Pages from Matt Furie's stunning wordless picture book The Night Riders (2012, McMullens)
As a frequent visitor of 50 Watts might imagine just by looking at the cover, The Night Riders is my favorite book of the year. It will soon enough be referred to as a classic and I hope it spawns many sequels.
With his new imprint, Brian McMullen picks up where the legendary Harlin Quist left off, and I can't wait to see what he dreams up next. Launched just last year, the McMullens imprint joins Enchanted Lion in what feels like a renaissance in visionary independent children's book publishing.
Buy The Night Riders from the publisher, Amazon, or fine bookstores everywhere. Better yet just buy a subscription to the McMullens series.
Here are some pages with my commentary to help locate you in the story.
[Our night riders, a frog and a rat, wake up for a late night snack and bike ride — or maybe, as I like to think, they're dreaming.]
[Fetching the bike from their mushroom garage, they set off for their adventure.]
[They meet a dragon who turns out to be very friendly.]
[The dragon introduces them to his subterranean friend...]
[...a jean-short-wearing gamer bat.]
[Together they visit a deserted seaside compound with lots of fountains.]
[They soon decide to take a dip in the ocean.]
[Purple dolphins save them from a scary crab.]
[And they watch the sun rise.]
Like all McMullens, the book's cover folds out into a huge 2-sided poster:
detail from fold-out front cover