Humanoids has done it again. They've been bringing the English speaking audience original translated content from all around the globe. Next month they bring us The Sword of Glass. Since the very announcement of the release, I've been jumping up and down in anticipation and of course immediately called up my local comic book retailer and pre-ordered a copy. Humanoids has collected the book in it's entirety for the first time in English and pressed it into their classic hardback. The Sword of Glass can be yours on it's release date, April 15th!
This is one of the most beautiful science fiction/fantasy books I've ever seen. A book that the original Humanoids such as Moebius could be truly proud of. In particular, this book endeared itself to me with it's marvelous creatures and forests. It's something I would have expected out of an 80's anime and reminded of me my childhood. In a way it reminded me of Nausicaa due to it's strong female lead and interesting beastiary. However, the story does remind me of old manga and anime, it looks nothing like manga. Illustrator Laura Zuccheri has a completely original voice, drawing from stark realism and mixing it with pure fantasy. The end result is beautiful. So beautiful that it won her the The Grand Guinigi Award for Best Art at Lucca Festival (Italy).
I contacted Laura with some questions about the book which she answered. I am very happy to share it all with you! Be sure to get your copy on April 15th. Pre-order now!
Laura: Every inspirations comes from my place in Italy. I live now in Germany but my home is in a little village between Bologna, Ferrara, and Modena North of Italy. Here, there is a beautiful country side, full of history, old medieval castles, churches, old houses, swamps, trees and animals...What is very special is the fog that creates strange atmosphere and light...In this strange place, with little villages around and sleepy people. I grasped ideas of architectures, objects, and characters..This flat environment is special because it is out of the globalization tastes and it gives me the opportunity to make something different. For example, speaking of Karelane I mixed up the old red country houses of my place with the architectures of the white cities like Lecce in Puglia and Noto in Sicily...Concerning of creatures, I picked inspirations up from every kind of objects , people, dogs, monkeys, every kind of shape that remind me of something interesting...
TFQ: The Sword of Glass was originally a French publication, how do you feel about it being translated into English and distributed to a wider audience?
Laura: Being in USA next month is fantastic. My unknown place, life, experiences will be shared with people who lives very far from my culture and my country. I'm very happy, I worked so hard on this project with passion and enthusiasm.
TFQ: In the book, we get to see Yama as a child and an adult. What is it like to draw a character from their early years into adulthood? Is it a heavy challenge?
Laura: I love drawing real character, who grows, improves and learns like in the real life....I grasped the idea of Yama from one of my friends, I like her peculiarity in being a woman out of the conformism, elegant but in the same time funny.
TFQ: What was it like to work with Sylviane Corgiat?
Laura: Sylvane and I are friends, we met each other 9 years ago in Paris and we started to work on this project...It was a pleasure and it was easy work with her, she was very open to my ideas and she's a very good writer...I had a great opportunity!
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