Humanoids is adding to its ever-expanding library of lushly-illustrated graphic novels from top-notch international creators. The publisher will release Seoul Before Sunrise, French artist Samir Dahmani‘s new graphic novel, in February of 2024. The book follows a young woman who sparks an unlikely friendship with a stranger while walking the streets of Seoul at night.
Here’s how Humanoids describes Seoul Before Sunrise:
Longtime friends Seong-ji and Ji-won are excited to begin university in Seoul, swearing to stay close in the big city but from the moment they arrive, they begin to drift apart. Her focus split between her rigorous accounting program and her overnight job at a grocery store, Seong-ji tries to make peace with the loss. It’s during her overnight shifts that she encounters an enigmatic young woman who spends her nights entering the empty homes of other people to paint and photograph these places.
Now, the normally rational Seong-ji finds herself swept up in a dreamlike otherworld, made up of freedom and creativity. As she explores these quiet places with her newfound acquaintance, she uncovers not only an intimate portrait of strangers, but perhaps even of herself.
Seoul Before Sunrise is the latest book from artist Samir Dahmani, and the first to be published in English by Humanoids. Dahmani’s previous comics work includes Je suis encore là-bas (I’m Still There), a book about a Korean expatriate who returns home after a decade away, and a graphic novel adaptation of Romain Puértolas‘s L’Extraordinaire voyage du fakir qui était resté coincé dans une armoire Ikea (The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir Who Got Stuck in an Ikea Wardrobe).
Check out an interior preview of Dahmani’s beautiful watercolor artwork from the graphic novel below. Seoul Before Sunrise is due out in bookstores and comic shops in February 2024.
