Fires & Murmur (Dover Graphic Novels) Hardcover – February 15, 2017

Absolutely gorgeous. Fires and Murmur is expressionist art in the form of a surreal graphic novel. The paired stories are tantalizing, if disturbing, dreams that stir the imagination and linger in memory. Reading was like gazing at a piece of art. I found myself pausing, repeatedly looking back and thinking about what I’ve seen. Fire and Murmur is beautiful, horrifying and awe inspiring. It delves into the area that lays beyond normal perception where genius and madness walk half in hand. Both are tales of voyages, of transitions in form and thought.Fires and Murmur is definitely not your average graphic novel. It is a fantasy, but far more surreal than many readers are accustomed to. The art is incredible, and when paired with the stories makes an even larger impact. Personally I see Fires and Murmur more as a stirring work of art, than as a graphic novel. It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but if you like the unusual, the beautiful and the surreal, you should definitely pick up a copy of Fires and Murmur.5 / 5I received a copy of Fires and Murmur from the publisher and Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.-Crittermom

Fires and Murmur by Lorenzo Mattotti et. al. is a free NetGalley ebook that I read in late January.'Fires' is a Gothic, industrial world of slate, blue and seaglass until its submarine sailors step onto a loamy, mossy island with Pointilist floral scrubs, and dream mutinously of vivid, Guernica flames and fire imps.'Murmur' tells of a man mapping his way back to a familiar dimension of memory. The spectrum is broad between the Latin-dotted, court garden known (i.e. the brothers sparing in the cloud was my most favorite framable concept) and the dark, fireflight, crimson, midnight unknown.

This volume presents two important works by Mattotti, (from 1988 and 1993). The stark and intense lines and colors immediately demand your attention. The stories are feverish, opaque and disjointed and you feel the tales the way you "feel" the artwork."Murmurs" struck me as the stronger of the two. We follow a character who seems to be suspended between life and death, or possibly between madness and sanity, or between hope and despair. Hints and suggestions, opening with a sense of dread and yet somehow hopeful by the end, this is a fever dream of a story."Fires" feels like a 1930's expressionist variation on "Heart of Darkness". You can read it as a commentary on colonialization, or an examination of the industrial versus natural, or as an illustration of the inner turmoil of the artist. And, of course, all of those themes, at some level, may be the same. Since the "story" takes a back seat to the artwork, and since you could probably read this from back to front and still enjoy it, it's probably best to go with Mattotti and take from the book what you will.However much you struggle with, or demand, clarity, the larger appeal here, it seems to me, is the alternatingly dreamy and fierce artwork. The book rewards multiple rereadings and re-examinations, and I found myself caught up in its intense and yet lyrical sweep. Fantastic indeed.(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

'Fires and Murmur' is a reprint of two stories. 'Fires' is written and illustrated by Lorenzo Mattotti. Murmur is written by Jerry Kramsky and illustrated by Mattotti. Both stories are bizarre and illustrated vividly.In 'Fires' a battleship called the Anselm II is dispatched to investigate a strange island that burns mysteriously. The island also has strange inhabitants which Lieutienant Absinthe finds out when he goes to the island. This changes him and causes him to go a bit crazy.In 'Murmur' the title character is a man who has amnesia. He also has a strange disfiguring mark on his face. The story follows his quest to find out who he is.In both cases the art is colorful and very artistic. Faces and characters distend grotesquely and the landscapes seem foreign and frightening. Reminiscent of Edvard Munch's The Scream, madness and amnesia are represented physically in the features of the characters. These are characters in unreliable landscapes experiencing psychic trauma.I'm grateful for Dover making these reprints available. This title was unknown to me when it came out, probably because it was originally French. Then chance to read it now is great.I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Dover Publications and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.