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Flood!: A Novel in Pictures
Dark Horse Comics is proud to be reprinting this American Book Award winner, Flood! , a powerful graphic novel by the socially and politically conscious illustrator Eric Drooker, frequent cover artist for the New Yorker and contributor to World War III Illustrated . Flood! is a modern novel written in the ancient language of pictures, and its expressionist graphics hold a film noir edge. Long out of print and now at its tenth anniversary, Flood! conveys all the joys and sadness that intermingle in our large cities and gives us a look at a possible future. This edition features a new introduction by historian and poet Luc Sante, a new cover by Drooker, and a complete re-design. This reprint of Flood! will coincide with the release of Drooker’s follow-up graphic novel, Blood A Silent Ballad , from Harcourt Brace.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 92 reviews
January 21, 2026
Flood!: A Novel in Pictures (1992) by Eric Drooker, which I think I first read in 2001 and didn't review, is a wordless dystopian fable that would seem to be prophetic about the flooding of New York, evoking the Biblical flood that God rained down on sinful Earth, maybe beginning with Babylon. Like most dystopian tales, it is timeless, which is to say it speaks to Today; for instance, it features destitution, desperation, despair. Oh, and cops shoot citizens in poverty on the street as tanks enter the City.
The book is done in woodcuts, only black and white in the manner of Lyn Ward and Franz Masareel from a century before, darkly prophetic storytelling adding azure in the final panels as we see the artist (with an umbrella in one hand, and a pen in the other), drawing this story against The End.
It's a masterpiece, and even better and more relevant today than ever, unfortunately. Wrenching, but impressive.
The book is done in woodcuts, only black and white in the manner of Lyn Ward and Franz Masareel from a century before, darkly prophetic storytelling adding azure in the final panels as we see the artist (with an umbrella in one hand, and a pen in the other), drawing this story against The End.
It's a masterpiece, and even better and more relevant today than ever, unfortunately. Wrenching, but impressive.
February 19, 2017
I went through the images twice. I don't want to say I read this book twice coz there is nothing to read here. I just reveled in the power of the creator's imagination shining through the pages, like a mishmash of myths playing in an urban man's dream, affirming his ennui by way of their very presence.
There are motifs of destruction and creation in equal measure. An artist depicting the end of the world while the world around him ends, of water in its two prominent avatars - rain and flood. Of a street-side Noah giving away umbrellas for anyone who is willing to pick one. Of a world so mean and indifferent it deserves a flood. Of people so tired and joyless they call out for a flood. Of personal floods - an artist's inner flood and the outer flood that consumes the artist. Of a ship that finally sails through a flooded city.
And the cat that is saved in the end... but you don't see it coming. It is insignificant to you. Maybe there is hope there.
There are motifs of destruction and creation in equal measure. An artist depicting the end of the world while the world around him ends, of water in its two prominent avatars - rain and flood. Of a street-side Noah giving away umbrellas for anyone who is willing to pick one. Of a world so mean and indifferent it deserves a flood. Of people so tired and joyless they call out for a flood. Of personal floods - an artist's inner flood and the outer flood that consumes the artist. Of a ship that finally sails through a flooded city.
And the cat that is saved in the end... but you don't see it coming. It is insignificant to you. Maybe there is hope there.
August 6, 2015
I have never seen anything like this before! This graphic novel has no words at all but the scratch board art tells a story in as much detail using only the pictures, colour and shape.
It's about a man in New York in an unspecified time who falls on hard times. The story goes very meta when you see he is an artist and begins to draw the story you've been seeing, of the great flood and Noah's ark, causing the apocolypse in perhaps modern day New York.
This was so thought provoking. I'd recommend getting not this edition but the edition I own (which I couldn't find) is the 4th edition from May 2015 the first hardback copy published by Darkhorse. It has a Q and A in the back which I found really helped with understanding some of the messages in the story and is actually 186 pages instead of the 132 this copy says (it doesn't have page numbers but I counted...twice). This book is great for your own interpretation and it's great for something different. Overall an easy 5 stars :)
It's about a man in New York in an unspecified time who falls on hard times. The story goes very meta when you see he is an artist and begins to draw the story you've been seeing, of the great flood and Noah's ark, causing the apocolypse in perhaps modern day New York.
This was so thought provoking. I'd recommend getting not this edition but the edition I own (which I couldn't find) is the 4th edition from May 2015 the first hardback copy published by Darkhorse. It has a Q and A in the back which I found really helped with understanding some of the messages in the story and is actually 186 pages instead of the 132 this copy says (it doesn't have page numbers but I counted...twice). This book is great for your own interpretation and it's great for something different. Overall an easy 5 stars :)
July 26, 2015
Wordless storytelling through evocative mostly black-and-white panels. I would not classify this work as a novel, but as three free-standing "novellas" that reference allegory and myth, and incorporate symbolism and archetype. Strong criticism of social problems, especially urban poverty and decay.
April 5, 2023
Published in 1992, this is a (mostly) silent comic in the tradition of the early 20th century woodcut graphic novels of Ward and Masareel. It's much more versatile than those older works with it's more modern multiple panels per page style. He uses pen instead of wood carvings, but mimics the woodcut style.
Great stuff.
Great stuff.
June 9, 2016
Urgh... Boring. What a mess.
There's three segments.
The final one had the only OK artwork.
There's three segments.
The final one had the only OK artwork.
August 7, 2019
i didn’t really get it? also the women in this book all look like betty boop it’s really cringey. there’s one panel where you can see a woman’s ass crack through her dress. like, truly, have male writers ever met a human woman? the world may never know...
September 20, 2024
At the end of this edition of “Flood!” is an interview with Eric Drooker. He’s asked about his influences and he mentions Masereel’s “Passionate Journey” and “The City” and Lyn Ward’s “Gods’ Man.” I just happened to read those three in the past week. The influence is clear: a wordless medium, mostly black and white images, a nameless male protagonist going on a journey through a city, a surrealist vibe, etc.
Where’s those earlier works mentioned were woodcuts, “Flood!” Is scratchboard art. While most of the images are black and white, toward the end of “Flood!” we get some blues too.
The protagonist is semi-autobiographical. He’s a cartoonist living in an apartment with his cat in New York City. He falls on hard times. There’s a swirling and confusing section featuring all kinds of Jungian archetypes. Then the rain starts to fall. This isn’t any rain, but a truly biblical flood that comes to wash away the city (Noah even shows up!).
Thoroughly enjoyable.
Where’s those earlier works mentioned were woodcuts, “Flood!” Is scratchboard art. While most of the images are black and white, toward the end of “Flood!” we get some blues too.
The protagonist is semi-autobiographical. He’s a cartoonist living in an apartment with his cat in New York City. He falls on hard times. There’s a swirling and confusing section featuring all kinds of Jungian archetypes. Then the rain starts to fall. This isn’t any rain, but a truly biblical flood that comes to wash away the city (Noah even shows up!).
Thoroughly enjoyable.
June 26, 2024
Gorgeous art but the story doesn't do much for us
August 7, 2019
CZ&EN
Flood (Potopa) začíná stránkou s notovým zápisem s textem songu, začínajícího slovy "Thunder crashed through the sky. Higher & higher waves rolled by, 'Learn to swim' said the fish, Rain on, … ". Říkal jsem si, že by bylo fajn najít si aplikaci, která by mi naskenované noty dokázala přehrát. Nebylo potřeba - z rádia se ozval déšť a hrom - začal hrát Black Sabbath. Náhoda? Možná…
Autorem knihy Flood je američan Erik Drooker a celá kniha je dělána technikou škrábání, kdy inkous už je nanesen na celé ploše obrazu a škrábáním se odstraňuje to, co tam být nemá. Tato technika je podobná dřevorytu a stejnou techniku používá i Thomas Ott.
Kniha obsahující tři kapitoly - “Home”, “L” a “Flood”. Abyste si knihu užili, tak nesmíte mezi jednotlivými kapitolami hledat souvislosti. “L” a “Flood” na sebe navazují, ale to je tak všechno. Všechny kapitoly jsou částečně autobiografické a vycházejí z nějakého osobního autorova prožitku. Každou z nich napsal v jiné fázi svého života a tak je mezi nimi vidět také velký progress v Drookerově technice škrábání a jeho stylu vyprávění.
“Home” je o chlápkovi, který přišel o práci, o lásku i o domov. Je to o cestě na společenské dno do nebytí. V závěru této kapitoly se nástrojem vyprávění nestávají jenom obrázky v panelech, ale také samotné panely a jejich velikost. Kapitola “L” zase vypráví o jednom “paleo-snu” prožitého během spánku v metru v lince L. Je o symbolech a kresbách, které lidstvo používalo k vyprávění příběhů už od pravěku. V tomto příběhu má svě cameo i Věstonická Venuše. Poslední příběh je o malíři, který kreslí své fantastické příběhy v obrazech a nakonec se stává jejich součástí.
Pro mě osobně nebyly příběhy jednotlivých kapitol tak důležité, jako jejich výtvarná forma a jednotlivé nápady ve vyprávění. Není pochyb o tom, že Drookerova fantazie je obrovská a je velmi talentovaným “škrábačem”. Na konci knihy je dlouhé a zajímavé povídání s autorem.
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Book Flood begins with page with musical notes and a lyric that begins with words "Thunder crashed through the sky. Higher & higher waves rolled by, 'Learn to swim' said the fish, Rain on, … ". I wanted to find some app to convert scanned of musical notes into melody. Finally it wasn’t necessary - from radio I heard sound of rain and thunder - and song Black Sabbath were begins. Coincidence? Maybe…
Author of the Flood is american artist Eric Drooker. Whole book art is done by scratching - removing of ink - opposite technique to drawing. This technique is is similar to woodcut and the same technique is used by Thomas Ott.
The book contains three chapters - “Home”, “L” and “Flood”. It’s necessary to don’t look for any connections between the chapter to enjoy them. All chapters are partly autobiographical and have root in author’s personal experiences. He created each of them in another part of his live and his progress in story telling and in precision of his scratching is visible between chapters.
Chapter “Home” is about a guy who lost his work, his love and his flat. It’s about way to social bottom into non-existence. At the end of chapter are also panels and their size part of the storytelling. Chapter “L” is about “paleo-dream” that was dreamed in the subway line L. It’s about symbols and pictures that were used for telling stories since cave-people in prehistoric age. In this chapter has cameo “Venus of Dolní Věstonice”. Last chapter “Flood” is about painter who paints his fantastic stories in pictures and at the end he became part of them.
For me personally weren’t stories so important as their art and concrete ideas in the pictures and in the story. Without debats Drooker's fantasy is great and he is very talented scratcher. At the end of book is long and interesting interview with Drooker.
Flood (Potopa) začíná stránkou s notovým zápisem s textem songu, začínajícího slovy "Thunder crashed through the sky. Higher & higher waves rolled by, 'Learn to swim' said the fish, Rain on, … ". Říkal jsem si, že by bylo fajn najít si aplikaci, která by mi naskenované noty dokázala přehrát. Nebylo potřeba - z rádia se ozval déšť a hrom - začal hrát Black Sabbath. Náhoda? Možná…
Autorem knihy Flood je američan Erik Drooker a celá kniha je dělána technikou škrábání, kdy inkous už je nanesen na celé ploše obrazu a škrábáním se odstraňuje to, co tam být nemá. Tato technika je podobná dřevorytu a stejnou techniku používá i Thomas Ott.
Kniha obsahující tři kapitoly - “Home”, “L” a “Flood”. Abyste si knihu užili, tak nesmíte mezi jednotlivými kapitolami hledat souvislosti. “L” a “Flood” na sebe navazují, ale to je tak všechno. Všechny kapitoly jsou částečně autobiografické a vycházejí z nějakého osobního autorova prožitku. Každou z nich napsal v jiné fázi svého života a tak je mezi nimi vidět také velký progress v Drookerově technice škrábání a jeho stylu vyprávění.
