Uncover the strange magic of The Obscure Cities and be awed by the beautiful art and incredible storytelling! Features a new English translation of the classic graphic novel. Published in English as one complete volume for the first time.
Roland de Cremer is a young man who has just been assigned to the Center of Cartography in Sodrovno-Voldachia. It’s a secluded place that is usually insulated from the outside world. But something is happening out there. Rumors swirl of attacks, assassinations, war, and rebellions bloodily put down. Meanwhile, Roland has fallen in love with a young woman named Shkodra, who the authorities have also shown an increased interest in. She has mysterious markings on her back, tattoos that look like a map. As the threat to her increases, the two flee through deserts, mountains, and swamps. They have only one option for escape: to cross the border. But will they be able to find their way through this land that bears no resemblance to the maps Roland is familiar with and will his desire to save her get them both killed?
First published in English in 2002, this new edition of the classic European graphic novel makes the critically acclaimed series accessible to a new generation of readers!
PLEASE NOTE: This is the second of two books in The Obscure Cities series that will not be published under the Alaxis Press imprint, and without translation or editing by Steve Smith. Nonetheless, I encourage fans to support the series and purchase this book from Amazon or from your local comic or book shop.
It is unclear if IDW will follow up with the rest of the volumes, but if they do not, I will on my own. Idid it with The Leaning Girl which at the time became one of the top performing graphic novels on Kickstarter.
Alaxis Press / IDW
ALAXIS PRESS
In 2013, Alaxis Press was formed by Chicagoan, Stephen Smith, with the assistance of Benoît Peeters and François Schuiten, to bring the Obscure Cities series to American in English. A successful Kickstarter campaign late that year, and the subsequent publication of the book, The Leanig Girl, set the stage for the series to reach a wider audience.
IDW EDITIONS
In the spring of 2016, Stephen Smith, publisher of Alaxis Press, formed a publishing alliance with IDW Publishing in an effort to further expand the reach of the English translations of The Obscure Cities books. IDW's president at the time, Greg Goldstein, committed to completing the series in English beginning with the titles not already published by NBM publishers, which released The Great Walls of Samaris (1987), A Fever in Urbicande (1990), The Tower (1993), Brusel (1993) and The Invisible Frontier (2002-2004) under the series name, Stories of the Fantastic. Because of a number of administration changes, and the departure of my longtime editor, New York Times bestselling Justin Eisinger, it is uncertain that the series will continue beyond The Invisible Frontier.
Alaxis Press remains committed to sharing the remaining Obscure Cities volumes, from the very rare pamphlet Correspondences of Mary Von Rathen to the book/DVD title, The Desombres Affair. It is also our goal to keep the English language volumes in print.
Please visit us again for more information.
In 2013, Alaxis Press was formed by Chicagoan, Stephen Smith, with the assistance of Benoît Peeters and François Schuiten, to bring the Obscure Cities series to American in English. A successful Kickstarter campaign late that year, and the subsequent publication of the book, The Leanig Girl, set the stage for the series to reach a wider audience.
IDW EDITIONS
In the spring of 2016, Stephen Smith, publisher of Alaxis Press, formed a publishing alliance with IDW Publishing in an effort to further expand the reach of the English translations of The Obscure Cities books. IDW's president at the time, Greg Goldstein, committed to completing the series in English beginning with the titles not already published by NBM publishers, which released The Great Walls of Samaris (1987), A Fever in Urbicande (1990), The Tower (1993), Brusel (1993) and The Invisible Frontier (2002-2004) under the series name, Stories of the Fantastic. Because of a number of administration changes, and the departure of my longtime editor, New York Times bestselling Justin Eisinger, it is uncertain that the series will continue beyond The Invisible Frontier.
Alaxis Press remains committed to sharing the remaining Obscure Cities volumes, from the very rare pamphlet Correspondences of Mary Von Rathen to the book/DVD title, The Desombres Affair. It is also our goal to keep the English language volumes in print.
Please visit us again for more information.
