ONI PRESS TO RELEASE MATTHIAS LEHMANN’S CELEBRATED HISTORICAL LGBTQ+ GERMAN GRAPHIC NOVEL PARALLEL
The Newest Addition to Oni Press’ Celebrated Line of Queer Stories
Releases in Time for Pride Month, June 13, 2023
PORTLAND, OR (March 21, 2023) – Oni Press, the multiple Eisner and Harvey Award-winning comic book and graphic novel publisher, is proud to announce the release of the 2018 finalist for the Berthold Leibinger Foundation comic book prize, Parallel, from creator Matthias Lehmann (Hwy. 115, La Favorita). The English-translated softcover is available June 13, 2023. Ginco Award-winner Lehmann deftly explores his own complicated family history—a relative who lived with the complexities of being gay at a time when queer relationships were forbidden. Parallel examines a life torn between longing for a family and simultaneous desire for gay love in 1950s Germany.
Taking place between the end of World War II and the 1980s, Parallel chronicles Karl Kling’s efforts to comply with social norms in order to keep his sexuality a secret. It also paints a picture of a life torn between conformity and rebellion, and the cruel realities of twentieth-century German society, where homosexuality was proscribed and punishable until 1994. Matthias Lehmann poignantly depicts the story of a decades-long yearning to live an open and free life, and the price Karl and those he loves paid for it. It is also a story of finding the courage to finally tell the truth no matter the obstacles . . . or the cost.
About the Creator
Matthias Lehmann, born in Leipzig in 1983, completed his studies and master’s degree at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts. He drew the comic Claude Monet (Prestel Verlag), publishes zines, and is regularly featured in the German comic anthology Jazam. In 2018, he was one of the finalists for the Comic Book Prize of the Berthold Leibinger Foundation for Parallel, and in 2019, he received the Ginco Award for Best Short Comic. He lives in Germany.
About the Company
The Oni-Lion Forge Publishing Group is a premier comic book and graphic novel publisher located in Portland, Oregon. Merged with Lion Forge Comics in 2019 but established in 1997, Oni Press publishes a thoughtfully curated line of award-winning original and licensed graphic novels and comic books for readers of all ages. Notable titles from the Oni-Lion Forge Publishing Group include: The Tea Dragon Society, Sheets, Gender Queer, A Quick & Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns, Scott Pilgrim, and Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty™.