Heidi MacDonald spoke to Gregory Benton about his upcoming graphic novel, SMOKE, at The Beat and showed exclusive images from his wordless fantasy.

Excerpt:

“I am endlessly inspired by the possibilities of wordless narrative. There is a long and fertile history with contemporary author/artists like Peter Kuper (The System) and Jim Woodring (Frank) along with the classic Franz Masereel (Passionate Journey) and Milt Gross (He Done Her Wrong). Without dialogue or exposition to guide a reader, the wordless comic opens itself up to varying interpretations and I can appreciate that. The reader is an integral and active component to the narrative.

Smoke is part of the same universe as my previous wordless book B+F (AdHouse Books & Editions çà et là). While I was brainstorming the second B+F story, the Xolo skeleton dog from the first book kept making an appearance. My sketchbooks and doodles had become overrun with drawings of the Xolo and two young brothers. Around the same time, I had been discussing with friends and reading articles about farm workers and the story sort of came together.“

Read the entire article/interview here: http://www.comicsbeat.com/fall-preview-gregory-bentons-smoke-is-a-wordless-fantasy/