Wish We Weren’t Here

45 years after his first political cartoons focused on capitalism's impact, Peter Kuper takes stock of the state of the world... and isn't optimistic about what he sees. Across 100 pages of vivid, colourful, silent four-panel comics, Kuper traces as many aspects of how business and politics have accelerated the climate crisis, and looks at how, if things keep going in the direction they are, how our oligarchic lives will be further transformed. Witty and angry in equal measure, Kuper deploys bold figures, clever metaphors, despairing howls, and some of the best drawings of his career to get his message across. Originally serialised in the legendary French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, each page is a single blackly funny gag strip, but themes flow, recur and build across sequences to create a true hybrid of political cartoon and graphic novel. Since co-founding World War III Illustrated in 1979, Kuper has maintained his deeply humanist/anti-capitalist perspective, while developing and broadening his graphic and story-telling skills across a range of topics and styles. In this book, he brings all of that experience, study and passion together into a single powerful work that stands as a culmination of his career. See the future now, and laugh hollowly while you still can.