An aesthetically deft and emotionally powerful new story will be hitting comic-book shelves this fall in Anzuelo, an original graphic novel from Eisner Award-winning Spanish cartoonist and editor Emma Ríos (Pretty Deadly). Published in the States by Image Comics, the standalone story is a rejection of “the notion that violence is the only response to a life without hope.”
The Sea, secretly more complex than anyone imagined, revolts one day. The horizon folds as the Sea absorbs the world and transforms everything that’s been pulled inside it. Three kids find themselves unmoored and lost, but brought together by the physical and mental changes wrought by the tides and a desire to avoid harming any living creature.
Animation Magazine today premieres the haunting and beautiful animated trailer created by Ríos and animator/cartoonist Luis Yang for this November 6 release, set to music by Spanish composer Fingerspit (Paula Ruiz). We are also pleased to share a selection of advance-look pages from the book itself — which has already been hailed by Publishers Weekly as a “stunningly rendered post-apocalyptic eco-horror,” and has drawn comparisons with the likes of Little Bird by Darcy Van Poelgeest & Ian Bertram, and Daytripper by Gabriel Bá & Fábio Moon.
Ríos is an Eisner Award winner, known for her bestselling work and breakout hit Pretty Deadly (co-created with New York Times bestselling writer Kelly Sue DeConnick), the critically acclaimed graphic novel I.D. and her other series Mirror (co-created with Malaysian artist Hwei Lim) — all published by Image Comics. She has also collaborated with Marvel, DC and Boom! on several titles, and as illustrator for clients such as Sony Interactive Entertainment, PRADA, Ardbeg and Wizards of the Coast.
“I spoke with Luis Yang about the possibility of animating a 30 seconds teaser for the book, when he was assisting me with the finals, helping me clean the watercolors. We both thought it would be fun and started sharing ideas until finally focusing on it a few months ago. And we ended up getting carried away,” Ríos explains.
“Luis’ initial draft of the short was based on some of the scenes and landscapes from Anzuelo that struck an emotional chord with him. We sent it to Fingerspit so she could create a theme and work along with her for the whole piece. We then made other adjustments and proceeded with the finished artwork. Given that the book was entirely illustrated by hand using watercolors, we both decided to translate those to bring the analogic love to the piece, and also let part of it go wild where Luis could express himself freely along with a faster paced rhythm in Paula’s piece.”
Yang is an independent cartoonist, editor and animator based in A Coruña, Spain. He directed and animated the “When I Grow UP” lyric video for singer and visual artist Yaeji in 2020 (XL Records), and has collaborated with her on several occasions since. He also worked on the light animation in Alberto Vázquez’s award-winning feature Unicorn Wars. As a cartoonist, Yang focuses on small press; he has collaborated with Peow and currently curates and edits the Amorcito anthology. His last book in collaboration with Uxía Larrosa, El Beso de la Sirena, has just been released in Spain by La Cúpula.
The Anzuelo spot was animated in Procreate by Yang using the line art, which then got a final watercolor application by Ríos, scanned and cleaned up in Photoshop. The animation was finalized and exported through Photoshop and After Effects. “We recorded the closing and the sea effects directly with our phones to play with them, without paying much thought to it. The lettering was all handwritten by me,” Ríos adds. “When we finished everything we sent it to Paula again, so she could adjust her theme to the final length and the sounds in it. Everything was very organic.”
You can see more work by Emma Ríos at belugaskin.com and by Luis Yang on Instagram @suscrofad. You can also hear more from Fingerspit on Bandcamp and Spotify.
Anzuelo will be available at local comic book shops on Wednesday, November 6 and through independent bookstores, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Indigo and Waterstones on Tuesday, November 19. The OGN will also be available across many digital platforms, including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books and Google Play.
