Zorn & Dirna #1

"Valsverken" kicks off a haunting, visually rich tale in Zorn & Dirna #1, a 2009 release from Albumförlaget Jonas Anderson. Written by Jean-David Morvan, Yann Le Gal, and Stefan Carlsson, and illustrated with striking detail by Bruno Bessadi and Vincent Trannoy—whose inks and colors bring the story’s eerie world to life—this issue introduces a grimly poetic setting where eternal life has gone horribly wrong. When the body of a man named Kund Hochwald is sealed away, granting immortality to all, the world is overrun by decaying corpses, forcing the creation of Valsverken: a place where souls are harvested and bodies destroyed. Two children, Zorn and Dirna, trained by the mysterious Mäster Erken in the art of soul manipulation, find themselves lost and pursued by the zigenarhövdingen Geuner—until they’re captured and rescued by a mysterious bounty hunter who claims to be their mother.