Out now! And available at Oog & Blik/de Bezige Bij; the graphic novel Stad van Klei (City of Clay). Go here to download a printable 300 dpi jpg of the cover.
Based on the Egyptian novel Over the Bridge by Mohamed El- Bisatie, this 136 page story was drawn in Cairo, Egypt where I have been living for the last couple of years.
The book follows the misadventures of civil servant Salem and his descent into madness when he starts labouring on an elaborate scheme that involves the creation of an entire imaginary town and its police force.
While personally collecting the invented town's security budget, Salem finds himself forced to write an endless amount of believable police reports in order to keep the invented town off the radar of his superiors. For this he starts to obsessively build a clay model of the town and it's citizens in his own living room.
Soon the imaginary and the real world fold into one when the town starts to reflect Egypt's corrupt and bureaucratic reality against Salem's will. Instead of earning Salem bonusses, the police force is cracking down on self inflicted security problems. Salem finds himself victimized by the merciless and corrupt police inspector he himself created.
Stad van Klei will be in bookstores in Holland and Belgium soon! Get one now!
