Love is stronger than anything
Presented in the form of meetings and discussions, Love, Sex and the Promised Land, by Paris-based independent journalist Salomé Parent-Rachdi and French cartoonist and author Zac Deloupy, tackles a difficult but essential subject: romantic relationships, whatever their nature, between Palestinians and Israelis. Yes, they exist, these couples, and while some still manage not to suffer too much backlash from those around them, others have to leave everything behind to go and live elsewhere. Because it is not easy, for example, to be a young homosexual or to be part of a lesbian couple in the Gaza Strip. Started before the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 and finished shortly after, this album, which by force of circumstances becomes a document on the world before, is above all relevant because it demonstrates that the need to love and be loved has always remained stronger than political, state or religious structures. Really touching!
Francois Lemay
Love, Sex and the Promised Land
★★★★
Salomé Parent-Rachdi and Zac Deloupy, Les Arènes, Paris, 2024, 160 pages
Dracula, did you say Dracula?
We know the story, adapted several times: once upon a time there was a young employee of a notary who had to go to Transylvania to conclude a real estate deal with a mysterious count. While this young employee is held prisoner in the castle of this famous Dracula, he leaves for England to seduce, among others, the woman promised to his prisoner. The resemblance between the original and this reinterpretation, signed by the Italians Marco Cannavo and Corrado Roi, ends there, when the story takes a gothic-biblical turn at least as dark as the original. Roi’s very dark charcoal drawing is frankly chilling, evoking the more modern eroticism of the character as much as his appearance inspired by the Nosferatu of the 1920s, a masterpiece of German expressionism. And it works because deep down, we like to scare ourselves, even with the classics!
Francois Lemay
Dracula. The Order of the Dragon
★★★
Marco Cannavo and Corrado Roi, Glénat BD, Grenoble, 2024, 112 pages
Journey to the End of Hell
He had been warned not to enter the cave, it’s forbidden! But young Noah always does as he pleases. His sister, Ana, tries to help him, but the two unfortunates find themselves catapulted into a disturbing universe populated by strange creatures, each as unhealthy as the next. To escape, they will have to face multiple trials, but above all they will have to learn to avoid the terrifying wrath of a witch who calls the shots. The Frenchman Gaël Henry, gifted with a fabulous sense of narration, has drawn directly from the heart of Russian folklore for this album as magnificent as it is ferocious, featuring the famous Slavic figure Baba Yaga, who also inspired the Japanese director Miyazaki in his unforgettable Spirited Away. Almost in homage to the tradition of ancient legends, the designer and illustrator plays with the graphic codes of children’s stories through a story for adults full of surprises and cruelty. A gem!
Ismael Houdassine
Terrible. The Child, the Girl and the Witch
★★★★1/2
Gaël Henry, Dupuis, Paris, 2024, 144 pages
Outstretched hand
Accustomed to field reports in comic book form, the Reunion Island cartoonist Hippolyte spent several months aboard the Ocean Viking, the ship of SOS Méditerranée, an organization that has specialized in high-seas rescue operations since 2015. The result is a graphic album of profound humanity that sensitively focuses on modern-day castaways crammed onto makeshift rafts in search of a better life. While the waters of the Mediterranean have become the tomb of tens of thousands of migrants, European teams, mostly made up of volunteers, are trying to rescue the survivors in distress on floating sanctuaries. Beyond the daily dramas and anonymous statistics, the author gives these men, women and children back their voices and faces. Created largely in watercolor, the images of singular beauty also restore dignity to these people fleeing poverty and war. Ultimately, this touching work with its evocative title reveals great poetry.
Ismael Houdassine
The whisper of the sea
★★★★
Hippolyte, Les Arènes, Paris, 2024, 224 pages