It seems losing two bass-playing Kims in six months hasn’t slowed Pixies frontman Frank Black from getting on with business. Independent UK publisher SelfMadeHero has announced it will publish Black’s graphic — and we mean graphic — novel The Good Inn in May 2014.
The Guardian reports the publisher has acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to The Good Inn, a graphic novel to be published under Black’s Black Francis name exploring the creation of the first-ever porn flick.
The novel is co-authored with writer of Pixies biography Fool the World Josh Frank, and illustrated by the Guardian’s very own Steven Appleby, whose off-kilter style should go hand-in-hand with Francis’ vision.
Giving us a characteristically surreal glimpse into the world of the Pixies’ singer, the publisher describes The Good Inn as “a fantastical piece of illustrated fiction based on a yet-to-be-written soundtrack to a movie that doesn’t yet exist, which Black has approached with the same characteristic eccentricity and imagination he writes a song.”
Soldier Boy, the male teenage protagonist, escapes an explosion in France and embarks on a cross-country journey. “Navigating past homicidal gypsies, combative soldiers and porn-peddling peasants, he takes refuge in a secluded inn, where he finds himself centre stage in the making of the world’s first narrative pornographic film,” adds the publisher. So, you know, it’s a light read about history and stuff.
The newly-reformed Pixies made headlines just a few days ago when bassist Kim Shattuck announced her departure from the band just months after replacing original bassist Kim Deal. No word yet as to who will be picking up the bass for Pixies’ North American tour, schedule to kick of in Toronto on 15th January, or if all this drama has inspired any other graphic publications.
