Fishflies

Eisner winner Lemire (Sweet Tooth) delivers a wrenching fable of loneliness and redemption in small-town Canada. When Lee Simard wakes up bleeding in a field in the town of Belle River, covered in bites from a swarm of flies that smell like fish, he barely remembers the night before. In a flashback, readers learn he robbed a local corner store and shot the teen clerk, Paul. With Paul in a coma, his mother desperate for answers, and police investigating, Lee goes on the run. Franny, a lonely and misunderstood young girl with a constant sniffle and a deep sense of compassion, finds Lee in her family’s barn and confides in him as a fellow outsider. Soon, Lee turns into a giant fishfly, but Franny sticks with him, even though he’s a monster. The discovery of Celtic symbols in the nearby forest leads Paul’s mother to experience visions that unveil the tragic, violent history behind the town’s curse of flies. Lemire’s singular style, with its uncanny figures and warm, bleeding inks, is a visual delight. The result is a tightly woven monster tale shot through with melancholy. (Mar.)