Better pictures soon!
A quick look to Golem Angoulême limited variant jacket.
Better pictures soon!
Better pictures soon!
U.S. edition of Golem will be distributed in a special limited version for the Kinokuniya bookstores network only.
Kinokuniya is the largest bookstore chain in Japan, with 56 shops around the country, in cities such as Osaka, Kyoto and Sapporo. Overall, it has more than 80 stores in Japan and overseas (Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates).
I love Japanese art. I love japanese art books, A LOT.
Everytime I have a reasonable amount of free time (20 days is a minimum) I fly to Japan to enjoy all of it's artistic beauties. And as an artist myself, I can't avoid being sucked in those mesmerizing bookstores Japan has to offer.
My home bookshelf is half japan, half rest of the world.
I spent most of my "japanese" time in bookstores, Kynokuniya stores are among those sacred art shrines. They always felt like a forbidden, unattainable stage for my artwork. I thoroughly searched the Shinjuku stores, book by book, to learn as much as I could from the masters, young and old, that Japan has to offer to the world's visual culture.
So, all of a sudden, knowing that my book will be in the same Kinokuniya stores I so much enjoyed really is a dream that comes true. It's unbelievable: I feel so honoured and lucky to have been chosen for this collaboration between Magnetic Press and Kinokuniya Books I will be always grateful for this amazing gift: It's a milestone in my artistic career and my life.
It means a lot to me.
All the details about this Magnetic Press/Kinokuniya collaboration can be found here, in this Publishers Weekly article.
http://www.magnetic-press.com/golem/
Thanks to Magnetic Press, Golem will have it's printed USA release on february 23rd.
Golem got some asskicking endorsements by huge names in the industry:
Jonathan Hickman
(East of West, Marvel's Secret Wars, The Manhattan Projects)
“It’s not the story, or the art, or the even the design that makes GOLEM a great book. It’s the union of those things – the whole. LRNZ has crafted a perfect package of pure entertainment.”
Brenden Fletcher
(Batgirl, Black Canary, Gotham Academy, Assassin’s Creed)
“GOLEM is a truly breathtaking work of unrivalled imagination and dark beauty. LRNZ is the future of comics.”
Nick Dragotta:
(East of West, X-Statix, Superman: American Alien)
“Lrnz on Golem is a revelation. It’s an incredibly crafted comic, drawing upon all the best comics has to offer, and Lrnz’s imagination makes it uniquely its own.”
After a first digital release on Comixology (it's split in episodes, still ongoing - check it out at: https://www.comixology.com/Golem-1/digital-comic/317111) Golem finally has a beautiful USA edition: a little smaller than the italian and french one, packs all of the goods in a badass thicker cover jacket.
The U.S. edition features an advanced reading guide with some hints about Golem mithology and symbols: very useful if you want to challenge yourself in a more accurate decryption of the book's ultimate hidden meaning.
A signature edition will be available with a special Eurasian approval card.
Magnetic Press did print some fancy promotional posters too!
Coooool!
After a first digital release on Comixology (it's split in episodes, still ongoing - check it out at: https://www.comixology.com/Golem-1/digital-comic/317111) Golem finally has a beautiful USA edition: a little smaller than the italian and french one, packs all of the goods in a badass thicker cover jacket.
The U.S. edition features an advanced reading guide with some hints about Golem mithology and symbols: very useful if you want to challenge yourself in a more accurate decryption of the book's ultimate hidden meaning.
A signature edition will be available with a special Eurasian approval card.
Magnetic Press did print some fancy promotional posters too!
Coooool!
Today I'll be at the 43rd Festival de la Bande Dessinée d'Angoulême.
It's my first time in Angoulême. Moreover I'll be at Glénat Comics booth presenting my first french comic book, Golem!
I did a small limited variant cover to celebrate this special moment, and I'll be very happy to draw a little sketch on your copy and sign it.
The new cover is a digital/traditional hybrid, with an oil painting mixed with vector graphics.
Here you can read my dedicace schedule:
http://www.glenatcomics.com/festival-angouleme-2016-les-auteurs-invites
On friday I'll probably show up at Galerie Glénat to have a look to the Otomo tribute exhibition where I have a small illustration on display.
See you in Angoulême!
http://www.glenatbd.com/bd/golem-9782344012062.htm
Golem, my first solo comic book, is out in France, published by Glénat comics.
It's doing very well in Italy, and this is the first printed translation available overseas: Magnetic Press already published Golem in the US but it's only digital (comixology) as for now.