“Home” je o chlápkovi, který přišel o práci, o lásku i o domov. Je to o cestě na společenské dno do nebytí. V závěru této kapitoly se nástrojem vyprávění nestávají jenom obrázky v panelech, ale také samotné panely a jejich velikost. Kapitola “L” zase vypráví o jednom “paleo-snu” prožitého během spánku v metru v lince L. Je o symbolech a kresbách, které lidstvo používalo k vyprávění příběhů už od pravěku. V tomto příběhu má svě cameo i Věstonická Venuše. Poslední příběh je o malíři, který kreslí své fantastické příběhy v obrazech a nakonec se stává jejich součástí.
Pro mě osobně nebyly příběhy jednotlivých kapitol tak důležité, jako jejich výtvarná forma a jednotlivé nápady ve vyprávění. Není pochyb o tom, že Drookerova fantazie je obrovská a je velmi talentovaným “škrábačem”. Na konci knihy je dlouhé a zajímavé povídání s autorem.
----------
Book Flood begins with page with musical notes and a lyric that begins with words "Thunder crashed through the sky. Higher & higher waves rolled by, 'Learn to swim' said the fish, Rain on, … ". I wanted to find some app to convert scanned of musical notes into melody. Finally it wasn’t necessary - from radio I heard sound of rain and thunder - and song Black Sabbath were begins. Coincidence? Maybe…
Author of the Flood is american artist Eric Drooker. Whole book art is done by scratching - removing of ink - opposite technique to drawing. This technique is is similar to woodcut and the same technique is used by Thomas Ott.
The book contains three chapters - “Home”, “L” and “Flood”. It’s necessary to don’t look for any connections between the chapter to enjoy them. All chapters are partly autobiographical and have root in author’s personal experiences. He created each of them in another part of his live and his progress in story telling and in precision of his scratching is visible between chapters.
Chapter “Home” is about a guy who lost his work, his love and his flat. It’s about way to social bottom into non-existence. At the end of chapter are also panels and their size part of the storytelling. Chapter “L” is about “paleo-dream” that was dreamed in the subway line L. It’s about symbols and pictures that were used for telling stories since cave-people in prehistoric age. In this chapter has cameo “Venus of Dolní Věstonice”. Last chapter “Flood” is about painter who paints his fantastic stories in pictures and at the end he became part of them.
For me personally weren’t stories so important as their art and concrete ideas in the pictures and in the story. Without debats Drooker's fantasy is great and he is very talented scratcher. At the end of book is long and interesting interview with Drooker.
February 12, 2017
4.5 stars. Drooker channels Frans Masereel to depict 80s NYC.
December 3, 2008
Beautiful, beautiful artwork. It blew me away the first time I saw it.
In 1996, I went to NYC for a Refuse + Resist conference. Anita and I journeyed to a bookstore (I want to say it was called People's Books, but I'm really not sure) and watch Eric Drooker play the harmonica and sing while showing slides from Flood! That's where I bought my copy of this book. Eric Drooker autographed my copy.
And I have to admit I was quite smitten by Mr. Drooker. However, when I had the chance to help host him as a visiting artist in 2004, he turned out to exhibit some real dip shit behavior, and I was glad I had never had the chance to sleep with him. It's difficult to watch heroes (or just hot guys) fall.
In 1996, I went to NYC for a Refuse + Resist conference. Anita and I journeyed to a bookstore (I want to say it was called People's Books, but I'm really not sure) and watch Eric Drooker play the harmonica and sing while showing slides from Flood! That's where I bought my copy of this book. Eric Drooker autographed my copy.
And I have to admit I was quite smitten by Mr. Drooker. However, when I had the chance to help host him as a visiting artist in 2004, he turned out to exhibit some real dip shit behavior, and I was glad I had never had the chance to sleep with him. It's difficult to watch heroes (or just hot guys) fall.
