The Marvels #[nn]
"1766" is a haunting, beautifully rendered story by Brian Selznick, who writes, draws, and letters this poignant tale of memory, loss, and legacy. Set across centuries, it follows a boy named Marcus, a shipwreck, and the quiet, enduring power of art as a thread through generations—beginning with a seaman’s play and unfolding into a secret hidden beneath a theatre, where a grandson’s courage echoes a past sacrifice. The story’s emotional weight is matched by Selznick’s distinctive artwork, and the cover by Brian Selznick captures the melancholy beauty of the tale in delicate, expressive detail.
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Seamen put on a play in which Marcus is an angel; when the ship sinks, Billy gets Marcus to an island, where Marcus dies. The rescued boy joins a theatre, and an artist paints Marcus as an angel in the dome. Billy rescues a foundling who becomes an actor, and founds a line of actors. But Alexander Marvel becomes a recluse in hiding beneath the theatre and known only to his grandson Leontes, whom he encourages in his passion for art rather than theatre. In the 1900s Leontes is about to run away when the theatre catches fire. He rushes into the flames in hopes of saving his grandfather.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).