Breaking the 10

BREAKING THE TEN - Vol 1 and 2

A two part series by Sean Michael Wilson & Michiru Morikawa

NEW: Volume 2 will be published in 1st of Feb 2018 and is currently listed in DEC 2017 Previews catalogue. Scroll down for more on volume 2.

"When David loses his wife and child in a tragic car accident he decides, in anger at the cruelty of the event, to turn against God. He sets out to systematically break each of the Ten Commandments in order to both spite God and to get his attention! But will he go all the way, and break the commandment 'Thou shalt not kill'? Two mysterious figures, Mr White and Mr Black, try to win David over to their side: the religious or the humanistic. Deeply sad in parts and comical in others, this modern story explores age old questions: Is there a God? And if there is, does that God care about us?"

July 2016 6x9, 112pp., B&W trade pb.$11.99, ebook $7.99. My 3rd book with the long running New York graphic novel publisher, NBM Publishing. Volume 1 (of a 2 part series)

In case anyone thinks I got the ‘Breaking’ bit from the TV series ‘Breaking Bad’, the book is from an original idea of mine that I had BEFORE that TV series came out - honest guv! This story mixes tragedy and comedy, very moving scenes with very silly ones, has a lot of energetic connection between the 3 main characters... and a certain divinity may or may not make an appearance at some time!

Get the book here:
http://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Vol-Sean-Michael-Wilson/dp/1681120216

http://www.nbmpub.com/comicslit/storyoflee/storyofllee_home.html

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/breaking-the-ten-vol-1-michiru-morikawa/1123758872?ean=9781681120218

A librarian with good taste picks our book as a favourite at the American Library Association's 2018 midwinter show in Denver. Nice!

Reviews

"...a superbly engaging and wickedly barbed tale of lost love, disillusionment and grief-filled reaction that is both hilariously acerbic and potently thought-provoking...Fresh, challenging and superbly enthralling, this is a book no saint or sinner should miss."
- Comics Review.co.uk

"Breaking The Ten is a great examination of a topic not often looked at in comics and even manages to find a fresh perspective on a long standing debate. This is well worth a look if you’re searching for something a little different.Wilson reunites with frequent collaborator Michiru Morikawa who provides some great illustration for this volume. She is particularly good at moving between intense and subdued scenes without it coming off as jarring and has a great grasp of character expression, with David in particular showing off a lot of depth through facials alone in just a few pages."
- Turnaround distributors graphic novel of the week

"Michiru Morikawa has a delicacy to her art, and a fine way of personalising the cast during dialogue free sequences, although some of these would originate in the script. She’s very good indeed, and David’s characterisation is as much down to her strong emotional depiction as any dialogue. Despite the topic, much of the graphic novel is contemplation and conversation, yet there’s never a dull looking page...
Wilson’s plot is intriguing on two counts. Hanging over the entire process is how far David will go to confront God. Will he kill? That’s in story. Out of it there’s the constant wonder of what Wilson’s building toward. Surely he can’t actually have God manifest, can he? Wilson’s form of storytelling is interesting and consistently provocative, switching from trivial and lighthearted to violent and abusive in short order. Toward the end he moves into real life horror, and there’s an escalating unpredictability and awkwardness as we reach the more serious commandments."
- Slingsandarrows.com

"An intriguing premise."
- Brigid Alverson, Robot 6, Comic Book Resources

"Just a brilliant book. An Everyman character, gutted that his wife and young child have been killed in a drunk-driving car crash, challenges God to appear, else he will break all ten commandments. The fact he goes about this cry for help his way (ie not the pathetic, self-serving, self-protecting commandments first) is just one great thing about this book. Mr White and Mr Black aren't quite as you'd at first expect, either. The fact that people are not seeing the man's actions as a cry for help, but an atheist's challenge, a rhetorical request, just goes to show the point of the book is a most valid one. Both halves of it are superlative, even if you might wish for it not to be styled as a manga."
-Theediscerning, Goodreads.

For volume 1: "Part character-driven story, part moral treatise, Breaking the 10 is compelling, thought-provoking, and highly recommended.".
For volume 2: "Another riveting read by acclaimed comic book author Sean Michael Wilson and distinctively drawn by artist/illustrator Michiru Morikawa in the manga tradition, this second volume in the "Breaking the Ten" series is unreservedly recommended for community library graphic novel collections and the personal reading lists of graphic novel and manga fiction fans."
- Midwest Book Review

This smart reader from Canada seems to have bought a version of the book printed backwards. Nice!

I happened to see part of a review by some eejit who I never read the reviews of because they are always so mean (apparently for the sake of it). They said that the ending of this new book, Breaking the 10 does not have a resolution, a clear conclusion. And that I had also made the same mistake on our previous book The Story of Lee.

To which I say: 'Divint talk daft!'

I’m mystified as to how they did not notice that both books say ‘Volume 1’ on them, clearly on the cover. And ‘to be continued’ at the end of the book. In the case of The Story of Lee its a 3 part series. How could either story be resolved in the first of what is specifically a series? It's like going to a restaurant for a 3 course meal, but leaving after the first course...and then complaining that you are still hungry. There are two more courses to come! Eat them all and then decide if you feel satisfied or not, ya raj.

Volume 2 - out Feb 2018

Volume 2 comes out in spring 2018.

Volume 2 is finished...

Yeah!

Due to be published in Feb 2018, and is presently listed in this month’s Previews catalogue.
Order it from Previews December Customer Order Form, page 27(or p377 in the full catalogue), under the publishers name 'NBM' (and with a cute 'Certified Cool' stamp of recommendation). Diamond Code: DEC17 1696

With Volume 1 of the book re-listed, code: DEC171697

Or get it on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Vol-Sean-Michael-Wilson/dp/1681121174

The publisher NBM page for the book:
www.nbmpub.com/comicslit/storyoflee/storyofllee_home.html

Slide show of images from the book: