Fire on the Water

by Scott MacGregor, Gary Dumm (Illustrator), Paul Buhle (Preface by)

Overview

A novel based on a true tale of heroism and invention in the tunnels beneath Lake Erie in 1916

This original graphic novel imagines the lives of blue-collar workers involved in the real-life Lake Erie tunnel disaster of 1916 in Cleveland. Author Scott MacGregor and illustrator Gary Dumm tell the intersecting stories of a brilliant African American inventor, Ben Beltran (based on the real-life Garrett Morgan, Sr.), desperate immigrants tunneling beneath Lake Erie, and corrupt overseers who risk countless lives for profit. As historical fiction, Fire on the Water sheds light not only on one of America’s earliest man-made ecological disasters but also on racism and the economic disparity between classes in the Midwest at the turn of the century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781419741166
Publisher:	Abrams ComicArts
Publication date:	05/12/2020
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	1,069,815
Product dimensions:	6.60(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.40(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Scott MacGregor has been writing comic book stories for over 30 years. This is his first full-length graphic novel. He lives in Cleveland, Ohio. Gary Dumm is a lifelong resident of Cleveland and an artist who worked extensively with Harvey Pekar on American Splendor. Dumm’s cartoons have also appeared in Entertainment Weekly, the New York Times, the Village Voice, and Le Monde.


Paul Buhle is a senior lecturer in the American Civilization and History departments at Brown University. He has written and edited thirty-five books, including Jews and American Comics, and lives in Rhode Island.

Editorial Reviews

02/03/2020

Little-known passages in the history of Cleveland in the 1900s inspire this earnest fictionalized tale of life and death among the “sandhogs”—immigrant workers who dig tunnels to bring clean water to the city. The account is rife with relevant themes—ecological disaster (typhus outbreaks are common due to Lake Erie’s fetid waters), anti-immigration sentiments, and racism among them. Some characters are based on real life figures, including Benjamin Beltran, inspired by inventor Garrett Morgan—whose fire-fighting creation the “smoke helmet” is laughed at because he’s African-American. Another thread follows Rodger Clarke, the Irish foreman on Crib #5, one of the tunneling projects made potentially fatal by subterranean gas pockets near the work site. Their paths intertwine—along with various others, including the corrupt mayor and project supervisors, and struggling sandhogs—in a conflagration known as “1916 Waterworks Disaster” that sees Beltran’s invention put to dramatic use. MacGregor and artist Dumm (American Splendor) are both native Clevelanders, bringing shared passion for their local history. But the effort is somewhat undermined by Dumm’s occasionally plodding art style, with stiff and overly similar character art, and by MacGregor’s overreliance on patois and accents. Well-meaning if not sparkling in execution, this nonetheless presents a plucky tale of survival and heroism. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"...a story that feels contemporary in its confluence of environmental disregard, racism and economic inequality."

Cool Cleveland

Solid, well-told history of an industrial disaster in early 20th century Cleveland.

Forbes

"A powerful vision that exposes the far-reaching impacts of greed and oppression."

Booklist

★ 11/01/2020

Cleveland, 1916. Clean water comes at the cost of uncounted deaths among the immigrant tunnel-diggers, toiling under Lake Erie. Clever and courageous inventor Ben Beltran has devised a smoke helmet that could protect the "sandhog" diggers from suffocation by underground gas. But Beltran's race leads officials to disparage the helmet, even when it saves lives, and erase his accomplishments from history. Based on the 1916 Waterworks Tunnel Disaster and inventor Garrett Morgan Sr. (Web Exclusives, 4/17/20)

Library Journal