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Complex molts

The insect woman

In the West, the legendary Osamu Tezuka is best known for Astro Boy and King Leo ; but this is only one of the facets of the very prolific mangaka. In lands far removed from fantastic adventures, he also dabbled in dark, disturbing stories, while portraying the social issues of his time. The book The insect womanpublished in Japan in 1970 and which has just been reissued in French, is part of this vein of serious stories intended for adults.

The manga features Toshiko Tomura, whose talent seems to have no limits: whether she touches on literature, design or comedy, sparkling successes invariably smile at her. But behind his gifted angel face hides another face, much more cruel. To achieve her ends, Toshiko does not hesitate to resort to her charms, manipulation, perversion, or even worse. Journalists, artists, lovers: almost all of them end up trapped in her web and emptied of their substance by this woman in perpetual change. Evolving in the turbulent and patriarchal Japanese society of the 1970s, the insect woman nevertheless alternately takes on the roles of predator and prey.

The drawing certainly seems outdated, with its almost “popeyesque” style and curves, but the mystery surrounding Toshiko and her vicissitudes is intriguing, raising many questions in terms of identity, customs of the time, eroticism or more devouring ambition. So don’t be fooled by the naivety of the features, which hides a certain complexity around the main character, while depicting events anchored in the news of this period of social change in Japan.

We can only salute the recent reissues of these works by Tezuka published by Delcourt and FLBLB (Phoenix, the firebird, Swallow the earth, Tomorrow the birds) which allow us to better understand the different universes nourished by this founding pillar of the world of manga.

The insect woman

Osamu Tezuka

FLBLB

Whole story
378 pages
b&w

7.5/10

Sylvain Sarrazin, The Press

Fun digital adventures

Talento Seven

A small wind of originality blows again in these pages signed Izu and Kalon, the French duo who delivered Versus Fighting Story. Here, Talento Seven propels us into the world of successful youtubers, in which Adel and his sidekick Carla dream of breaking through. The task is difficult: not only is the young man hypersensitive and easily loses his means, but in addition, he pours into the hyper niche field of marginal retro video games. However, he will be able to seize his chance during a contest where the members of “Talento Seven”, the most influential youtubers on the web, will have to promote a protege – and the famous Benzou (assumed parody of the videographer Benzaie) has rightly thrown his sights on Adel.

We love the French-speaking references and the many caricatures of the real stars of the Net (including “The player of the cellar”!), the interesting bonuses, the original theme and the respect of all the codes of the manga. Light and entertaining! Aimed at numerivorous teens or adults at heart geek challenged by retro video games.

Talento Seven

Izu (screenplay) and Kalon (drawing)

Kana

Volume 1, b & w

7/10

Sylvain Sarrazin, The Press

Lucky Luke among the veggies

Rantanplan Arch

Arriving in Cattle Gultch, where he has to take care of a herd, Lucky Luke dreams of a good steak. He doesn’t have time to order him to get involved in an argument to avoid what he calls “rapid justice”: a group of angry people wanted to hang a man accused of stealing a horse, while this the latter claims to have simply wanted to shield the equine from the ill-treatment inflicted on him. This strange bird is called Ovide Byrde and wants to change mentalities in the West: he founded the Humane Society of this corner of the country – and is the only member. His vision of things – mainly vegetarianism – is far from unanimous among cowboys, and his idealism will make him a prime target for ill-intentioned triggers when he discovers a gold deposit on his land.

Achdé and Jul sign a nice album, dotted with nods to the COVID-19 pandemic, which teases a certain vegetarian radicalism. Gags well sent, skilfully staged, the album is dynamic and it is with malicious pleasure that we find Rantanplan, the dumbest dog in the West. Rantanplan Arch is also a “sensitive” album: Lucky Luke even sheds a tear on it, but we won’t tell you why!

Rantanplan Arch

Achde and Jul

Lucky Comics

48 pages

7/10

Alexandre Vigneault, The Press

A Marsupilami in Berlin

Humboldt’s animal

We will not speak of revisionism, rather of parallel universes: discovered in 1952 by Fantasio in the series Spirou and Fantasiothe Marsupilami reappears “for the first time” in Humboldt’s Animal, where it is said that it was the famous German scientist Alexander Von Humboldt who would have brought it back to Berlin from an expedition to South America in 1801. Forgotten in a closed crate – it is in a form of magical hibernation attributed to the mummy lined up at his side — the Marsupilami awakens in 1931 thanks to a young girl who will help him return home. The premise of this adventure signed Flix is ​​far-fetched and the scenario, after all, banal.

With his ally, the whimsical animal walks all over Berlin and the story has no other depth than to evoke on the surface the thirst for power and recognition of men, which is expressed here by the domination on the animal kingdom and a strong colonialist spirit.

Flix signs some good gags (a nod to the madhouse of 12 labors of Asterixin particular), but ultimately offers an adventure that lacks resilience.

Humboldt’s animal

Flix

Dupuis

56 pages

5/10

Alexandre Vigneault, The Press

Other outings

Tesla Notes, Masafumi Nishida, Tadayoshi Kubo and Kota Sannomiya

New series in French include shōnen (for teens) Tesla Noteswhere a young girl broken in ninjutsu teams up with a spy to find the fragments of Tesla, crystals with immense power.

Bloodier, Peach Boy Riverside set a scene dark fantasy where a princess in love with vagrancy meets funny characters, all driven by the desire to eradicate invading ogres.

Sylvain Sarrazin, The Press

The map and the territoryMichel Houellebecq and Louis Paillard

The novel by Michel Houellebecq, winner of the Goncourt 2010, is the subject of a comic book adaptation by Louis Paillard. The album is visually rich, but the text, massive. We have to get on with it. The satire of art and its trade, among other things, is worth it.

Alexandre Vigneault, The Press