The Divine (graphic novel)

The Divine is a New York Times best selling graphic novel, a Hugo Award nominee and the gold medal winner of the 9th International Manga Award. It was illustrated by Asaf Hanuka and Tomer Hanuka, written by Boaz Lavie, and produced by Ron Propper.[1][2][3][4]

The Divine
Date2015
PublisherFirst Second Books, Dargaud
Creative team
WriterBoaz Lavie
ArtistsAsaf Hanuka, Tomer Hanuka

Story

The Divine tells the story of Mark, an explosives expert who, despite his better judgment, signs onto a freelance job with his old army friend, Jason. In Quanlom, a fictional Southeast Asian country, the pair are assisting the military when Mark is lured in by a group of child-soldiers, led by 9-year-old twins nicknamed "The Divine", who intend on forcing a showdown between ancient magic and modern technology. The Divine is very loosely inspired by the real story of twins Johnny and Luther Htoo, who jointly led the God's Army guerrilla group – a splinter group of Karen National Union – in Myanmar (Burma) during the late 1990s, and according to legends had magical powers.

Reception

The Divine was released in French by Dargaud in January 2015 under the title Le Divin, and received critical praise. Frédéric Potet from Le Monde had labeled it "A combination of Bob Morane [a popular French adventure hero], David Lynch, and Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira)".[5] Eric Libiot from L'express compared the coloring in the book (By Tomer Hanuka) to that of Hergé, creator of Tintin.[6] Lysiane Ganousse from L'Est Républicain wrote: "The authors have turned a chilling true story into a stunning tale",[7] and the popular comics critique website, 9emeArt, had given it a rating of 10 out 10, declaring that "Even though it's only January, we can already say it's going to be one of the best releases of the year".[8]

The Divine was published in the U.S. by First Second Books, featuring a blurb by author Yann Martel, best known for the international bestseller Life of Pi.[9] It was released in July 2015 and has hit the New York Times Best Sellers list. It has since received highly positive reviews. Publishers Weekly had chosen The Divine for "top ten graphic novel for spring 2015",[10] describing it later on as: "Heady, hellacious, and phantasmagoric".[11] Jesse Karp on his Booklist review wrote: "Stunning artwork and creeping dread weave together in this satisfying and moving page-turner".[12] Douglas Wolk from The New York Times described it as "a too rare example of artists getting top billing", referring to the artwork by Asaf and Tomer Hanuka.[13] Joshua Rivera from GQ wrote: "The Divine's story is unflinching and raw, and its art is quite possibly the most beautiful of any comic this year".[14] Michael Mechanic from Mother Jones called it "beautifully rendered",[15] while io9 defined it as "Your next comics obsession".[16] Rich Barrett from Mental Floss chose it for "The most interesting comics of the week" and praised it for being "stunning, cohesive combination [of elements]".[17] Terry Hong, from The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center blog, wrote: "can’t-turn-away riveting [...] Unrelenting and uninterruptible",[18] and the Eisner nominated comics blog Comics & Cola dubbed it "superb" and chose it for its pick of the month.[19]

The creators were featured in interviews on Entertainment Weekly, Juxtapoz, Paste, The A.V. Club and elsewhere.[20][21][22][23]

The Divine was chosen as one of the best graphic novels of 2015 by GQ, The A.V. Club, Barnes & Noble, Bleeding Cool, Comics & Cola and others.[24][25][26][27][28]

It was published in Italy by BAO Publishing, and was scheduled to be published in Germany in 2016 by Cross Cult.[29][30]

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References
  1. ""The Divine" on The New York Times Best Sellers List".
  2. "2016 Hugo Award nominees, on the Hugo Award Official Blog".
  3. ""The Divine" - Winner of the 9th International Manga Awards' gold medal".
  4. "Ron Propper, producer of The Divine, on Boaz Lavie's personal website".
  5. "Frères d'armes". Le Monde.
  6. "Le Divin: la couleur au premier plan". L'Express.
  7. "LE DIVIN : LA MAGIE DES ENFANTS SOLDATS". L'Est Républicain.
  8. "LE DIVIN, LA CRITIQUE". 9emeArt.
  9. "New Book: The Divine!". First Second Books' official blog.
  10. "Spring 2015 Announcements: Comics & Graphic Novels: Adventure Awaits". Publishers Weekly.
  11. "Review on Publisher Weekly".
  12. "Review on Booklist".
  13. "Review on The New York Times".
  14. "Review on GQ".
  15. "Review on Mother Jones".
  16. "Review on io9".
  17. "Review on Mental Floss".
  18. "Review on The Smithsonian APA Center".
  19. "Review on Comics & Cola".
  20. "Interview on Entertainment Weekly".
  21. "Interview on Juxtapoz (Printed edition summary)".
  22. "Interview on Paste Magazine".
  23. "Interview on AVclub".
  24. "GQ's 10 Best Graphic Novels of 2015".
  25. "The A.V Club's Favorite Graphic Novels of 2015".
  26. "Barnes and Noble's Best Graphic Novels of 2015".
  27. "Bleeding Cool's Favorite Graphic Novels of 2015".
  28. "Comics & Cola's 2015: A Reading Guide".
  29. "Il Divino".
  30. "The Divine on Cross Cult".
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