7 x 10 inches, 240 pages, b&w, softcover
Eel Mansions, the first full-length graphic novel from MOME artist Derek Van Gieson, is a supernatural soap opera noir. Situated in Mill City, a grimy place inhabited by new wave satanists, secret government agents, abducted family members, booze-hounds, record store clerks, conspiracy theorists, murders, and cartoonists. Van Gieson skillfully un-weaves a damning, knotted sweater of intrigue, suspense and dark humor.
Derek Van Gieson is an artist, writer, musician, currently living in Minneapolis, MN. His art has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Stranger, and his short comics have been published in the literary comics anthology MOME from Fantagraphics Books.
Praise for Eel Mansions:
“From a graphic standpoint, Derek Van Gieson lays on the ink with a jackhammer; thematically, he’s dredging some infernal pits of the collective psyche for images, characters, and surreal situations that add up to a nightmarish skull-f**k of a book.”
— Onion AV Club
“Van Gieson manages to blend a lifetime's worth of influences into one heady brew.”
— Rob Clough, High-Low Comics
"Van Gieson thinks like cinema. Big. Epic. […] For the reader, the question is simple: do you wanna ride along? VROOM!" — Comics Bulletin
"If all of this sounds too wacky to be understood, you’re only half right. This comic isn’t meant to be linear, nor does it inspire to cohesion. In fact, part of the success of Eel Mansions is in its fragmentation. It’s as if Van Gieson is asking us to let go of narrative sense-making, to temporarily suspend those cognitive devices that puts things together, and just enjoy the ride." — The Comics Alternative