Comics novella about a filmmaker trying to screen some movies for her mom. 117 pages, available for 5 dollars here.
First half drawn in 2017, second half drawn in 2022
First published on Hazlitt, 2016
Included in Best American Comics 2017, ed. Ben Katchor
Originally published in Spiralbound, 2017
Originally published in OSSIAN, 2021.
First published online in 2014, and later in print by Space Face Books
Originally published by Space Face Books, 2014
"[A] memorable and, at times, beautiful book that does not compromise in asking the reader to surrender to its own peculiar rhythms. It’s the kind of book that might not seem like it takes long to finish, but which you’ll find yourself picking up again and again, flipping through the pages and revisiting each scene in turn."
-The AV Club
Published by Studygroup Comics 2014.
A wordless fantasy story about a hunter discovering an ancient evil.
Included in Best American Comics 2013, ed. Jeff Smith, nominated for Best Webcomic 2013 Ignatz
"moody and visceral, HAUNTER is what we are so often frustrated that games fail to be. alden bends the vocabulary of traditional videogames to the telling of a story that is familiar and yet has redder blood beneath its skin than we remember." - Anna Anthropy
“Haunter surprised me. It's impossible to start the thing and not keep reading. It really flows.” - Jeff Smith
"Sam Alden is known as a bit of a protégé with an unnatural knack for the ink brush.
In HAUNTER, he uses Hergé-style clear lines delineating crisp compositions awakened by electric watercolors that ripple the paper and buckle your brain cells.
It's a psychotropic journey with a Moebius flavor as the talented Alden summits his Holy Mountain with enviable vigor." - Craig Thompson
96 pages
6”x9” graphic novel
Published by Retrofit Books 2014.
Print edition 24 pages, black and white, 7 by 10 inches (178 x 254mm)
An insular island community pulls an egg from a tidepool, from which hatches the apocalypse in the form of a vast, cruel chicken. Wicked Chicken Queen follows the violent societal collapse of the island under the reign of the chicken queen.
Recipient of the 2014 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Comic.
Reviews:
Robot 6
Broken Frontier
Just Indie Comics
Locust Moon
Left Me Wanting More
The A.V. Club
Comicosity
Sequential State
Published by Uncivilized Books in 2015.
Softcover, b&w, 188 pages, $18
A collection of two new stories. In "Backyard," a collective household of radicals watches helplessly as their roommate turns into a dog. In "Household," a brother and sister move in together and begin a confusing relationship. Designed as a companion volume to It Never Happened Again.
L.A. Times Book Prizes Finalist (Graphic Novel/Comics) 2016
Praise for It Never Happened Again:
"Two thematically divergent, but devastatingly human portraits from an emerging cartoonist displaying the sort of storytelling and artistic restraint that often only comes after years of toiling away at the drawing board. Alden is a talent to watch."
—Publishers Weekly
"His moody, nuanced visuals and intuitive, empathetic character work […] reveal an already startlingly mature young talent. It is genuinely exciting to contemplate how he will further develop in the years ahead."
—The Comics Journal
“When I first saw “Hawaii 1997” on Tumblr, I read the whole thing “without trying” — a compliment usually reserved for masters of wordless ligne claire cartooning. It’s extremely difficult to make a comic rich with atmospheric lights and shadows while remaining 100% easy to read as a comic. “Hawaii 1997” did it. “Anime” is a more complicated and nuanced story that admirably gives the reader space to form their own opinions on its protagonist. I’m excited to read whatever Alden does.”
— Dash Shaw, creator of New School, Bodyworld and Bottomless Belly Button
Published by Uncivilized Books, 2014, available here.
Spanish Edition by Dehavilland, 2016, available here.
Softcover, b&w, 164 pages, $12
"Two thematically divergent, but devastatingly human portraits from an emerging cartoonist displaying the sort of storytelling and artistic restraint that often only comes after years of toiling away at the drawing board. Alden is a talent to watch."
—Publishers Weekly
"His moody, nuanced visuals and intuitive, empathetic character work […] reveal an already startlingly mature young talent. It is genuinely exciting to contemplate how he will further develop in the years ahead."
—The Comics Journal
“When I first saw “Hawaii 1997” on Tumblr, I read the whole thing “without trying” — a compliment usually reserved for masters of wordless ligne claire cartooning. It’s extremely difficult to make a comic rich with atmospheric lights and shadows while remaining 100% easy to read as a comic. “Hawaii 1997” did it. “Anime” is a more complicated and nuanced story that admirably gives the reader space to form their own opinions on its protagonist. I’m excited to read whatever Alden does.”
— Dash Shaw, creator of New School, Bodyworld and Bottomless Belly Button
Includes Hawaii 1997, Ignatz-nominated short story included in Best American Comics 2015, ed. Scott McCloud
Originally published in 2014 by la Mauvaise tête
