Carlos Morales
Comics and graphic novel publisher ABLAZE delivers an amazing new story to readers with the hardcover debut on September 24th of The Library Mule of Cordoba, an enchanting fable from renowned writer Wilfred Lupano and artist Leonard Chemineau about what happens when saving the world’s books from destruction depends on the worst mule in history.
Set in Spain during the reign of the Moors, Córdoba was the cultural and intellectual center of the al-Andalus region. During the reign of al-Hakam II, its famed library possessed an estimated 400,000 to 500,000 volumes, with priceless Arabic, Latin, and Hebrew translations of ancient Greek texts.
The Caliphate has been blessed with a period of peace, culture, and science for nearly sixty years. The Caliph Abd al-Rahman III and his son al-Hakam II made Cordoba the Western capital of learning. But al-Hakam II dies young, and his son is only ten years old.
One of his viziers, Amir, seizes the opportunity to take power. Radical clergymen, in exchange for their support of the illegitimate pretender, want to see the 400,000 books in Cordoba’s library burn!
The night before the biggest bonfire ever, the head librarian, a chubby eunuch named Tarid, gathers up all the books he can and loads them onto the back of a passing mule. He takes off in the hopes of saving what he can of universal knowledge. Joined by a young scribe and a former apprentice who went on to become a thief and vagabond, Tarid and his lazy, over-burdened mule set out on a madcap adventure: crossing nearly all of Spain with mercenaries in hot pursuit.
Writer Wilfrid Lupano was born in Nantes in 1971, but it was in Pau that he would spend most of his childhood. An early interest in comics books, sparked by his parents’ extensive collection, fed his wild imagination and he developed a keen interest in writing enhanced by a love for role-playing games. As a young adult, Lupano worked as a server to finance his studies – a combination of philosophy and English – and he soon met two other young men, Roland Pignault and Fred Campoy, who would become both his friends and creative partners.
Together they would go on to create the humoristic western Little Big Joe (Delcourt, 2001), and that was just the beginning. Lupano quickly blossomed as a scriptwriter, and over the following years he penned countless titles, ranging from the four-part series Alim le tanneur with Delcourt to the thriller Ma reverence (Delcourt 2013). Then, in 2014, he teamed with artist Paul Cauuet to create The Old Geezers (published in English by ABLAZE), a major hit with critics and readers alike. The series uses humor to bring to life class struggles and generational clashes through the lives and exploits of a trio of septuagenarians who have decided to make the most of the time they have left.
The Library Mule of Cordoba HC, written by Wilfrid Lupano, art by Leonard Chemineau · SRP: $24.99 · 264 Pages · ISBN: 978-1684972791 · For Readers 13+ · Available Sept 24, 2024
