Jonathan Cape, Final Cut

Final Cut: from the Eisner award-winning author of Black Hole

‘An instant classic from a master of the form’ PUBLISHERS WEEKLY The beloved and award-winning author of Black Hole returns with an arresting story of an artist's obsessions As a child, Brian and his friend Jimmy would make home movies in their yards, coaxing their friends into starring as victims of grisly murders and smearing lipstick on them to simulate blood. Now an aspiring filmmaker, he, Jimmy and new girl in town Laurie – his reluctant muse – set off to a remote cabin in the woods. Armed with an old 16-millimetre camera, they film a true sci-fi horror movie where humans are born of disembodied alien wombs, a homage to Brian's favourite movie The Invasion of the Body Snatchers. But as Brian's affections for Laurie go seemingly unreciprocated, Brian writes and draws himself into a fantasy where she is the girl of his dreams – both his damsel in distress and his saviour. Final Cut blurs the line between dreams and reality, imagination and perception in this astonishing look at what it truly means to express oneself through art.

Ein sofortiger Klassiker von einem Meister der Form. Der geliebte und preisgekrönte Autor von Black Hole kehrt mit einer fesselnden Geschichte über die Obsessionen eines Künstlers zurück. Als Kind drehten Brian und sein Freund Jimmy in ihren Gärten Heimvideos, überredeten ihre Freunde, als Opfer grausamer Morde zu schauspielern, und schminkten ihnen Lippenstift ins Gesicht, um Blut zu simulieren. Jetzt, als aufstrebender Filmemacher, machen er, Jimmy und das neue Mädchen in der Stadt, Laurie - seine widerwillige Muse - sich auf den Weg zu einer abgelegenen Hütte im Wald. Ausgerüstet mit einer alten 16-Millimeter-Kamera drehen sie einen echten Sci-Fi-Horrorfilm, in dem Menschen aus abgetrennten Alien-Gebärmüttern geboren werden, eine Hommage an Brians Lieblingsfilm Die Körperfresser kommen. Doch während Brians Zuneigung zu Laurie scheinbar unerwidert bleibt, schreibt und zeichnet Brian sich in eine Fantasie, in der sie das Mädchen seiner Träume ist - sowohl seine Damsel in Distress als auch seine Retterin. Final Cut verwischt die Grenze zwischen Träumen und Realität, Vorstellungskraft und Wahrnehmung in diesem erstaunlichen Blick darauf, was es wirklich bedeutet, sich durch Kunst auszudrücken.

‘An instant classic from a master of the form’ PUBLISHERS WEEKLY The beloved and award-winning author of Black Hole returns with an arresting story of an artist's obsessions As a child, Brian and his friend Jimmy would make home movies in their yards, coaxing their friends into starring as victims of grisly murders and smearing lipstick on them to simulate blood. Now an aspiring filmmaker, he, Jimmy and new girl in town Laurie – his reluctant muse – set off to a remote cabin in the woods. Armed with an old 16-millimetre camera, they film a true sci-fi horror movie where humans are born of disembodied alien wombs, a homage to Brian's favourite movie The Invasion of the Body Snatchers. But as Brian's affections for Laurie go seemingly unreciprocated, Brian writes and draws himself into a fantasy where she is the girl of his dreams – both his damsel in distress and his saviour. Final Cut blurs the line between dreams and reality, imagination and perception in this astonishing look at what it truly means to express oneself through art.