In The Poet and the Flea by G. E. Gallas is an ode to the life of poet and painter William Blake in which Blake’s life is re-imagined (and given some very sinister elements).
Set in 1790, the comic draws inspiration from Blake’s poetry to create a macabre fictional narrative. After the death of his brother, Blake is inundated with grief, and forced to heavily rely upon his wife Catherine for support. Before long he has a terrifying encounter with the Ghost of the Flea. The Flea informs Blake that, as the consequence of an unorthodox wager, he has a vested interest in the poet’s spiritual wellbeing.
Will Blake succumb to the sinister machinations of The Flea, or will he successfully repel the malignant creature? A new page of The Poet and the Flea is posted on Tapas each Wednesday.
Gallas’s other work include The Plague and Doctor Caim, a graphic novel that follows a 17th century bubonic plague doctor and adopts the form of a medieval illuminated manuscript. While a previous edition of this comic was crowdfunded, a forthcoming edition of The Plague and Doctor Caim is to be published by Cast Iron Books.
You can visit Gallas’s website to learn more about her work and follow her on Twitter to keep with the latest updates on her work. Plus, if you’d like to support her work directly, you can do so through her Ko-Fi page.
And while you can read The Poet and the Flea for free through Tapas at the link above, if you’d rather support Gallas by purchasing a paperback copy of the first volume of the comic, you can do that here.
