Panther – Brecht Evens
Panther by Brecht Evens / ISBN 9781770462267 / 120-page hardcover, 11.2 x 9 inches, published by Drawn and Quarterly
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“Evens is the finest ambassador for Belgian illustration since Hergé.” –The Guardian
Brecht Evens, the award-winning author of The Wrong Place and The Making Of, returns with an unsettling graphic novel about a little girl and her imaginary feline companion. Iconoclastic in his cartooning and page layouts, subtle in his plotting, and deft in his capturing of the human experience, Evens has crafted a tangled, dark masterwork.
Christine lives in a big house with her father and her cat, Lucy. When Lucy gets sick and dies, Christine is devastated. But alone in her room, something special happens: a panther pops out of her dresser drawer and begins to tell her stories of distant Pantherland, where he is the crown prince.
A shape-shifter who tells Christine anything she wants to hear, Panther begins taking over Christine’s life, alienating her from her other toys and friends. As Christine’s world spirals out of control, so does the world Panther has created for her. Panther is a chilling voyage into the shadowy corners of the human psyche. The Drawn & Quarterly edition of Panther is an extended “director’s cut,” featuring additional material not included in the original book.
“Evens doesn’t cage his watercolor brush strokes in panel borders or word balloons. His images float on the page alongside fragments of awkward conversation, barely outlining the contours of the story; he shifts between slow, airy sequences and startling full-page tableaus that parody familiar schools of fine art.” –The New York Times
Brecht Evens is a cartoonist, visual artist, and musician based in Belgium. His first graphic novel in English, The Wrong Place, was awarded the Prix de l’Audace at the Angoulême Comics Festival.
