Distant Neighborhood Volume 1

The book that Fanfare publisher Stephen Robson was most excited about signing at New York Comic-Con was Distant Neighborhood (a.k.a. Haruka Na Machi He, and translated in other countries as Faraway Neighborhood and Quartier Lointain) by Jiro Taniguchi.

An unexpectedly touching fantasy story, Distant Neighborhood is about a business man who decides to visit his mother's grave in his old hometown. Instead, he finds himself mysteriously transported back in time to the summer when he was in junior high, with all his adult memories and knowledge intact. As he relives those days, he sees his now dead parents and his past life in a different light.

Fanfare/Ponent Mon's releases of other Taniguchi masterworks including The Walking Man and The Ice Wanderer were released to general critical acclaim in the states. Distant Neighborhood (Quartier Lointain) was also the recipient of the 2003 Alph'Art Award for Best Scenario at the Angoulême International Comics Festival in France. This story, which is generally considered to be one of Taniguchi's very best is sure to be well received when it's released in the U.S. in Summer 2009.