Graphic Novel Review: Save It For Later: Promises, Parenthood, and the Urgency of Protest by Nate Powell

Posted on August 6, 2026 by Gene Ambaum

Save It For Later: Promises, Parenthood, and the Urgency of Protest by Nate Powell. Abrams Comicarts, 2021. 9781419749124. 160pp. 

Powell (March, Swallow Me Whole, Any Empire, more) makes beautiful graphic novels. Every aspect of his work is amazing, but for me the thing I love about his comics is the control he has over the flow of the stories he tells; I’m not sure how he knows exactly where to put each sentence and image, and how to format it all so it works together so well. 

This feels like the most personal book of his I’ve read. It’s about parenting when the country is going in directions he and his wife don’t agree with, standing up and speaking out and protesting for what you believe in (even when it seems crazy), and trying to stay sane and responsible through all of it. It takes place between the beginning of the first Trump administration and Covid. John Lewis is present in the book as an influence and a friend, and we see Powell dealing with Lewis’s death. There’s a really rough moment at a comic convention that, as a comics fan, broke my heart. This is a tough read, a look at what we’re living through that asks us to consider what we’re going to do about it.  

4 thoughts on “Graphic Novel Review: Save It For Later: Promises, Parenthood, and the Urgency of Protest by Nate Powell”

  1. Craig L Seasholes

    I’d missed this one and appreciate the spotlight on Powell’s personal offering. I see that NCW libraries has a copy, not headed my way.

  2. Kathe R

    I just read Save It for Later (my library system owns it), thanks to you featuring it. I really liked it and am recommending it to my friends. (Retired librarian here.) The only thing is, I don’t understand the title, especially since his young daughter is carrying it on a protest sign on the cover of the book. Does it mean, when talking with young children, save the hard explanations (he is a liar, his mind is broken, etc.) for later?
    ~Kathe

    1. Gene Ambaum

      I took it to mean “save the world for later” but I think what you’re saying makes sense too.

      1. Kathe R.

        I thought of both. Glad to know I’m not missing another meaning. Thanks.

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