Sweeping Family Saga and Strange Revolution in I.N.J. Culbard’s SALAMANDRE, The Latest from the Acclaimed Imprint Curated by Karen Berger!

 

 

 

Berger Books and Dark Horse Comics present Salamandre: a uniquely evocative graphic novel about family, loss, and the freedom of art from award-winning writer and artist I.N.J. Culbard (Everything, Tales from the Umbrella Academy: You Look Like Death) about 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…

Here’s an exclusive preview from the incredible book! It’s an engrossing story inspired by Culbard’s own experiences as a child with a fantastical spin on it.

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.”

 

You see, for a long time, because I couldn’t actually remember being with my father, I felt like I had no actual memories of him. It’s not until I sat down and made this book that I realised I did have memories of him because I could remember how I felt about him. Those emotions, those feelings…those are memories. As I said earlier, when we create art it’s not how something is, it’s how it feels, just as a memory is not how something was, it’s how it felt.”  -I.N.J. Culbard

 

“I was blown away when I first heard I.N.J.’s thrilling graphic novel idea inspired by his unusual travels as a child,” said Karen Berger. “It has a real European comics feel—kind of like an off-beat Tintin,panoramic vistas mired by underlying political danger, sparked with dashes of wonder and the fantastic. Ultimately, it’s about perseverance of love, and the power that memory and stories have over us. It’s I.N.J. Culbard’s immense storytelling talent as never seen before and I’m so excited to be sharing it with the world.”

Exclusive commentary by I.N.J. Culbard

“We’ve seen Mélisande light cigarettes but never finish them, which is a reflection of her story arc up to this point. Unfinished business. As mentioned earlier, memory is an act of imagination, and just by engaging in memory we are actively imagining, and this awakens something in Mélisande, something she’d forgotten.

When creating art, I think it’s important for an artists to learn something about themselves from the process. There was an Inside the Actors Studio interview with Steven Spielberg in which the host, James Lipton, asking Spielberg about Close Encounters of the Third Kind, he says “your father was a computer scientist, your mother was a musician. When the spaceship lands, how do they communicate?”

And Spielberg smiles because he immediately gets what Lipton is getting at. And Spielberg says “That’s a very good question, I like that. You’ve answered the question.” Lipton goes on to clarify, “they make music with their computers and they are able to speak to each other.” And Spielberg says “you know, I would love to say I intended that…”

I learned an enormous amount from working on this book, not just on a technical level (as I always do working with Karen Berger and the team at Berger Books) but on a personal level too.

You see, for a long time, because I couldn’t actually remember being with my father, I felt like I had no actual memories of him. It’s not until I sat down and made this book that I realised I did have memories of him because I could remember how I felt about him.

Those emotions, those feelings…those are memories. As I said earlier, when we create art it’s not how something is, it’s how it feels, just as a memory is not how something was, it’s how it felt.”  -I.N.J. Culbard

 

Salamandre deluxe softcover in comic shops and in bookstores today December 20, 2022. It is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and at your local comic shop and bookstore. Salamandre retails for $24.99.

 

About Dark Horse Comics

Founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson, Dark Horse Comics is an excellent example of how integrity and innovation can help broaden a unique storytelling medium and transform a company with humble beginnings into an industry giant. Over the years, Dark Horse has published the work of creative legends such as Yoshitaka Amano, Margaret Atwood, Paul Chadwick, Geof Darrow, Will Eisner, Neil Gaiman, Dave Gibbons, Faith Erin Hicks, Kazuo Koike, Matt Kindt, Jeff Lemire, Mike Mignola, Frank Miller, Moebius, Chuck Palahniuk, Wendy Pini, Richard Pini, and Gerard Way. In addition, Dark Horse has a long tradition of establishing exciting new creative talent throughout all of its divisions. The company has also set the industry standard for quality licensed comics, graphic novels, collectibles, and art books, including Stranger Things, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra, Minecraft, The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario, Dragon Age, James Cameron’s Avatar, Game of Thrones, Mass Effect, StarCraft, The Witcher, and Halo. Today, Dark Horse Comics is one of the world’s leading entertainment publishers.

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All images courtesy of Dark Horse Comics

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