Songs of the Abyss

(Paperback)

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Description

Songs of the Abyss, the evolution of Eamon Espey's critically acclaimed Wormdye, advances his obsession with grotesque spirituality. See ancient Egyptian gods giving birth to biblical giants, Santa Claus as the Devil's agent, and a scientist's sadistic experiments in search of enlightenment-all immaculately rendered in Espey's inimitable compositions.

Reviews

"It's tough for authors to figure out what to do at a graphic novel reading: Do you show slides Talk about the book Jump straight to the Q&A Cartoonist Eamon Espey presents a unique solution: a shadow puppet show adapting a chapter of his newest book, Songs of the Abyss, that is "based on the true story of a man that has often been referred to as 'the last wild Indian.'" The rest of Songs of the Abyss features Egyptian gods, biblical figures, and the revelation of Santa Claus's true job: agent of Satan." - The Stranger

"For the release of his newest book, Songs of the Abyss, Espey joined forces with Baltimore puppeteer Lisa Krause to create a puppet show adaptation of one of the book's stories, "Ishi's Brain." The apocalyptic tale of alien invasion, pagan worship, and mountain goat abduction was presented using every type of puppetry possible. These included shadow puppets, marionettes, and finally Espey himself donning a papier-mch skull mask as the story's main character/demon. With zero speaking or text the story's narrative was slightly hard to follow, but the haunting tone of the visuals and the eerie soundtrack were spot on. Espey is a master of meticulousness, though none of his highly-detailed comics come off as visually overwhelming or cluttered." - CityArts Seattle

"Espey's newest book, Songs of the Abyss, is a masterwork... ...I was delighted to find that the captions of the pieces were kept from us until the end of the book, to be used as a sort of a visual glossary. This encourages the reader to let go of the impulse toward narrative and immediate meaning-making, and instead allows one to engage with the works in more of a state of shocked reverie. Still, fun to go back afterwards and pin Espey's words to his pictures. I highly encourage everyone to pick up a copy." - Phantasmaphile

"We must be careful in what we create, because our creations can quickly get out of our control. The abyss awaits us all, Espey points out, and it will lay waste to every institution. He suggests not necessarily that there's a heaven for the just, but that goodness and love are their own forms of transcendence. Even with his annotations, this book is open to all sorts of interpretations, but there's no question that it demands that the reader work to put together the images and follow the nightmare logic that he so expertly crafted." - The Comics Journal

"This gorgeously rendered, wordless book of pen-and-ink drawings begins with the Egyptian story of the creation of the world as we see Atum masturbating into his own mouth and vomiting out Tefnut and Shu as progeny. As these two figures wander away from their creator, Atum pulls out his eye and throws it as far as he can, until it finds them. When it does, he weeps and creates the first human. From here, the story migrates to the biblical tale of Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel (though, here, they are Tommy and Marco, recurrent characters in Espey's work)... ...The result is stunning and should put Espey on the level with almost any comic artist working today--and not just in Baltimore." - City Paper

"The element that holds it all together is, again, Espey's striking artistic ability. In spite of the strange and often disturbing subject matter portrayed, the most powerful and resonant dimension of Songs of the Abyss is the artful draftsmanship and the brilliant execution of it. There is an hypnotic cumulative effect to it, an almost narcotic sensory response to the sustained visual assault. The book alternates between traditional six panel pages, full page illustrations, and many permutations in between; despite it's own abstract obliqueness, it unfolds in an oddly fluid way, with a logic that resonates from the deepest recesses of the human id." - IndieReader

Author Bio

Eamon Espey was born in Boston, MA in 1977. In 2002 he moved to New York to attain a Bachelors Degree in Cartooning from the School of Visual Arts. Around that time he began self-publishing the comic series Wormdye and co-founded Mount Olympus Society. His work has appeared in Critical Citadel, Free Radicals, and the Spitting Anorexic. Today Eamon lives and works in Baltimore, MD.