Above and Below: Two Stories of the American Frontier

James Sturm's Above and Below: Two Stories of the American Frontier (2004, Drawn & Quarterly) is a single-issue graphic novel that examines the myth and reality of westward expansion through two distinct, thematically linked narratives. Sturm, who wrote and illustrated the entire book, contrasts the utopian idealism of a mid-19th-century commune with the grim, solitary life of a gold prospector, both struggling against the harsh landscape and their own flawed human nature. This compact, critically regarded work stands as a thoughtful, unromantic meditation on the American frontier experience from an acclaimed cartoonist.