Abrams ComicArts, a division of ABRAMS, will publish Aristotle: A Graphic Biography on Tuesday, October 8. Little is known about the early life of Aristotle, the polymath whose work serves as a cultural cornerstone of modern philosophy, so Alecos Papadatos, the artist behind the critically acclaimed, award-winning, New York Times #1 bestselling graphic novel Logicomix, and writer and educator Tassos Apostolidis follow a trail of clues to paint a picture of the great man and his philosophy in this captivating and informative graphic novel.
The son of a renowned Macedonian physician, Aristotle pursues his studies in Athens and becomes one of Plato’s favorite disciples. A great scholar, he even serves as Alexander the Great, Ptolemy, and Cassander’s personal tutor. For many, that would be the high point of their career, but Aristotle goes on to found his own school, the Lyceum. There, he transmits his knowledge and passion to any student wishing to embark on an intellectual and philosophical journey.
Most of Aristotle’s works that have endured to this day are thought to be lecture aids for his students. The fact that these have had such an astounding influence on every school of Western thought despite likely not being intended for publication speaks to Aristotle’s monumental legacy which Papadatos and Apostolidis carefully reconstruct in an illuminating graphic novel.
Aristotle: A Graphic Biography has already been published in France, Belgium, Greece, Germany, Portugal, China, Turkey, and South Korea. Now Abrams ComicArts will publish the 216-page hardcover in bookstores on Tuesday, October 8, 2024 and in comic shops on October 9, 2024.
Alecos Papadatos was born in Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1959. After pursuing economics studies in his home country, he moved to France, where he changed career directions entirely in order to devote himself to animation. In 1990, he moved back to Greece with his wife and collaborator, Annie Di Donna, where they founded the production studio Spicy Toons, active throughout Europe. In 2003, he began work on the Logicomix graphic novel, published initially in 2008 by Bloomsbury. Following the great success of that project, he published Democracy, also with Bloomsbury, in 2015. His work is internationally acclaimed, and he hosts workshops and masterclasses in Greece, Turkey, Poland, France, and the United Kingdom.
Tassos Apostolidis was born in 1947 in Thessaloniki, Greece, where he studied mathematics. Aided by over 40 years of experience teaching high school, he has written many accessible and engaging books and graphic novels based on works of classical Greek literature by figures such as Aristophanes, Homer, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aesop. He also writes plays, newspaper columns and humor pieces, and stand-up comedy shows. Apostolidis is a member of several writers’ organizations and regularly hosts workshops, classes, and conferences on subjects such as drawing, caricature, and comics.