This week, Dark Horse Comics’s Berger Books imprint will widely release Salamandre. The new graphic novel from cartoonist I.N.J. Culbard follows a young artist sent to live with a distant relative following the death of his father. Today, ahead of the graphic novel’s bookstore release, The Beat is pleased to present an exclusive five-page excerpt from the book.
Here’s how Dark Horse describes Salamandre:
Kaspar Salamandre is a bereaved young artist who is sent to stay with his enigmatic grandfather in a land ruled under an oppressive regime, where there can be only one loved one: the Emperor.
In this land where flowers are contraband, music is illegal, and art is created in hiding, Kaspar discovers a world of art revolutionaries, espionage and the secret police.
His search for answers will bring him face to face with the meaning of sacrifice. But, will anything bring him closer to overcoming his loss?
“Papi’s place is based entirely on my Dziadek’s place as it was in Poland back when I was a kid,” I.N.J. Culbard told The Beat. “Dziadek is the Polish word for grandfather, and Papi himself is very much based on my memory of him, from the snapdragons in his pockets to the moccasins on his feet. Even the layout of Papi’s place is the same; the small kitchen where he cooked potato pancakes (which I’m pretty sure is all he could cook as he cooked them all the time) and the lounge where he entertained guests, filling them with homemade cherry vodka. The record player—again, going back to this idea of a misremembered past, I took a few liberties with the technology of this world. Ever so slight variations on things like this and the headlights on vehicles. Also, my grandfather grew Clematis, although it wasn’t illegal to do so…as far as I know.”
Check out the exclusive excerpt from Salamandre below. The 152-page graphic novel is available in comic shops now, and in bookstores everywhere tomorrow, December 20th.
