An excerpt from the story “The Audacity of Sadness” from the graphic novel “Islands in the Sky,” which tells the story of 11 Helene survivors. (Credit: Jarrett Rutland / Appalachia Comics
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) —Several stories of Helene survival are now being told through the pages of a new graphic novel.
“I had to read it one story at a time, one day at a time, because it’s so emotional and ‘cause I was here and it was very real for me,” said Allison Jenkins, the owner of Comic Envy who got to read an early copy of “Islands in the Sky.”
“Today’s the day it’s coming to all comic stores,” said Matthew Manning, a comic book writer who lives in Asheville. His experience during Helene was one of 11 stories in this novel, which was just released nationally.
“It’s my family’s story. It’s about dealing with depression issues and things like that, but it’s also dealing with seeing the light at the end of the tunnel,” Manning said.
An excerpt from the story “The Audacity of Sadness” from the graphic novel “Islands in the Sky,” which tells the story of 11 Helene survivors. (Credit: Jarrett Rutland / Appalachia Comics)
In his story, Manning also grapples with the devastation that he sees his neighbors experience.
“We weren’t hit as bad as most of the stories in this book,” Manning said.
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The version of the book that’s being sold across the country features new cover art that was illustrated by Asheville Resident Jarrett Rutland, who also illustrated Manning’s story, “The Audacity of Sadness.”
“I know the importance of expressing yourself; I know the importance of talking about things, just talking, having conversations is expressing things, and as an artist, I know how important that is,” Rutland said.
The book also <a href="https://comicvibe.com/image-brings-two-wildstorm-titles-back-to-print/” title=”Image Brings Two Wildstorm Titles Back to Print”>brings other Helene stories to life by pairing real survivors with award-winning comics creators.
An excerpt from the story “The Audacity of Sadness” from the graphic novel “Islands in the Sky,” which tells the story of 11 Helene survivors. (Credit: Jarrett Rutland / Appalachia Comics)
“You have my story because I happen to be a comic writer who lives here, but you also have stories by people that live all over the country telling stories of locals, so it was great to get that kind of participation for a small project like this,” Manning said.
We also reached out to Andrew Aydin, the novel’s editor, and he said that all of the survivors who shared their experience were paid as writers.
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He said they’re hoping to sell enough copies to make more books like this and share more stories.
“I look forward to seeing what they do past this moving forward because it’s so real and so important,” Jenkins said.
