Over the course of 2016, with the American presidential election looming ever-larger, Mark Thomas Gibson wondered: Why are there no utopias? Why are we no longer striving to create one? He began drawing at his kitchen table in search of answers to the question of the long-lost quest for utopia. The upshot is his second artist's book, in which we learn that 'Early Retirement' is just the beginning. 'Early Retirement', a follow-up to 'Some Monsters Loom Large' (self-published), revolves around Mr. Wolfson, a werewolf and Doomsday prophet seeking to move up in the ranks of New York City's highly competitive street prophecy scene. After a long day of prophesizing, he returns home to find that his days of working the streets are over: he has been laid off, hence the title 'Early Retirement'. Gibson also introduces an angel called The Drummer, one of the three heralds of the Apocalypse. After several millennia of false starts and countless failed attempts to carry out his mission, The Drummer has become despondent. One day he turns on the television to learn that the Truth has been delivered to Mr. Wolfson. Things quickly spiral out of control, leading to a three-way standoff between the Will of the People, the Will of Government and the Will of God. The story is narrated by a shadowy figure from American history who knows a lot about being in the right place at the wrong time.
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