Charles Burns Final Cut HC

The beloved and award-winning author of BLACK HOLE's haunting and visually arresting story of an artist's obsessions, and the value and cost of pushing the boundaries of creativity

As a child, Brian and his friend Jimmy would make sci-fi films in their yards, convincing their friends to star as victims of grisly murders, smearing lipstick on the "bodies" to simulate blood. Now a talented artist and aspiring filmmaker, Brian, along with Jimmy, Jimmy's friend Tina, and Laurie--his reluctant muse--sets off to a remote cabin in the woods with an old 8 millimeter camera to make a true sci-fi horror movie, an homage to Brian's favorite movie: 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, his damsel in distress, and his savior wrapped into one. Rife with references to classic sci-fi and horror movies and filled with panels of stunning depictions of nature, film and the surreal, Burns blurs the line between Brian's dreams and reality, imagination and perception. A master of the form at his finest, Final Cut is an astonishing look at what it means to truly express oneself through art.

One of the Best Books Coming in September from New York Times Book Review
Most Anticipated from Lithub

"Rarely has the pursuit of art been more potently characterized as a substitute for love and acceptance. With perfectly attuned emotional and aesthetic details, it's an instant classic from a master of the form."
--Publishers Weekly, starred review

"A striking celebration of cinema's power and a chilling acknowledgement of its limitations."
--Kirkus, Starred Review

"A stunningly illustrated exploration of alienation, obsession, and the experience of yearning for connection with another human being, particularly when one feels that they are only capable of expressing themselves through art."
--Library Journal

"The atmosphere he creates in this meticulously crafted successor to "Black Hole," his majestic, disturbing graphic novel of 2008, is unsettling and absorbing...Burns is a master of shadow, deploying his brush strokes with such skill the reader can easily mistake dreams for wakefulness."
--Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"Charles Burns delivers his much-anticipated new graphic novel Final Cut. You don't need to have seen The Blair Witch Project to know that when some aspiring filmmakers head into the woods to film their creepy homage to Invasion of the Body Snatchers that things might not go as planned. Toss in unrequited love and a hodgepodge of references to classic sci-fi and horror movie tropes and you've got the ingredients for a disturbing spin on artistic control and a demand for final cut."
--Parade

"I love everything about this book: the story, the drawings, its way with all things extraterrestrial (the alien pod inside which Laurie must lie on a mountainside as the camera rolls - and rolls - is fashioned by Brian from muslin and Velcro). It's wraparound wonderful, as close to immersive as any comic could be."
--Rachel Cooke at The Guardian

"The line between his dreams and reality becomes blurred in classic Burns style, summoning a wave of surreal imagery blending the strangeness of the natural world with the cinematic imagery of his beloved genre films."
--AV Club

"An eclectic array covering numerous horror genres and styles."
--ICv2

"Final Cut is an eerie and powerful graphic novel...Burns imbues the story with a potent sense of disquiet and illustrates the similarities between romantic and creative obsession. The backdrop is simultaneously beautiful and threatening."
--Publishers Weekly

"Burns delivers a moody, wistful, and creepy homage to artistic expression and unrequited longing... Fluid sequencing between frames brings a cinematic movement to the story. Burns' characteristic and precise line work infuses the story with atmosphere, tension, and unease as imagination and real life intersect in a mash-up of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Last Picture Show."
--Booklist

"Charles Burns's talent for crafting images and stories that are both stylish and repulsive will soon be on full display"
--The New Yorker