It’s giving us moody, ‘Expats’ vibes, awash with watercolors that make us want to hunker down with a warm blanket and journal as we jot down our feelings staring at the relentless rain outside. If that sounds like your kind of escapism, then you will love the brand new original graphic novel ‘Seoul Before Sunrise’ by critically-acclaimed artist Samir Dahmani, from internationally-renowned publisher Humanoids, out May 21st, 2024.
Painted in stunning watercolor scenes, Seoul Before Sunrise is about a young woman named Seong-Ji—haunted by a lost friendship—who makes an unlikely connection with a mysterious stranger during nocturnal explorations of Seoul.
Longtime friends Seong-ji and Ji-won are excited to begin university in Seoul, swearing to stay close in the big city but from the moment they arrive, they begin to drift apart. Her focus split between her rigorous accounting program and her overnight job at a grocery store, Seong-ji tries to make peace with the loss.
It’s during her overnight shifts that she encounters an enigmatic young woman who spends her nights entering the empty homes of other people to paint and photograph these places.
Now, the normally rational Seong-ji finds herself swept up in a dreamlike otherworld, made up of freedom and creativity. As she explores these quiet places with her newfound acquaintance, she uncovers not only an intimate portrait of strangers, but perhaps even of herself.
If you are captivated by this dream-like story and visuals, you may be interested to know where the artist gets his inspiration from, and the cultural experiences he drew on when creating this graphic novel.
Samir Dahmani was born in Montbéliard in the early 1980s and has a master’s degree in comics. Following discussions with Korean students, he was inspired to produce a comic strip about the country, and to travel there to document his experiences. Returning to Angoulême in January 2016, he and his wife, author & illustrator Yun-bo, developed Je suis encore là-bas, a project about French and Korean expatriation, featuring the way each person looks at the other’s society.
‘Seoul Before Sunrise’ will be available in bookstores everywhere (bookshop.org) and in comic shops (comicshoplocator.com) in May 2024. Digital copies can be purchased from comiXology and other digital platforms.
We were lucky enough to feature an exclusive excerpt from the graphic novel for our readers, which you can see below.
