Mattie Lubchansky, a cartoonist, illustrator, and writer, recently spoke about their new graphic novel, Simplicity, set to be released on July 29. The story follows a timid academic who ventures out of the walled dystopian territory of New York City to investigate a cult in the Catskill Mountains.

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Lubchansky has been creating comics since 2009 and was formerly the Associate Editor and a weekly contributor to the Eisner-winning publication The Nib. They are also the author of The Antifa Super-Soldier Cookbook (2021) and Boys Weekend (2023).

Growing up, Lubchansky enjoyed doodling, often filling their school notebooks with drawings rather than notes. They were particularly inspired by newspaper cartoons and Matt Groening’s comic series, Life in Hell.

When asked to summarize Simplicity in five words, Lubchansky described it as "The Wicker Man meets Jaws." The novel promises to include themes of romance, dystopia, complex political questions, and unique monster elements.

The inspiration for Simplicity arose from Lubchansky’s reading about the rise of religious socialist communes in the late 19th century United States, a time of significant upheaval due to the industrial revolution. This period influenced the setting and themes explored in the graphic novel.

One aspect Lubchansky particularly enjoyed was illustrating Lucius's visions, which provided the initial spark for the story. They noted that capturing these visions felt almost ecstatic, highlighting the shifting nature of ideas during the creative process.

Writing Simplicity presented challenges, with a more convoluted plot compared to Boys Weekend. The complexity of characters and their motivations required meticulous outlining, resulting in multiple iterations of the plot. Lubchansky credited their editor, Anna Kaufman, for guiding them through this intricate development.

Looking ahead, Lubchansky is currently working on another graphic novel for Pantheon titled Between the Collapses, which is about a character who, in a fit of anger, steals his girlfriend’s time machine car. They anticipate this new work will be ready in a couple of years.

As for their reading list, Lubchansky recently finished Lincoln Michel’s Metallic Realms and praised it as a favorite among contemporary sci-fi writers. They also enjoyed an early copy of Grace Byron’s upcoming book, Herculine, which addresses themes of trans identity and separatism.

Will you be picking up Simplicity? Share your thoughts in the comments!