To engage with Ignatz Award winner Anders Nilsen's visually arresting Tongues, Volume 1 is to do more than simply read. This brilliant graphic novel, a collection of the series' first six issues, uses full-color realism and design-heavy layouts to invite uncommonly close attention. Its narrative and art will leave readers awed, both by the hand capable of rendering such vivid images and by the mind that was able to conceive of them.
Nilsen (Big Questions) draws on the mythology of Prometheus, the creator and protector of humanity, but there are no flowing robes or white beards in the depictions of these gods. Instead, each page features stunning geometric panels filled with talking animals, desolate landscapes, and a riveting look at humanity through eons of development, as well as the stories of a girl named Astrid and a young man walking through the desert talking to a stuffed bear.
As the plot moves between and across time, generations of eagles form a symbiotic relationship with the god chained on an isolated mountainside, who sees the good in his beloved creations despite the destruction they have wrought. Their reckless disregard cannot be forgiven, however, by the prisoner's brother Epimetheus, who argues for their elimination: "They are dismantling the very systems of the planet. The weather, the air, the oceans... the stain of their heedlessness now covers the planet." Though humanity is threatened, this volume offers no resolution to these dangers, presenting instead a hopeful arc sure to cement anticipation of the next installment. Demonstrating a wide-ranging intelligence and an innovative style, Tongues stretches the boundaries of traditional comic arts to create something freshly compelling. --Sara Beth West, freelance reviewer and librarian