La comédie tragique ou la tragique comédie de Mr Punch #[nn]

In this haunting 1997 tale from Neil Gaiman and Dominique Mathieu, a troubled teen’s summer at his grandfather’s seaside arcade takes a surreal turn when he encounters a mysterious Punch and Judy performer and a woman who plays a mermaid in the show. As the puppet show’s violent spectacle stirs long-buried family memories, the boy finds himself drawn into a web of hidden truths, where past and present blur and the line between performance and reality begins to dissolve. Dave McKean’s haunting, hand-crafted art—pencils, inks, and colors all by him—lends a dreamlike, unsettling texture to the story, while François Batet’s lettering weaves seamlessly through the atmosphere. The cover, also by McKean, captures the eerie, intimate tone of the tale.