The Pleasure of the Text is a remarkable debut that showcases Alwani’s short comics, which are at once pointed and playful, mundane and metaphysical. This is smart, fun, important work from a fresh voice in Canadian comics.

-Andrew Woodrow-Butcher, Quill & Quire

“Alwani is one of, if not THE most exciting new practitioners of alternative comic art. This is an essential collection of vibrant, exploratory, modern cartooning. Much to meditate on.”

-Simon Hanselmann, award-winning creator of the Megg, Mogg and Owl series

“Sami Alwani is the quintessential cartoonist of the interregnum — this period of flux between the collapse of capitalism and the rise of something else. “The Dead Father,” and his other stories describe in fascinating detail the heartbreaking struggles of a young cartoonist in search of professional and social status in the midst of a broken culture. I hope that readers will recognize his bravery.”

-Ben Katchor, creator of Cheap Novelties: The Pleasures of Urban Decay

“I love Sami Alwani’s style, his tender flat hysteria, and his naked honesty. And the way he depicts queerness is so removed from cuddly rainbow-tinged pop culture–it’s beautiful and raw, and very very real.”

–Roman Muradov, creator of On Doing Nothing: Finding Inspiration in Idleness