Art Revolutionaries, Espionage, And The Secret Police: Dark Horse Announces ‘Salamandre’
by Brendan M. Allen
Berger Books and Dark Horse Comics have announced Salamandre: a uniquely evocative graphic novel about family, loss, and the freedom of art from award-winning writer and artist I.N.J. Culbard.
Kaspar Salamandre is a bereaved young artist who is sent to stay with his enigmatic grandfather who lives behind the Iron Veil—a land lorded over by an oppressive emperor. In this foreign place where flowers are contraband, music is illegal, and art is created in hiding, Kaspar seeks to heal his grief—discovering a world of art revolutionaries, espionage, and the Secret Police—who are not what they seem.
Ultimately his search for answers brings him face to face with the meaning of sacrifice. But will anything bring him closer to overcoming his loss?
“Writing what you know is really about writing what you think you know,” said I.N.J. Culbard. “Instead of what really happened, a confabulation grows with each retelling—a story, transforming a factual truth into a universal one. I took an event from one hot summer afternoon in my own life, made it the finale and then worked backwards through my story, using the jigsaw puzzle of my own memories growing up on both sides of the Iron Curtain during the Cold War as a foundation for this world—that is a little off-kilter to our own.”
Salamandre deluxe softcover will be available for $24.99 in comic shops November 2, 2022 and in bookstores November 15, 2022.
