~or~ Lost in the Flood
(And How We Found Home Again)
Diluvian Myths from Around the World
Written by mpMann and A. David Lewis
and drawn by mpMann
Archaia Studios Press,
December 2007.
A production blog featuring e-mail correspondance between
A. David Lewis and mpMann details the development of the story.
Production Blog
Our title has been derived in part from:
The Flood
Blood has been harder to dam back than water.
Just when we think we have it impounded safe
Behind new barrier walls (and let it chafe!)
It breaks away in some new kind of slaughter.
Robert Frost after the 1927 Mississippi Flood
"After reading this collection of Flood myths, you'll never look at the
story of Noah the same way again. Mann's stunning artwork brings classical
mythology to vivid life." ~Shaenon Garrity, Editor of Modern Tales
"There's nothing I like better than dependent narratives set in more than one era.
This sure-handed, character-driven telling of our shared flood mythologies offers,
us hope of averting, or at least surviving the deluge ahead. The production of this
book is, in itself, an act of collective redemption." ~Douglas Rushkoff, Testament
"Cool title. But dig this subtitle: ''Lost in the Flood (and How We Found Home Again) Diluvian Myths from Around The World.'' No doubt comic buyers will see that and think, That sounds like the most boring comic book ever made. They would be mistaken. Slaughter takes a host of mythological and religious flood tales — plus a fictional storyline about an eco-warrior trying to reunite with her son after a natural disaster strikes — and attempts to fashion a new, modern myth for our environmentally challenged times. The baseline narrative thread follows Ziusudra, the proto-Noah of Sumerian myth, who is lost at sea in his massive ark and adrift with his own mind as he second-guesses himself and his divine direction. In response, his deity sends him visions of other flood yarns, including a well-realized story about Noah that reminds us how the God of the Bible used some fallen, nutty cats to execute his will. FOR FANS OF... The Lone and Level Sands (Mann and Lewis' previous collaboration); Age of Bronze; will also appeal to comparative lit and Kyoto Accord wonks. DOES IT DELIVER? Well-researched, the dreamy, landscape-style storytelling alone is worth a recommendation. But here's hoping that by story's end Mann and Lewis have forged a truly relevant bond between the Joseph Campbell stuff and the Inconvenient Truth/post-Katrina subtext. A-" ~Jeff Jensen, Entertainment Weekly
Concept: High Waters will collate over a dozen flood myths from around the world into a single coherent narrative. It will feature colorful flights of fantasy and raw human frailties, as well as offering a meditation on conviction (or faith) and doubt. It may also be read as a kind of eco-fable on the concept of mankind as earth's steward.
Structure: The earliest known flood myth is the Sumerian story of Ziusudra, a king of Sharrupak who is warned by a god of the coming flood. He boards a giant ark with his family and herds and rides out the deluge for seven days, finally arriving on the distant island of Dilmun, a kind of terrestrial paradise. This story appears to be the progenitor of subsequent Middle Eastern flood myths, including the best known tale of Noah's Ark.
Ziusudra functions as the narrator and through-line for the other stories. We find him on his ark; it is the seventh day and he has not slept in this time. He stands watch for their salvation and experiences visions or waking dreams of other times and places, other floods. It is Ziusudra who relates these to us. Three of these will provide major storylines.
Noah: Our take on this familiar tale incorporates elements of the Muslim version into the more familiar Hebrew story. While the outlines of this story are similiar to the Ziusudra tale, we portray Noah as a having a very different personality and ultimate fate. Comparisons between the two will cast this seminal myth into a rounder light.
DaYu and Nuwa: two very different Chinese flood myths have been blended together in a cohesive way to illuminate the virtues of preparation and diligence in the face of impending disaster. The legendary Yu the Great tells the story of the goddess Nuwa's triumph over a great flood that would destroy all of China, as a way to inspire his laborers to complete work on a series of dams and canals to control flooding in the mountains of China. As his tale continues, we learn that Yu himself was the inspiration for the goddess's achievements.
Sharon Boatwright: Our third major tale is constructed from whole cloth as a myth for modern times. Sharon Boatwright is the author of a book on environmental disaster who learns that her own family may have been caught up in a flooding disaster parallel to that of the great tsumani that struck South-Eastern Asia, or our own Hurricane Katrina. In the aftermath of this event, she ventures alone in to the devastated city in search of her lost home and family. In several respects this will be the most mythic story in tone, as it becomes an almost silent story over the course of it and her adventure becomes increasingly surreal.
In addition to these major stories, two or three "vigniette" myths will be told as two page quickies in each of the books/chapters. Because they are complete stories told in a very short way, thenarrative burden will be handled largely through captions, with the panels illustrating the stories. This technique and various visual cues will help to distinguish these tales from the larger, ongoing stories told through more traditional methods.
At an even more granular level, we anticipate adding lines from movies, songs and references to other water-themed myths as Easter eggs for the discerning. Symbols, motifs and thematic elements are being carefully interwoven between the stories to help them illuminate each other. Snakes, turtles and giants appear in a number of myths around the world and make cameo appearances through out High Waters.
Format: 128pp full-color OGN, may be broken out into four 32 page booklets. Extra length may be obtained through the addition of an Appendix of Sources and References. As with LaLS, a Foreword, Introduction and Afterword may be considered. This will make a handsome follow-up to The Lone and Level Sands if presented as a a digest-sized hardcover. If a preliminary run of pamphlets is used, this would work as a four issue mini-series at a traditional scale. We invite an open dialogue with our publishers while the book is in the planning/writing stages. We anticipate completion of the script sometime in December 2006, with illustration work to commence after the script is completed. As of this writing, we have a completed outline for the entire project, and script for the first chapter/issue.