The Invisible Frontier - November 29, 2022
The Fever In Urbicande - November 8, 2022
Visit a land full of mystery, ancient alchemy, and modern technologies in this award-winning graphic novel series, now in a new edition with all-new colors and an updated translation!
The second book in the original The Obscure Cities series, The Fever in Urbicande was first published in English by NBM in 1990 in black-and-white. This updated edition features an all-new translation and beautiful new coloring supervised by Francois Schuiten and Benoit Peeters.
Eugen Robick, Urbatect of Urbicande has been designing a new bridge to connect the southern portion of the city to the north, but his bid to commence construction has been denied by the Commission. Unconcerned with the politics of the situation, Eugen only cares about the balance it will bring to the city.
While contemplating how he can convince the Commission to see things his way, Eugen is brought a cube made of beams discovered during construction of another project. Initially small enough to fit on his desk, it begins to grow, adding beam after beam, until it soon takes over his entire office. Growing exponentially, it eventually takes over the entire city, disrupting the social order as citizens begin using the beams to travel back and forth between the southern and northern parts of the city, previously only accessible via the guarded bridges. While the Commission wishes to put a stop to any such social change, the cube’s impact is overpowering and irreversible.
PLEASE NOTE: This is the first of two books in The Obscure Cities series that will not be published under the Alaxis Press imprint, and without translation or editing by Steve Smith. Nonetheless, I encourage fans to support the series and purchase this book from Amazon or from your local comic or book shop.
The second book in the original The Obscure Cities series, The Fever in Urbicande was first published in English by NBM in 1990 in black-and-white. This updated edition features an all-new translation and beautiful new coloring supervised by Francois Schuiten and Benoit Peeters.
Eugen Robick, Urbatect of Urbicande has been designing a new bridge to connect the southern portion of the city to the north, but his bid to commence construction has been denied by the Commission. Unconcerned with the politics of the situation, Eugen only cares about the balance it will bring to the city.
While contemplating how he can convince the Commission to see things his way, Eugen is brought a cube made of beams discovered during construction of another project. Initially small enough to fit on his desk, it begins to grow, adding beam after beam, until it soon takes over his entire office. Growing exponentially, it eventually takes over the entire city, disrupting the social order as citizens begin using the beams to travel back and forth between the southern and northern parts of the city, previously only accessible via the guarded bridges. While the Commission wishes to put a stop to any such social change, the cube’s impact is overpowering and irreversible.
PLEASE NOTE: This is the first of two books in The Obscure Cities series that will not be published under the Alaxis Press imprint, and without translation or editing by Steve Smith. Nonetheless, I encourage fans to support the series and purchase this book from Amazon or from your local comic or book shop.
The Tower - Released May 10, 2022
The fifth release in Alaxis Press’ The Obscure Cities series, will be THE TOWER, to be published by IDW in the spring of 2019. Previous titles in the series: The Leaning Girl, The Theory of the Grain of Sand, Samaris and the July 2020 release, The Shadow of a Man. Originally published in English in 1993, this edition features an all-new translation.
Giovanni Batista is a third-class maintainer of the Tower. His section is deteriorating more and more by the day and he has not heard from any of his inspectors or fellow maintainers in months. He makes the decision to go to the base office to file a complaint. While using his chute, he ends up somewhere even higher than his level. He meets Ellias Aureolus Palingenius and the lovely Milena. Together with Milena, he tries to figure out the purpose of the Tower. He finally decides to Climb to the top. Ivanka Hahnenberger will translate. Stephen D. Smith will assist in translation and edit.
PLEASE NOTE: A significant omission was made to the contents page of this volume. Ivanka Hahnenberger was the translator of this volume. I edited the text and supervised most of the production. I want to personally and publicly apologize for this gross error. The Tower is one of the most epic tales in the Obscure Cities saga, and is worthy of accolades. If this title is nominated for an Eisner Award in 2023, Ivanka needs to be the recipient of the award as translator.
Shadow of A Man - July 2020
The Shadow of a Man wins the 2022 Will Eisner Comics Industry Award for Best US edition of International material.
