Dark Horse Brings The Rain, A New Graphic Novel From Bryan & Mary Talbot

The graphic novel collaboration between acclaimed writer & historian Dr. Mary M. Talbot and equally acclaimed pioneer of the medium, Bryan Talbot continues in October 2019 when they bring Rain to Dark Horse.

The graphic novel, presented in hardback landscape format, details the disastrous floods that befell the North of England in 2015, whilst looking at the developing relationship between two young women, one an environmental activist.

Set against the flooding, Rain promises to look at environmental mismanagement, including the poisons poluting the moorlands that devastate crops and the slaughter of wild birds and animals.

The landscape format, whilst unusual, seems particularly perfect for Rain, dealing as it does with the landscape and environment as one of its principal elements. There’s no interior art available as yet, but to give you just an idea of what sort of things you’ll see inside, just how beautiful Talbot’s landscapes can be, here’s just one page from Bryan Talbot’s The Tale of One Bad Rat… you just know that Rain will look incredible, perfectly capturing the life, the beauty, the isolation of these beloved moors.

Bryan Talbot is one of few British writers and artists who can claim to be a genuine pioneer of our medium, with The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, three decades on, still rightly acclaimed as a visionary work. His other works, whether the emotional and heart-rending tale of surviving child abuse, all against the unusual backdrop of a love of Beatrix Potter in The Tale of One Bad Rat, or his intensely personal Alice In Sunderland, are merely some of the incredible pieces of comics literature he’s been involved with over the years.

Since the Talbots first collaborated, on Dotter of Her Father’s Eyes, which won the 2012 Costa Biography prize, the couple have continued to breathe incredible life into the medium, with Mary’s evocative scripts and Bryan’s stunning artwork giving us works of great power and beauty.

Rain is the fourth graphic novel collaboration between the Talbots, with previous works having produced the award-winning Dotter of Her Father’s Eyes, Sally Heathcote: Suffragette (with Kate Charlesworth), and The Red Virgin and the Vision of Utopia.

Rain is published by Dark Horse Comics on 19 October 2019.
Mary M Talbot’s website. Bryan Talbot’s website.