Fires & Murmur

A fun story with a uniquely compelling art style. Definitely something for graphic novel fans to check out.

Fantastic Art That Punches You in the Gut

This volume presents two important works by Mattotti, (from 1988 and 1993). The stark and intense lines and colors immediately demand your attention. The stories are feverish, opaque and disjointed and you feel the tales the way you "feel" the artwork.

"Murmurs" struck me as the stronger of the two. We follow a character who seems to be suspended between life and death, or possibly between madness and sanity, or between hope and despair. Hints and suggestions, opening with a sense of dread and yet somehow hopeful by the end, this is a fever dream of a story.

"Fires" feels like a 1930's expressionist variation on "Heart of Darkness". You can read it as a commentary on colonialization, or an examination of the industrial versus natural, or as an illustration of the inner turmoil of the artist. And, of course, all of those themes, at some level, may be the same. Since the "story" takes a back seat to the artwork, and since you could probably read this from back to front and still enjoy it, it's probably best to go with Mattotti and take from the book what you will.

However much you struggle with, or demand, clarity, the larger appeal here, it seems to me, is the alternatingly dreamy and fierce artwork. The book rewards multiple rereadings and re-examinations, and I found myself caught up in its intense and yet lyrical sweep. Fantastic indeed.

(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

Two haunting, dreamlike fables of lost men on strange islands. The art is gorgeous, reminding me in a strange way of Oscar Zarate's work with Alan Moore and Alexei Sayle, a current that seems largely to have dropped out of Anglophone comics which resembles a picture book for adults more than the Atlantic mainstream. But there's more here of surrealism, symbolism, de Chirico...the sort of images which, even on a first reading, you know will recur at odd moments for years (the fires on the mountains at night, the unsettling stagfish). Beautiful stuff.

(Netgalley ARC)

'Fires and Murmur' is a reprint of two stories. 'Fires' is written and illustrated by Lorenzo Mattotti. Murmur is written by Jerry Kramsky and illustrated by Mattotti. Both stories are bizarre and illustrated vividly.

In 'Fires' a battleship called the Anselm II is dispatched to investigate a strange island that burns mysteriously. The island also has strange inhabitants which Lieutienant Absinthe finds out when he goes to the island. This changes him and causes him to go a bit crazy.

In 'Murmur' the title character is a man who has amnesia. He also has a strange disfiguring mark on his face. The story follows his quest to find out who he is.

In both cases the art is colorful and very artistic. Faces and characters distend grotesquely and the landscapes seem foreign and frightening. Reminiscent of Edvard Munch's The Scream, madness and amnesia are represented physically in the features of the characters. These are characters in unreliable landscapes experiencing psychic trauma.

I'm grateful for Dover making these reprints available. This title was unknown to me when it came out, probably because it was originally French. Then chance to read it now is great.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Dover Publications and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.