The High Desert

Winner of a 2022 ALA Alex Award

Winner of the 2023 Cartoonist Studio Prize for Print Comics

One of The Washington Post’s 10 Best Graphic Novels of the Year * One of NYPL’s Best Books of the Year * A Publishers Weekly “Best Book of the Year”

A formative coming-of-age graphic memoir by the creator of Afro-punk: a young man’s immersive reckoning with identity, racism, clumsy teen love and belonging in an isolated California desert, and a search for salvation and community through punk.

Apple Valley, California, in the late eighties, a thirsty, miserable desert.

Teenage James Spooner hates that he and his mom are back in town after years away. The one silver lining—new school, new you, right? But the few Black kids at school seem to be gangbanging, and the other kids fall on a spectrum of micro-aggressors to future Neo-Nazis. Mixed race, acutely aware of his Blackness, James doesn’t know where he fits until he meets Ty, a young Black punk who introduces him to the school outsiders—skaters, unhappy young rebels, caught up in the punk groundswell sweeping the country.

A haircut, a few Sex Pistols, Misfits and Black Flag records later: suddenly, James has friends, romantic prospects, and knows the difference between a bass and a guitar. But this desolate landscape hides brutal, building undercurrents: a classmate overdoses, a friend must prove himself to his white supremacist brother and the local Aryan brotherhood through a show of violence. Everything and everyone are set to collide at one of the year’s biggest shows in town…

Weaving in the Black roots of punk rock and a vivid interlude in the thriving eighties DIY scene in New York’s East Village, this is a powerful memoir about identity from a budding punk, artist, and activist.

Spooner’s journey is a raw look at the forces that shape us—and the music that saves us.

• Coming-of-Age Story: Follow a young James Spooner as he navigates clumsy teen love, clashes with authority, and searches for belonging in an isolated desert town.
• Afro-Punk Origins: Discover the formative experiences of the man who would go on to create the seminal Afro-punk movement, weaving together Black culture and punk rebellion.
• An Unflinching Look at Racism: From casual micro-aggressions to violent threats from a local Aryan brotherhood, this memoir confronts the brutal reality of being Black in a white-dominated scene.
• 80s Punk Rock Scene: Immerse yourself in the world of the Sex Pistols, Misfits, and Black Flag, from the desolate landscape of Apple Valley to the thriving DIY scene of New York’s East Village.