I’m a Cop”: Real-Life Horror Comics, has been featured in The Washington Post, Boing Boing, and In These Times and named one of The Comics Journal’s Best Comics of 2022 and 2023. Damm is also the author of the acclaimed graphic novels Failure Biographies and The Science of Things Familiar, both published by The Operating System. His comics, prose, and visual poetry have appeared in Guernica, Poetry, The Offing, and elsewhere. He lives in Santa Cruz, California.