This week sees the release from Fantagraphics Books of their latest translation of work by Italian cartoonist Manuele Fior. Translated into English by Jamie Richards, Fior’s Celestia is a sci-fi graphic novel about the last survivors of a great flood, struggling to find a way forward in a new world.
Here’s how Fantagraphics describes Celestia:
The “Great Invasion” originated from the sea. It moved north across the mainland. Many fled, while some took refuge on a small concrete island called Celestia, built over a thousand years ago. Now cut off from the mainland, Celestia has become an outpost for criminals and other misfits, as well as a refuge for a group of young telepaths. Events push two of them, Dora and Pierrot, to flee the island and set sail to the mainland. There, they discover a world on the precipice of a metamorphosis, though also a world where adults are literally prisoners of their own fortresses, unintentionally preserving the “old world” at a time when a new generation could guide society towards a better humanity. Celestia is the most ambitious and successful graphic novel to date by one of the world’s most exciting storytellers.
Celestia is the fifth book of Manuele Fior’s published by Fantagraphics. Previous books by Fior include The Interview, Red Ultramarine, Blackbird Days, and 5,000 KM Per Second, all translated for Fantagraphics by Jamie Richards.
Check out an exclusive five-page excerpt from Celestia below. The hardcover graphic novel goes on sale in bookstores on Tuesday, July 20th, and in comic shops on Wednesday, July 21st.