Emei Burell Shares Her Mother’s Stories In We Served The People First Look

Boom! Studios has shared an early preview of We Served the People: My Mother’s Stories from cartoonist Emei Burell. The original graphic novel explores stories Burell’s mother shared of growing up in the mid-1960s Communist China and discovering a connection to her family history and heritage.

In China, an entire generation’s most formative years took place in remote rural areas when city kids were sent to the countryside to become rusticated youth and partake in Mao’s mandated Great Leap Forward. In an inspiring tale, Emei’s mother, Yuan Ye Ping, recounts how she ended up as one of the few truck-driving women during the Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside Movement, which sought to increase agricultural outreach and spur social and ideological change amongst youth.

We Served the People: My Mother’s Stories will be published under Boom! Studios’ Archaia imprint. It’s set for release in April 2020.