Albert Chamisso, a newlywed of just a few weeks to Sarah, begins to have nightmares. Dr. Polydore Vincent helps him to get rid of the nightmares, but a strange side effect of the treatment is that his shadow is in color afterwards. He struggles with this, losing his wife and his job in the process. He moves to the outskirts of Blossfeldtstad where he meets the lovely Minna. Together they create a light show that becomes very popular. Translated and edited by Stephen D. Smith.
This release marks the first time this book has been available in English.
THIS TITLE IS OUT OF PRINT FROM THE PUBLISHER.
Samaris has been released!
SAMARIS is the first volume of the chronicles of The Obscure Cities, published as a graphic novel in 1983 in French and published for the first time in English in 1987 as The Great Walls of Samaris.
For the first time ever, this book is available in an English language edition formatted to match the Casterman edition in size, format, and paper quality. IDW followed up their edition of The Theory of the Grain of Sand with another beautiful installment of The Obscure Cities canon. This book was written by Benoît Peeters, illustrated by François Schuiten, translated by Ivanka Hahnenberger and Stephen D. Smith, and edited by Stephen D. Smith.
Young officer, Franz Bauer, is asked by the leaders of Xhystos to visit the mysterious city of Samaris and research the rumors that have been circulating. Several before him had left to explore the city and never returned. After a long journey by Altiplan and Aerophele, Franz reaches Samaris, only to find that the rumors he had heard in Xhystos don’t compare to the real secrets held within the walls of this fantastic city. His sanity and the fate of the other explorers is at stake in this, the first installment of the now internationally acclaimed THE OBSCURE CITIES graphic novel series. This edition, marking the 30th anniversary of the original English language publication, features an expanded main story, an all-new creator-approved translation, and new coloring. The book also contains the never before published-in-English THE MYSTERIES OF PAHRY, a THE OBSCURE CITIES story, originally published in four different parts, three in the French Comics magazine, A Suivre, from 1987 through 1989, and in the December 1994 issue of Macadam-plus.
The four parts are: I. The Big Secret, II. Passage to the Louvre, III. The Fugitive and IV. The Strange Case of Dr. Abraham. Amazon has a really good deal on the book. It is also available at comic and bookstores everywhere.
THIS TITLE IS OUT OF PRINT FROM THE PUBLISHER.
The Theory of the Grain of Sand
The Theory of the Grain of Sand (ISBN: 978-1631404894) is an incredible story originally produced in two volumes. Alaxis Press will be releasing the book in a single volume. Upon the release of this book, the entire Obscure Cities series of key titles will have been released in English and Alaxis Press will focus then on revising earlier titles and taking on some of the ancillary titles.
Gholam Mortiza Khan comes to Brusel to sell some jewelry to Elsa Autrique. Before the sell can be closed, Khan dies in an accident. This is the start of some events that are investigated by Mary von Rathen: accumulation of sand in the apartment of Kristin Antipova, accumulation of stones in the house of Constant Abeels and Maurice who is loosing weight by the day. The events have a catastrophic effect on Brusel. Time is of the essence.
Newly translated into English by Ivanka Hahnenberger, and edited by Steve Smith (translator of The Leaning Girl and The Beauty) with Karen Copeland at Alaxis Press for publication by IDW.
THIS TITLE IS OUT OF PRINT FROM THE PUBLISHER.
The Leaning Girl
THE LEANING GIRL (ISBN 978-1628472271) is now available in English. Translated by Alaxis Press publisher, Stephen D. Smith, the adventures of one of The Obscure Cities' most prominent characters, Mary Von Rathen, has been delighting English-speaking readers since its 2014 release. The book was produced in the same high quality manner the Casterman editions are done in, and printed by the same printing company. The first printing is almost sold out, but it is BACK IN STOCK at Amazon!!! In addition, IDW is going back to press with a second printing. Search The Leaning Girl on amazon.com and you will once again be able to order.
THIS TITLE IS OUT OF PRINT FROM THE PUBLISHER.