After Lambana: A Graphic Novel
Myth and Magic in Manila
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- $24.99
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- $24.99
Publisher Description
**Included in the Top 50 Best New Comics for Adults in 2022 by The New York Public Library**
Immerse yourself in a fantasy world of Filipino myth, magic, and supernatural suspense!
Lambana--the realm of supernatural fairies known as Diwata--has fallen, and the Magic Prohibition Act has been enacted. To add to his troubles, there's something wrong with Conrad's heart and only magic can prolong his life. He teams up with Ignacio, a well-connected friend who promises to hook him up with the Diwata and their magical treatments--a quest that's not only risky but highly illegal!
On the shadowy, noir-tinged streets of Manila, multiple realities co-exist and intertwine as the two friends seek a cure for the magical malady. Slinky sirens and roaming wraith-like spirits populate a parallel world ruled by corruption and greed, which Conrad must enter to find the cure he seeks. He has little idea of the creatures he will encounter and the truths to be revealed along the way. Will Lambana spill its secrets and provide the healing balm Conrad needs? Or will he perish in the process?
Fans of Neil Gaiman, Emil Ferris and Charles Burns will love this new graphic novel!
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Manila is a city home to two inextricably linked realities in this melancholy but ultimately hopeful graphic novel inspired by Philippine folklore. Ever since a civil war within the magical realm of Lambana, people have been dying from a mysterious disease called "rose," which causes flowers to painfully bloom from their bodies; while mysterious "white shadows," apparitions of living people, wander the streets. In secret, a network of diwata, beings from Lambana, preserve their culture in defiance of the authoritarian government, which forbids the use of magic. Conrad Mendoza de Luna, a young man with a rose on his heart, enters this underground with the help of Ignacio, a mysterious stranger who promises to bring Conrad to a healer. The quest reveals to Conrad the dispossessed lives of former Lambana denizens, as well as memories of his own childhood contact with the magical world. Sketchy, scratchy line work and glowing, brighter-than-Technicolor hues infuse the story with gritty urgency and beauty. This bittersweet urban fantasy unfolds with satisfying layers, and carries pointed echoes of the current political climate in the Philippines. Readers will welcome the diversity it brings to the graphic novel and fantasy genre landscape.
