Tumult
Words by John Harris Dunning
Art by Michael Kennedy
Hardback, 184 pp, $25.99
Adam Whistler topples himself into emotional free fall by impulsively ending his seemingly perfect relationship. He meets the bewitching and troubled Morgan at a party and is instantly ensnared in her life. When he learns that people close to her are being killed, he's determined to protect her. Or is it Adam who needs protection... from Morgan?
Tumult is a stylish contemporary psychological thriller in the tradition of Alfred Hitchcock and Patricia Highsmith.
Tumult is a stylish contemporary psychological thriller in the tradition of Alfred Hitchcock and Patricia Highsmith.
Michael Kennedy
Michael Kennedy is a cartoonist from Tamworth, Staffordshire. He is the artist on Spiritus from Vault Comics and has produced comics in the small press and independent scene. This is his first graphic novel.
John Harris Dunning
John Harris Dunning is the writer of graphic novel Salem Brownstone. He instigated and curated the Comics Unmasked: Art and Anarchy in the UK exhibition at the British Library, the most prestigious exhibition of comics to be held in Britain. He’s written for GQ, Esquire, Dazed, iD, The Guardian and Metro.
Reviews
"Tumult is a cracking read. It kept me turning the pages and hurtled along at a great pace… I couldn’t put it down"
— Charlie Adlard
"The story was tremendous, a real page-turner. And I loved Michael Kennedy’s artwork"
— Frank Quitely
"It looks fantastic, its frames drawn in a combination of hallucinatory colour and noirish inkiness. This singular comic [has a] slippery, shivery power"
— The Observer (Graphic Novel of the Month)
"Tumult reads like an art house thriller. An ode to cinema, it has shades of Jim Jarmusch or a hipster Hitchcock, and some of the boldest, most original art I’ve seen in years"
— Christian Ward
"Incredible, inspiring, infinitely readable"
— Craig Thompson
"Tumult is the coolest indie movie on paper. Oblique, funny and beautiful work from two future comic stars!"
— Sean Phillips
"Unique, thrilling and illustrated with gusto"
— Michael Allred
"I was so keen to unravel the mystery I didn’t get up from the sofa till it was read. Only complaint is that I wanted more by the end of it."
— Frazer Irving
“Utterly compelling to an almost sinister extent”
— Jake Arnott
“An involving story and great graphic impact”
— Dave Gibbons
“When I'd finished reading Tumult, it felt like I’d met an interesting person on a train journey, and when I got off at my stop, I hoped to meet them again. We keep books on the shelf as company - some of them are best friends we visit often. Tumult is a journey I must travel again.”
— Simon Bisley
"'Tumult' is aptly titled. Dunning nods freely to hipster lit and pop culture — from William S. Burroughs and Anaïs Nin to 'Rocky' and 'Predator' — which sets the mood and parameters. What begins as a self-conscious genre tribute rapidly turns into a head-spinning adventure with an intensity all its own."
— The New York Times