Muffin #3

Muffin #3 from Épicerie Fine brings another distinctive February 2016 installment of Fabien Grolleau's anthology, subtitled Bientôt les pieuvres ("Soon the Octopuses"). The cover commands immediate attention: a massive, painterly bear in a formal black tuxedo and bow tie stares out with stark, hollow white eyes, small colorful fish drifting around its head as though it exists somewhere between the terrestrial and the aquatic. It's a beautifully strange image — part portrait, part dreamscape — that sets a wonderfully off-kilter tone for whatever curious stories wait inside.