Pantheon Books has announced it will publish Tongues, a new graphic novel duology by Anders Nilsen. Tongues is a modern retelling of the story of Prometheus, who in Greek mythology was bound to a rock where every day an eagle ate his liver, and every night his liver grew back to be eaten again the next day. This was a punishment for sharing the gift of fire with humans. Nilsen’s retelling is set in the oil-rich lands of modern-day Central Asia, with the eagle telling the story of Prometheus’ ordeal and his quest for revenge on the god that punished him. The story weaves in two other characters, an East African orphan on a deadly mission and a young man with a teddy bear on his back, as well as the tensions between rivals in a wilderness rich with petroleum deposits.

Pantheon will publish Vol. 1 of Tongues on March 11, 2025, as a 368-page hardcover with an MSRP of $35.00.

Nilsen is the creator of Big Questions and Poetry Is Useless, both published by Drawn & Quarterly (see “D&Q Graphic Novel Announcements”), and The End, published by Fantagraphics. Big Questions won the Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize and was nominated for a 2012 Eisner Award; Nilsen has also won a Xeric Award and three Ignatzes.

Pantheon will publish Charles Burns’ Final Cut on September 24 (see “Pantheon to Publish Charles Burns’ ‘Final Cut’”).