By Zack Quaintance — The Rough Pearl is a new graphic novel from cartoonist Kevin Mutch, who roughly a decade ago won the prestigious Xeric Award for his first book, Fantastic Life. That earlier work was set in Winnipeg, Canada, where Mutch himself is from. It took place in the early 1980s, and it involved punk rock, quantum mechanics, and a protagonist who begins to question his own sanity.