Image Comics will release the graphic novel The Cutting Garden by Eisner Award-winning writer Darcy Van Poelgeest and watercolor artist Erin Connally this fall.
Set on a quiet street in New Orleans, The Cutting Garden follows a mysterious girl who seeks out a florist to deliver a life-altering truth in a final act of kindness and redemption.
“The Cutting Garden has been a labor of love for many years and I’m thrilled we can finally share it with the world,” said Van Poelgeest. “The process of writing and creating this story has sincerely changed me, as a writer, and a person. My hope now is that readers will take this journey themselves through the stifling shadows of Louisiana, and perhaps they too might feel a change.”
Van Poelgeest first gained attention with Little Bird, an Image series he co-created with artist Ian Bertram that won the Eisner Award for Best Limited Series in 2020. His follow-up series, Precious Metal, launched in 2024 to critical acclaim. For Connally, the book marks her comics debut.
“I wanted to offer readers a visual feast that represents both Darcy and my fascination with beauty and decay,” Connally said. “As a southerner, I needed to capture the landscape that’s inspired me since I was a child. The Cutting Garden is this combination — a weird little Southern Gothic lullaby that I hope readers will be entranced by.”
Here’s a look inside:
The stand-alone hardcover graphic novel arrives in comic shops Sept. 2 and in bookstores Sept. 29.