Since 2019, graphic novelist Brian Blomerth’s stunningly original comix histories have combined detailed research and riotous visual wit to illuminate the discovery of LSD (in Brian Blomerth’s Bicycle Day) and the popularization of psilocybin mushrooms (in Brian Blomerth’s Mycelium Wassonii). Now, in the third entry in his ongoing series, Blomerth opens a porthole on the life, experiments, and addictions of John C. Lilly—the man whose development of the isolation tank, controversial studies in dolphin cognition, and ketamine-fueled dives into the nature of consciousness made him perhaps the most notorious researcher of the psychedelic era. Featuring alien visitations, interspecies encounters, and no shortage of concerned onlookers, Brian Blomerth’s Lilly Wave sees a beloved artist working from an expanded palette of industrial ink-splatter and oceanic airbrushing to bring readers a story that’s equal parts cosmic and paranoid, transcendent and tragic.
Brian Blomerth is an illustrator, cartoonist and musician based in Brooklyn whose previous publications include the wildly popular visual histories Brian Blomerth’s Bicycle Day (2019) and Brian Blomerth’s Mycelium Wassonii (2021). A veteran of the underground music and arts scene whose work has graced numerous album covers, posters, and clothing lines, Blomerth is also the author of the zines Xak’s Wax, iPhone 64: A User’s Guide, and Hypermaze.