Read
May 3, 2021I got turned onto this via Faith No More's "King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime" album which features images from this book on the cover.
No dialogue, just a series of woodcut/woodprint images (an artform that I'm a big fan of) that tell gloomy and often surreal stories around NY.
Drooker's images are so powerful and vibrant that they almost feel like they're alive! Helpfully, this edition also features interviews with Drooker in which he recommends other works to check out.
No dialogue, just a series of woodcut/woodprint images (an artform that I'm a big fan of) that tell gloomy and often surreal stories around NY.
Drooker's images are so powerful and vibrant that they almost feel like they're alive! Helpfully, this edition also features interviews with Drooker in which he recommends other works to check out.
July 21, 2015
Ilustrações magníficas do isolamento social da vida moderna com imaginação pura a brotar de cada página. Nada que o autor não nos tivesse habituado já nas capas do The New Yorker. Foi deste livro que se retiraram as ilustrações do álbum King For a Day Fool for a Lifetime dos Faith No More. Um must-see portanto.
May 15, 2018
I wasn't clever enough for this or something. I found the art repulsive. sometimes that can work for me. this time it didn't. I finished it feeling empty and gross. I'm obviously in the minority here though.
October 12, 2010
This book didn't need words, but I guess I do to say it was excellent!
July 18, 2021
This story is supposed to encapsulate NYC in the 80s and the 90s; I guess I must have missed it. I think that Eric might have wanted to catch a Seinfeld or two ... Lighten up.
January 26, 2023
I didn't connect with any of the characters very well. Bad things happened to the character in the chapter called "Home," but I didn't care, because I saw almost nothing about this character's previous life. Nothing to make me care. Nothing to make me connect.
I didn't understand at first that the chapters were not all one story, exactly. That is not made clear in the book, so I understood almost nothing about the second chapter, "L." I did not know these stories were once published separately until I read the interview at the end.
In the last chapter, Flood," we see the town fill with rain water. The man's apartment fill with water. The man, the artist himself, continues to draw till his place is totally full of water. I will not tell you the end, but suffice it to say, I found myself totally unfazed by this man, his woes and the end of his story.
One thing I really, really liked is that the creator used scratchboard to make the panels. I do scratchboard, and this artist is great at it! I gave the book four stars because the art is just beautiful. I was not a fan of the story at all, but oh my gosh was the art inspiring to look at. It makes me want to make a graphic novel with scratchboard. I might buy this book if only for the scratchboard art.
Even though I, personally, didn't love the story, nor care about the characters, I think the book is worth the read for the art alone. The entire thing is one big art piece. The cover of mine is not this one. I can't find my cover on here, but on mine, the cover alone is a work of art. It is textured to feel the rain on the front. The rain is also shiny and when you move the book, the rain on the front glistens.
If you want a good story with emotion and no words, read "The Arrival." Don't expect the story to blow your mind. If, however, you want to see gorgeous art and don't mind that its story is lacking, read this book.
I didn't understand at first that the chapters were not all one story, exactly. That is not made clear in the book, so I understood almost nothing about the second chapter, "L." I did not know these stories were once published separately until I read the interview at the end.
In the last chapter, Flood," we see the town fill with rain water. The man's apartment fill with water. The man, the artist himself, continues to draw till his place is totally full of water. I will not tell you the end, but suffice it to say, I found myself totally unfazed by this man, his woes and the end of his story.
One thing I really, really liked is that the creator used scratchboard to make the panels. I do scratchboard, and this artist is great at it! I gave the book four stars because the art is just beautiful. I was not a fan of the story at all, but oh my gosh was the art inspiring to look at. It makes me want to make a graphic novel with scratchboard. I might buy this book if only for the scratchboard art.
Even though I, personally, didn't love the story, nor care about the characters, I think the book is worth the read for the art alone. The entire thing is one big art piece. The cover of mine is not this one. I can't find my cover on here, but on mine, the cover alone is a work of art. It is textured to feel the rain on the front. The rain is also shiny and when you move the book, the rain on the front glistens.
