Fire on the Water
Scott Macgregor, illustrated by Gary Dumm
Gary Dumm
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 bluecollar workers involved in the reallife 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 reallife 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 manmade ecological disasters but also on racism and the economic disparity between classes in the Midwest at the turn of the century.
Scott MacGregor has been writing comic book stories for over thirty years. This is his first fulllength graphic novel. 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.