Elmer Finds a Roost at SLG

Elmer, the acclaimed graphic novel by Philippine cartoonist Gerry Alanguilan about talking chickens, will finally see print in the United States this November in a new edition released from SLG Publishing. A  window into a world where chickens have suddenly acquired the intelligence and consciousness of humans, Elmer tells the story of a family of chickens who struggles to survive in a strange and dangerous world.

While Elmer is basically a book about talking chickens, SLG Publisher Dan Vado says it should not be dismissed as funny animal book. “This is not about talking chickens the way Babe was about talking pigs” Vado observed “Elmer has more in common with Animal Farm than any talking dog movie.”

Creator Gerry Alanguilan has worked in comics for some time on various work-for-hire projects from major publishers, but when casting around for ideas for his own project he looked no further than his own front window ” I’ve always been surrounded by chickens. I find them fascinating and I often found myself wondering what if… what if they could think like us and talk like us?” said Alanguilan “What would they say? What would they do? It was a ridiculous notion, but I tried to approach it very seriously and see what I would come up with.”

Self-publishing the series in The Philippines, Alanguilan’s comic attracted attention internationally for its mirror-like look at the world we live in. Neil Gaiman called it “heartbreaking and funny and so beautifully drawn.”

The SLG Publishing edition of Elmer will contain all of the same material from the self-published version which saw limited distribution outside of the Philippines. Scheduled for a November 2010 release, Elmer will be a 144 page black and white graphic novel priced at $12.95 and will be available at better comics and book shops.