Arriving with advance praise from comics luminaries like Ivan Brunetti and Chris Ware, Nick Drnaso’s debut graphic novel Beverly hits stores this week. It’s easy to see why these big names have given their support to the up-and-coming cartoonist: Like Brunetti and Ware, Drnaso is fixated on using the comic-book medium to explore the complexities of the human condition, and employs a stark, streamlined visual style that keeps the focus on the emotional life of the characters. His work on Beverly is composed of tight grids that change dimensions to evoke different moods, and these dense layouts allow him to detail all the nuances in his characters’ expressions.