In what we predict will be the most impressive comics debut of 2005, Kikuo Johnson has created an intimate and compelling graphic novel-length drama of young men on the cusp of adulthood.

First-rate prep school, S.U.V., and a dream house in the heights: This was the island paradise handed to Loren Foster when he moved to Hawaii with his father six years ago. Now, with the end of high school just around the corner, his best friend, Shane, has grown distant. The rumors say it's hard drugs, and Loren suspects that Shane has left him behind for a new group of friends.

At home, an unprecedented "B" on Loren's typically straight "A" report card has his father concerned. Dad's interrogation, however, is stemmed by an unexpected telephone invitation that Loren can't resist.

Loren accompanies Shane to a weathered house in the harbor shadows. With the friends he meets there, he endures a night of drug deals, petty theft, crystal meth, porn, and a stray punch in the face.

The pressures of high school seem suddenly inconsequential in the morning. No longer seeking approval from anyone, Loren's strong work ethic becomes self-imposed, further veiling his escalating drug use.

Loren is strung along late one night as the boys break into a construction site and drag some valuable equipment into the trunk of his S.U.V. A police chase ends with Loren in handcuffs as his baffled father struggles to understand what the hell is going on.

At school, Shane's acceptance to MIT makes the front page of the campus paper. When Loren offers his congratulations, Shane coldly suggests that they should keep their distance from each other until a court date is decided. Loren is once again left behind.

What sets Kikuo's drama apart is the naturalistic ease with which he explores the relationships of his characters. It is at once an unsentimental portrait of that most awkward period between adolescence and young adulthood and that rarest of things — a mature depiction of immature lives. Visually, Johnson captures the languid tropical climate and strip mall tackiness of Hawaii in a rich chiaroscuro style reminiscent of Milton Caniff combined with the sensual ink work of Paul Pope or Jessica Abel.

"Johnson's first graphic novel has a force and elliptical grace that suggests he's been drawing comics and writing fiction for much longer than he really has. It's set on Maui, whose history and economics inform the story's progress, and Johnson draws its landscapes and buildings — as well as the flora that symbolize the island's past — with a sure grasp of what it feels like to be there. The story has more to do with psychological intricacies than with plot: Loren Foster, a private school student and son of a dentist, is in his final year of high school, and his best friend Shane Hokama is drifting away from him and into a seamy crowd. Trying to become a man and ditch his too-innocent image without being destroyed by the transformation, Loren follows Shane into Maui's smalltime underworld, smoking crystal meth and getting dangerously mixed up in petty crime. The bold, high-contrast artwork includes some smart experimental touches: we see most of the story from Loren's point of view: whatever's in the panel (including him) is what he's thinking about. Johnson's storytelling is clear and masterful, and his characters' body language says as much about them as their words. An exciting debut from a talent to watch." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"Johnson's debut is not only remarkably assured but astonishingly fresh, one that refuses to trade in the usual hoary high-school cliches....A dark, grand, sweeping dream of a book." Kirkus Reviews

An intimate, compelling drama of young men on the cusp of adulthood. Johnson explores his characters' relationships with natural ease; his unsentimental portrait of late adolescence is a mature depiction of immature lives.

The first book from an amazing new talent.

In what we predict will be the most impressive comics debut of 2005, Kikuo Johnson has created an intimate and compelling graphic novel-length drama of young men on the cusp of adulthood. Loren Foster was handed an island paradise when he moved to Hawaii with his father six years ago. But, with the end of high school just around the corner, his best friend Shane has grown distant. Their friendship is put to the test when they get mixed up in a frivolous crime that leads to an arrest.

What sets Kikuo's drama apart is the naturalistic ease with which he explores the relationships of his characters. Visually, Johnson captures the languid tropical climate and strip mall tackiness of Hawaii in a rich chiaroscuro style reminiscent of Milton Caniff combined with the sensual ink work of Paul Pope or Jessica Abel.

Kikuo Johnson's debut graphic novel is a compassionate, hard-nosed coming of age story, an unsentimental portrait of that most awkward period between adolescence and adulthood, and that rarest of things-- a mature depiction of immature lives. Kirkus Reviews writes, Johnson's debut is not only remarkably assured but astonishingly fresh, one that refuses to trade in the usual hoary high-school cliche s... A dark, grand, sweeping dream of a book.

R. Kikuo Johnson was born in 1981 on the island of Maui, Hawaii. After graduating from Rhode Island School of Design (BFA '03), he moved to Brooklyn, New York, where he currently draws comics and plays the ukulele. He returns to Maui as often as possible.