The City of Belgium and Library featured in WFP

Library

By Michael Dumontier and Neil Farber

(Drawn & Quarterly, 108 pages, $22)

Winnipeg artists Michael Dumontier and Neil Farber, once members of the local Royal Art Lodge collective, have continued collaborating on all manner of projects, both online and in print. For Library, the pair teamd up on bringing a collection of imagined books, painted in a myriad of colours, with text adorning the jackets that alternates between poignant, heartfelt, unexplained, surreal or just plain chuckle-worthy. Some pages feature a single, larger image, while others bring up to nine colourful, imaginative images. Readers will be tempted to keep it nearby, as every look at the book offers some new discovery. You’ll be wishing many of the books actually existed.

 

The City of Belgium

By Brecht Evans

(Drawn & Quarterly, 336 pages, $35)

Some graphic novels beautifully convey a story with simple, stark images and words. Brecht Evens’ sprawling The City of Belgium is stunning for the opposite reason. Practically every page explodes with bursts of colour, as the narrative follows a trio of storylines through busy social scenes — characters dining at a restaurant, having drinks, cavorting through the night and more. The rich tapestry of colours, stunning contrasts between light and dark and the busy groups of people flitting from table to table chattering away provide a welcome, dazzling reminder of what life was like in the Before Times.