Second Avenue Caper
When Goodfellas, Divas, and Dealers Plotted Against the Plague
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Winner of the 2015 Lambda Literary Award for Best LGBT Graphic Novel
A Village Voice Best Graphic Novel of 2014
The renowned graphic-book author Joyce Brabner's Second Avenue Caper is the true story of a tight-knit group of artists and activists living in New York City in the early 1980s who found themselves on the front lines in the fight against AIDS.
Struggling to understand the disease and how they could help, they made a deal with a bona fide goodfella, donned masterful disguises, piled into an "A-Team" van, and set off for the border, determined to save their bedridden friends by smuggling an experimental drug into the United States from Mexico.
With their community in crisis and the world turned against them, this impassioned gang of misfits never gave up hope as they searched for ways to raise awareness and beat the plague. Fast-paced, poignant, and beautifully illustrated by the award-winning illustrator Mark Zingarelli, Second Avenue Caper is a heartfelt tribute to the generation that faced down AIDS.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
With visuals that blend cartoon-style appeal with documentary realism, Brabner's (American Splendor) chronicle of grassroots activism in N.Y.C.'s gay community during the early days of the AIDS crisis grabs readers from its opening splash page. Based on the account of a nurse who worked in the city in the early 1980s, as the mysterious "gay plague" wielded its scythe, this graphic novel is a testament to and celebration of the bravery of those who fought for better care for the afflicted. In a New York version of Dallas Buyers Club, the community banded together to use the profits from sales of high-quality marijuana to travel to smuggle in mass quantities of Ribavarin from Mexico for free distribution to those who suffered the ravages of the disease. Using a network of operatives (some within the medical profession), disguises, and a van tricked out with multiple smuggling compartments, these angels of mercy put their careers and personal freedom on the line in a brave, clandestine crusade of organized crime coupled with socially conscious activism. Zingarelli crisply illustrates a story long hidden.