The edition is beautiful, incredibly similar to the italian one.
The ending note by Adriano Ercolani was also kept intact, with my great appreciation (in the gallery below!).
I wish you all the best luck possible for your trip in France, dear Steno!
Deep gratitude goes to Bao Publishing and Olivier Jalabert for making this possible.
Thank you all.
Logo for "Golem", my first graphic novel. Published by Bao Publishing.
Logo for a fictional country featured in my first graphic novel, Golem.
Logo for a fictional corporation featured in my first graphic novel, Golem.
Logo for a fictional corporation featured in my first graphic novel, Golem.
Logo for a fictional corporation featured in my first graphic novel, Golem.
GOLEM takes place where reality and dreams converge creating the future: a child’s mind.
Set in a future, post-Eurozone Italy, entrenched in a culture of hyper-capitalism,
GOLEM follows young Steno Critone, a sleepless boy frightened by his own dreams.
One day he is kidnapped by SHORAI during a political protest gone sour.
Taken in by this band of labeled “terrorists,” he learns that things are not as they seem in society, and that in his dreams lies the power to not only change the city, but reality itself.
GOLEM was my first full-length graphic novel. It is a 280 page,
full-color dystopian tale following the adventure of a young boy named Steno.
Originally published in Italy by BAO Publishing (2014), it soon became available in the USA (by Magnetic Press/Lionforge),
France (by Glenat), Spain (by Sapristi) and Asia (through a special variant edition of Magnetic Press/Lionforge’s edition
available exclusively through Kinokuniya Bookstores).
Consiglio d’Europa. Parigi, 7-9 dicembre 1955
GOLEM involved a strange convergence of visual needs, and every one of those needs demanded a very specific solution. But first and foremost, I believed in the viewer’s innate visual prowess. Human brain is a pattern-spotting machine. While I could have used a more familiar approach to the narrative structure -- heavy use of narrative aids to set time and space, etc – those could deprive the viewer of the deep experience that interpreting visuals can deliver. A more subtle approach can enrich the visuals and leave the textual storytelling to an almost empty, silent state. That can give the viewer all the information he or she needs without having to explain everything, using a multi-layered channel that exploits the reader’s ability to make sense out of complex visual information. Dreaming, flashbacks, augmented reality, precognition, hyper-fast action, thoughtfulness -- these are each rendered with a very specific technique that makes a deal with the audience, to set a decoding pattern that needs no explanation.
Find secret hints and extra content with th included DESMO Scanner Android and iOs application to fully exploit the hidden power of Golem symbology for a deeper reading experience.
Qualche tempo fa in un'intervista a "Lo spazio bianco" ho detto che
"Tema di golem saranno la libertà, il potere e la crescita: è una critica radicale delle moderne democrazie tramite il dispositivo narrativo del futuro distopico, come classici i del genere, ma con una impostazione più verosimile e documentata, come nello splendido “Children of Men”di Alfonso Cuaròn. Steno, il protagonista, attraverserà un vero e proprio percorso iniziatico, fino a prendere piena coscienza delle sue capacità. I sogni ad occhi aperti possono cambiare la realtà e golem è un fumetto che incarnerà questa affermazione in pieno."
Era il 2010.
Golem, è un progetto di cui ho scritto il primo soggetto nel 2004 ed è Il mio progetto più importante. In assoluto. Negli anni è cambiato, mutando forma e mole in maniera consistente, passando decine di revisioni. La penultima stesura del 2010 ammontava a oltre 600 tavole, con ovvio cordoglio da parte degli editori ogni volta che provavo anche solo a parlarne.
Potete immaginare la gioia nel constatare che la pena che mi portavo dietro ogni giorno dal 2004 ha finalmente trovato una forma pubblicabile: 120 tavole a colori e un editore, GRRRZETIC.
Golem uscirà quindi in qualche momento imprecisato del 2013 in un formato compatibile con l'editoria contemporanea, con tre edizioni differenti. L'edizione standard avrà la cover che vedete qui sopra. Nella galleria l'originale a matita e un po' di disegni collaterali.
L'illustrazione di copertina è disponibile come sempre anche come stampa Giclee A2, con inchiostri Ultrachrome su carta rag ultrawhite hanemulhe 310gsm
Some anticipations. Let me introduce you Rosabella. It's been a while since I did my last analog penciling work. In the gallery the original drawing I started from.
You can buy this work as an A2 Giclèe Ultrachrome print on Hanemuelhe 310g fine art ultra white rag paper (signed by the author) in the shop section.