by Fiona Maazel // Picador
An apocalyptic comic novel about a deadly outbreak of plague, reincarnation, narcotics recovery, a family in trouble, and some Norse mythology.
I was really into Marvel Comics' THE MIGHTY THOR, the god of thunder when I was growing up. And through that I was introduced to Norse mythology. I found out that Wednesday was named after Odin/Wotan, Thursday after Thor's Day and Frigg/Freya for Friday. I also learned that Earth (Midgard) is connected to the Home of the Norse Gods (Asgard) by the Rainbow Bridge (Bifröst). And at the End of the World (Ragnarök "Doom of the Gods"), the Bow Bridge would be shattered.
I thought a broken rainbow would make a great visual for this book. The end of the road, the end of a dream. Hope interrupted.
I wanted to find a sweet, sentimental vintage greeting card, full of rainbows and unicorns and then rip it up. But Thee Nay! None that was satisfying came up in my research and I moved on to a simpler approach.
Here are two versions where the rainbow broke to a black background, but the subtler approach without the black was chosen for the final:
I instead used the black for the title type to add a subtle darker, sinister tone instead of making it ethereal soft white.
Fiona Maazel, Charles Bock and Sam Lipsyte @ 2008 5 Under 35 Celebration from National Book Foundation on Vimeo.
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