Fires & Murmur

Summary

Created by Eisner Award-winning artist Lorenzo Mattotti, Fires sweeps readers off into a hypnotic, haunting fantasy centered on a mysterious island where the hills are constantly ablaze. A series of vessels have inexplicably disappeared from the vicinity, so the battleship Anselm II is dispatched to investigate. When the expedition''s leader, Lieutenant Absinthe, comes ashore, his encounter with the burning island''s bizarre residents results in a form of psychic possession that leads to mayhem, madness, and murder. Mattotti''s vivid illustrations, rendered with the depth and richness of paintings, propel the eye through a brooding, brilliantly colored atmosphere of mesmerizing imagery. A second tale by Mattotti, co-written with Jerry Kramsky, offers another fantastic voyage. Murmur traces an amnesiac''s quest across phantasmagoric landscapes to recover his identity — an enigmatic journey in which fear and confusion are resolved by arcane magic rituals. This handsome hardcover edition marks the first publication of Fires and Murmur in a single volume. Both stories were originally published in French; this Dover edition features the 1988 English translation of Feux (Fires) and the 1993 English translation of Murmure (Murmur) English translations. Suggested for mature readers.