Silent Jenny - by Mathieu Bablet (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

In a not-too-distant future, climate change continues to ravage the planet, and the disappearance of insects has led to the end of pollination, rendering vast areas of land infertile. A survival dynamic has emerged--mobile islands called "monads" have formed, and people strive to help each other; each group with its own customs, traditions, and ways of life.

Jenny is a rather solitary researcher trying to restore the world as it once was. She seeks to recover bee DNA to clone and re-create pollinating insects. However, she will come to realize that this is impossible--the old world no longer exists, and a new one must be built. She will understand that instead of looking to the past, she must work collectively with other monad tribes, prioritizing mutual aid and collaboration.

Created by multiple-award winning comics wonderkind Mathieu Bablet, Silent Jenny is, at its heart, a "world-building book"-- inventing vehicles, character factions, landscapes, and crafting this universe down to the smallest detail to make it as tangible as possible. An optimistic story that presents solutions to climate change--no eco-anxiety, just hope and innovation.

About the Author

Born in Grenoble, France, Mathieu Bablet decided he wanted to become an artist and designer by age seven. After high school, he attended the Applied Art School in Chambery, picking up the basics, but it was his proposal for his first graphic novel, A Beautiful Death, that launched him into a career. When noted author Run (aka Guillaume Renard, creator of Label 619) first saw Bablet's work, his publishing future was all but guaranteed. His second book, Adrastea, reimagined classical Greek mythology with a postapocalyptic twist. With that two-volume project, Bablet honed his skill for what would be his first celebrated opus, Shangri La. An official selection of the Angouleme festival in 2017, and selling nearly 100,000 copies in France alone, he had found his forte: universe-building: deep, speculative fantasy fiction with an expansive scope. After a brief but well-deserved break, he began work on Carbon & Silicon in 2018. Upon its release, it was selected as the Best Graphic Novel of 2020 by FNAC, and nominated for the Best Graphic Novel of 2021 by the Association of Comic Book Critics and Journalists (ACBD). In-between these two blockbuster projects, he began a series of connected short stories with a circle of other artists called Midnight Tales, which were serialized by Anakama. These stories laid the groundwork for the universe that would become The Midnight Order. Currently, Bablet is working on his next magnum opus while co-directing Label 619 studio productions with Run, Florent Maudoux, and Guillaume Singelin.

Born in Grenoble, France, Mathieu Bablet decided he wanted to become an artist and designer by age seven. After high school, he attended the Applied Art School in Chambery, picking up the basics, but it was his proposal for his first graphic novel, A Beautiful Death, that launched him into a career. When noted author Run (aka Guillaume Renard, creator of Label 619) first saw Bablet's work, his publishing future was all but guaranteed. His second book, Adrastea, reimagined classical Greek mythology with a postapocalyptic twist. With that two-volume project, Bablet honed his skill for what would be his first celebrated opus, Shangri La. An official selection of the Angouleme festival in 2017, and selling nearly 100,000 copies in France alone, he had found his forte: universe-building: deep, speculative fantasy fiction with an expansive scope. After a brief but well-deserved break, he began work on Carbon & Silicon in 2018. Upon its release, it was selected as the Best Graphic Novel of 2020 by FNAC, and nominated for the Best Graphic Novel of 2021 by the Association of Comic Book Critics and Journalists (ACBD). In-between these two blockbuster projects, he began a series of connected short stories with a circle of other artists called Midnight Tales, which were serialized by Anakama. These stories laid the groundwork for the universe that would become The Midnight Order. Currently, Bablet is working on his next magnum opus while co-directing Label 619 studio productions with Run, Florent Maudoux, and Guillaume Singelin.