Der Band wird am 21.September erscheinen und 184 Seiten haben.
"An uncanny and eye-opening journey into a mysterious building, adapted from a short story by Jeff VanderMeer
To the west: trees. To the east: a mall. North: fast food. South: darkness. And at the centre is The Building, an office building wherein several factions vie for dominance. Inside, the walls are infiltrated with vines, a mischief of mice learn to speak English, and something eerie happens once a month on the fifth floor. In Secret Life, Theo Ellsworth uses a deep-layered style to interpret Nebula award-winning author Jeff VanderMeer's short story. What emerges is a mind-bending narrative that defamiliarizes the mundanity of office work and makes the arcane rituals of The Building home.
When his manager borrows his pen for a presentation, a man is driven to unspeakable acts as he questions the role the pen has played in his workplace success. The despised denizens of the second floor develop their own tongue, incomprehensible to everyone else in The Building. A woman plants a seed of insurgency that quickly permeates every corner of the building with its sweet, nostalgic perfume.
With deft insight, Secret Life observes the sinister individualism of bureaucratic settings in contrast with an unconcerned natural world. As the narrative progresses you may begin to suspect that the world Ellsworth has brought to life with hypnotic visuals is not so secret after all; in fact, it's uncannily similar to our own."
Ein paar Infos zu dem Projekt gibt es auf bleedingcool.com:
"Drawn & Quarterly has acquired world rights to the graphic novel Secret Life by cartoonist Theo Ellsworth, adapted from the story by Nebula Award-winning author Jeff VanderMeer. Secret Life will be published in Fall 2021. D+Q Acquiring Editor Tom Devlin explained, "It was such an honour to be approached about this project. Theo's intricate drawing style is absolutely entrancing and Jeff's stories are so rich with visual imagery that they almost demand adaptation. I can't imagine a better pairing." Devlin went on to say, "Secret Life is based on Jeff's story, which was first published over a decade ago. The whole graphic novel is set in one building where the building itself is the protagonist, ever morphing and growing. Jeff's story blends horror with social commentary as Theo's swirling, dense pen-lines articulate the suffocating qualities of the place, increasing the visceral gut punch of Secret Life's narrative twists."
Vandermeer's "Secret Life" (enthalten in der gleichnamigen Storysammlung; auf deutsch als "Ein Herz für Lukretia" erschienen) gehört definitiv zu meinen liebsten Kurzgeschichten von ihm - Daher bin ich auf die Umsetzung wirklich extrem gespannt. Ellsworth scheint mir auch der passende Zeichner zu sein, um den ganzen surrealen Wahnsinn als Comic umzusetzen. Einen Eindruck von seiner Arbeit kann man sich u.a. hier machen.