Ardalén #[nn]

Miguelanxo Prado's *Ardalén* is a striking work of visual storytelling, and this 2013 Egmont Ehapa edition announces itself with a cover that's quietly mesmerizing. A solitary, elderly figure sits hunched on a chair amid shallow, glowing waters, surrounded by fantastical flying fish, a large deep-sea creature, a starfish, and the shadowy silhouettes of palm trees and distant mountains — a dreamlike landscape suspended between the oceanic and the terrestrial. Prado's lush, painterly linework and deep teal palette give the whole scene an otherworldly melancholy that draws you in before you've turned a single page.