If you want a good story with emotion and no words, read "The Arrival." Don't expect the story to blow your mind. If, however, you want to see gorgeous art and don't mind that its story is lacking, read this book.
March 5, 2024
Interesting. I expected different styles to be played, but at least there was the addition of a third color. Mayhaps one, depends on how you look at it. Within a few pages I could already tell a number of things that I was going to see. Drug use, sex and the All Seeing Eye.
Unfortunately I couldn’t dig the style. Which friggin blows for a comic riding on it. It’s like portrait paintings, but you don’t’ make a comic out of portrait paintings, know what I mean? There were several images I could see being fun stickers, or 5x7s.
You should know I’m not an artist.
Unfortunately I couldn’t dig the style. Which friggin blows for a comic riding on it. It’s like portrait paintings, but you don’t’ make a comic out of portrait paintings, know what I mean? There were several images I could see being fun stickers, or 5x7s.
You should know I’m not an artist.
September 5, 2017
Not my typical genre but I happened upon this graphic novel at the library and was intrigued. There are no words in this book, only beautiful art-all pictures that were created using scratchboard, a technique akin to woodcutting, where an artist scratches away ink with a razor blade. The interview with the author that was included in the book was fascinating and gave background about his life in New York which clearly inspired his graphic novel. Quite a talented man.
April 22, 2021
I don't know... meh? I feel like I was supposed to be moved by this but I wasn't. The art is grimey and evocative... albeit sexist AF.... the story didn't do anything for me. Maybe you need to have lived in NYC in the 80s/90s for this to land... though some of it does resonate with our current political climate and relationship with police.
I put it back on the shelf... maybe I will take another look at it another time but for now... meh?
I put it back on the shelf... maybe I will take another look at it another time but for now... meh?
October 7, 2017
I found it interesting that the foreword describing this book as prophetic regarding the struggles and destruction in New York City was written in April of 2001, a few short months prior to 9/11. The book was also created in response to events occurring in NY during the time I was born and when my family decided to move out of the city.
October 10, 2025
An enjoyable visual rendering of urban existential alienation. The renderings in the final third that incorporate a lively yet frigid hue of blue are mesmerizing. There is also a black cat.
Enjoyable 30 minute flip even if you are indifferent to graphic novels, as I am. Pairs well with bourbon.
Enjoyable 30 minute flip even if you are indifferent to graphic novels, as I am. Pairs well with bourbon.
December 10, 2016
Four stars only because I feel guilty about counting this as one of the books I read this year. Although I think that this book is quite brilliant, to say that it is on par with Moby Dick is a bit hyperbolic. Nonetheless, it does belongs on the "The Greatest Graphic Novels of All Time" shelf.
December 17, 2022
Very quick read but this is such an impressive graphic novel that it encapsulates such a modern hieroglyphic feel and yet conveys an advanced feeling of the human condition. Definitely would recommend to anyone who loves visual storytelling.
December 21, 2022
Gostei assim-assim. Uma história sem texto pode ser difícil de seguir e esta tende a tornar-se um pouco surreal em determinadas alturas... Por isso, não creio que daqui por um ano me vá lembrar dela... Mas não deixei de gostar de manusear o livro e ver as ilustrações.
January 2, 2023
Beautiful artwork in a stream-of-consciousness style, embodying the overwhelming nature of life in the Big Apple. Touching on class struggle, the police state, and our country's genocidal past, this work proves that depth doesn't necessitate language
April 9, 2023
Drooker channels Lynd Ward and Frans Masereel while mixing in some underground sensibilities. I'm already a big fan of early 20th century woodcut novels, so maybe I came in with an inherent bias. But Flood really is a great experience to read, and it's extremely well drawn.
May 8, 2023
Almost no words, and it works well using its medium to tell these short stories. Flood is by far the best of the stories inside. The final bit of that story? Incredible. But the first two stories were fun and there are some really great illustrations scattered throughout.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 92 reviews