Fish

Description

In the quiet heat of the French Riviera, where the long days of blissful summer are tempered by the annual rabble of revellers and sun seekers whose arrival excites a new life into otherwise sleepy towns, a listless and sombre child seeks solace in his questions about death. It is the summer after Milo's mother and father were involved in a fatal accident and his cousins are visiting at his Grandparents' crowded house in the Cote D'Azur. Despite the warm, familial setting, Milo cannot escape the grim spectre of death that seems to loom everywhere, he is morbidly fascinated by its presence. He sees it wherever he looks, whatever he does, and the fragility of his own existence plagues his every thought. So, when a missing girl is found drowned on a public beach, Milo thinks that seeing her will finally lift the veil of the great unknown and provide him with answers to the questions that have overwhelmed him since the day he lost everything.

Reviews

Gold Medal in the Short Form category from the Society of Illustrators Comic and Cartoon Art Annual"Fish is a shining example of how text and art work together to tell a story in the graphic novel format. The sparse text stands out against the gorgeous, coastal backdrop, and warm hues of purples and pinks give everything a dreamlike quality, tying into Milo s grieving state. This short yet powerful glimpse into Milo s life will leave teens with plenty to think about. Hand this to readers interested in quiet, emotional, and character-driven stories." - School Library Journal"Given the 17 X 23 project s tight parameters, Bagnerilli s true subject, transience, is cannily chosen. The work itself is true to life-beautiful, imperfect and almost impossibly short. - Hooded Utilitarian"The most impressive thing about Fish is the careful weighting and thought obvious in each component and yet bought together seamlessly; artless in execution to create something which is neither answer nor question, but existent in its complexity and subtlety, and the richer for it." - Zainab Aktar for Comics and Cola"The story is an incongruous one, deliberately at odds with both the principal character a young boy and the picturesque landscape of the French Riviera at the height of summer....we won t ruin it and tell you how death reveals itself and if Mylo is able to escape it, but it s a short and gripping read." - Design Week"Fish reads with a completeness often found in sizable graphic novels published by the likes of Pantheon." - Comic Book Resources"Wow! Not what I was expecting. A very deep, dark and depressing tale of death and the accompanying feelings of grief and fear. [] The art is simple and unpretentious with a cold colour palette of blue violets that fill the air with the chill of death." - It's All Comic To Me"The Italian Bagnarelli wisely illustrates Fish with a warm palette to create a beautiful summer world of the French Riviera, which underscores the grief and sharpens the morbidity. The scenery is happy and bright, but you re not. [. . .] There s a grossness to being alive that Fish articulates shockingly well. Loser City"If you are looking for something a little different, a special work that bears rereading, thoughtful consideration, and emotional investment, Fish, a short, but powerful poetic meditation on death, is a work of art worth seeking out."Fantasy Literature"The long stares, pointed images, and terse dialogue, reveal a troubled young man struggling to understand an incomprehensible loss. The saturated colors, equally warm and unsettling, fill the reader with the same sense of unease, and help build the story to its final reveal of decay and death."-The Comic Age"

Author description

Bianca Bagnarelli was born in Milan, Italy. She is a Graphic Author and has worked on comics for Nobrow 8, Kus and Ampel magazine. In 2010, Bagnarelli founded Delebile, a small independent label that publishes short comic stories by Italian and foreign artists.