Grenuord

A surreal crime-thriller from an Italian master. This original full-length graphic novel by Italian comics superstar Francesca ("The Wipeout," "Pastil," "Pop. 666" in Zero Zero) Ghermandi combines her trademark surreal graphics (executed in stunningly subtle pencil tones this time) with a hardboiled Kiss-Me-Deadly style paranoid thriller. Fleeing his previous life as a factory worker, buffeted by his miserable job, his cruel co-workers, and his overbearing girlfriend, our hapless protagonist, George Henderson, has just arrived in a new city to start over: Grenuord. But Grenuord, rocked by terrorist attacks and therefore in full police-state alert mode, does nothing to assuage George's paranoia—especially as strange occurrences begin to accumulate, including a sinister man who, under the guise of checking George's stove, discovers (and absconds with) a toxic glow-in-the-dark substance from his basement, an abusive neighbor, and a beautiful but elusive hitchhiker with a mysterious past—oh, and did we mention that George is actually dead from page one? Twists and turns abound in this stunningly unique graphic novel.