Refresh Refresh

In 2009, First Second published Refresh Refresh, a graphic novel adaptation by Danica Novgorodoff of the acclaimed short story by Benjamin Percy and screenplay by James Ponsoldt. Set against the backdrop of the Iraq War, the book follows three teenage boys in a small Oregon town whose fathers are deployed overseas, capturing the quiet, simmering tension of their daily lives as they navigate violence, masculinity, and fractured families. Novgorodoff's haunting watercolor art gives the story a raw, elegiac quality, making this single-volume work a poignant snapshot of life on the home front during wartime.