The Smell of Starving Boys
Words by Loo Hui Phang
Art by Frederik Peeters
Hardback with jacket, 112 pp, $29.99
Texas, 1872. With the Civil War over, exploration has resumed in the territories to the west of the Mississippi, and geologist Stingley is looking to capitalise. Together with photographer Oscar Forrest, who catalogues the terrain, and their young assistant Milton, Stingley strikes out into territory that might one day support a new civilisation.
But this is no virgin land. As the frontiersmen move west, it becomes clear that the expedition won't go unchallenged. Stingley has led them into a hostile region: the native Comanches' last bastion of resistance. In a spectacular landscape, under the looming threat of attack, the boundaries between the civilised and natural worlds dissolve. As social conventions disappear and personal inhibitions go into retreat, an intimate relationship develops between Oscar and Milton.
An intense Western, The Smell of Starving Boys explores the clash between two worlds: one defined by rationality and technology, the other by shamanism and nature.
But this is no virgin land. As the frontiersmen move west, it becomes clear that the expedition won't go unchallenged. Stingley has led them into a hostile region: the native Comanches' last bastion of resistance. In a spectacular landscape, under the looming threat of attack, the boundaries between the civilised and natural worlds dissolve. As social conventions disappear and personal inhibitions go into retreat, an intimate relationship develops between Oscar and Milton.
An intense Western, The Smell of Starving Boys explores the clash between two worlds: one defined by rationality and technology, the other by shamanism and nature.
Frederik Peeters
Frederik Peeters is an award-winning Swiss comic book artist best known for his autobiographical graphic novel Blue Pills. He has received five nominations in the Best Book category at the Angoulême International Comics Festival. In 2013, he won the Best Series prize at the same event for the first two volumes of his science fiction series Aama. Peeters is also the author of Pachyderme, Sandcastle (with Pierre-Oscar Lévy) and The Smell of Starving Boys.
Loo Hui Phang
Loo Hui Phang is the author of comics including Panorama (with Cédric Manche) and Prestige de l'uniforme (with Hugues Micol), and has also written plays, books, films, performances and installations, for which she has collaborated with renowned illustrators like Blexbolex and Ludovic Debeurme. Born in Laos, she grew up in Normandy.
Reviews
"Peeters’s stunning clear-line art remains as unflinchingly crisp and honest as a photograph. Peeters is already well known to European comics followers, but this richly drawn epic will appeal to broader readers, too."
— Publishers Weekly