The conquest of the cosmos
With this album “which gives way to the space race”, Quebecers Francis Desharnais and Alexandre Fontaine Rousseau gave us one of the funniest comics of the year. The two cartoonists revisit the conquest of space with total irreverence, giving us the right to absurd and completely crazy boards, worthy of the Gotlib of the heyday. (SM)
The conquest of the cosmos
Francis Desharnais and Alexandre Fontaine Rousseau
Pow pow
208 pages
The whale library
This album, one of the most beautiful of the 2021 vintage, tells the story of the improbable friendship between a postman of the seas and a whale in love with literature with a belly loaded with books. Despite its tragic end, this tender and poetic tale has everything to delight the hearts of young and old alike. We fell in love with the sumptuous blue watercolors by Judith Vanistendael, which we would have liked to frame. A delight! (SM)
The whale library
Zidrou and Judith Vanistendael
Lombard
78 pages
Contrapaso – 1. The children of others
Halfway between the noir novel, the psychological thriller and the journalistic investigation, this very well knitted album transports us to the Spain of the 1950s. Two journalists who are opposed will unite to flush out the all-powerful who come together. hide warm under the Franco regime. A breathtaking story, lively drawings… the first volume of this diptych is a success on all fronts! (SM)
Contrapaso – 1. The children of others
Teresa valero
Dupuis
138 pages
The Moskva Drum
Inspired by a secondary character from War and peace, this comic with a powerful graphic style tells the story of Vincent Bosse, drummer for the Napoleonic troops in Borodino in 1812. This very well documented work, carried by the solid sense of narration of the Dutchman Simon Spruyt, reminds us that even the faces the purest hide in their soul their lots of corpses, betrayals and cowardice … (SM)
The Moskva Drum
Simon spruyt
Lombard
120 pages
Blacksad – So everything falls (part one)
Eight years that we waited for the return of the most famous cat-headed private in the history of comics. John Blacksad came back to us in great shape in this album set in New York, a city grappling with serious corruption problems. What a joy to find the beautiful zoomorphic drawings of Guarnido, accompanied here by a nicely put together scenario. Only problem: we will have to wait until 2023 to know the end of this diptych so well started. (SM)
Blacksad – So everything falls (part one)
Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido
Dargaud
60 pages
1984
The emblematic work of George Orwell resurfaces in all its chilling power under the pen of Xavier Coste. The visual approach, between a fine impressionism and an aesthetic inspired as much by brutalist architecture as by Soviet propaganda, is fantastic. What holds this story together is the skillful way in which the cartoonist transposed the story, knowing how to create an intimate tone. What a tour de force! (AV)
1984
Xavier Coste, after George Orwell
Mailify editions
224 pages
The divine scenario
The divine scenario draws on the great stories (of the Bible at Madame Bovary through the Thousand and one Night) to talk about love. Archangel Gabriel, a somewhat casual employee of God, is tasked with finding a wife for his boss who, disappointed with the Earth, wants to have a son to put things in order. The scenario is crazy, the visual abounding and the humor, lively. What more ? (AV)
The divine scenario
Jacky Beneteaud and Fabrizio Dori
South Acts – year 2
183 pages
The little astronaut
Don’t be fooled by the title: The little astronaut is not a sci-fi adventure or a children’s tale. It is the extremely touching story of a boy with cerebral palsy and his family – that of the cartoonist. Jean-Paul Eid deploys all his art here in a fine narration, which skilfully juggles between dark and light, reality and imagination, and an always enveloping color palette. A great comic book. (AV)
The little astronaut
Jean-Paul Eid
The watermelon
156 pages
Football-Fantasy
There is nothing perfect about Football-Fantasy. Neither this convoluted scenario nor these drawings full of a sometimes muddled energy. Except that this pavement of the unpredictable Zviane looks like absolutely nothing else. It is a crazy story that reflects, an action comic with philosophical resonances and a free and fragmented visual work. She has humor and guts, Zviane. (AV)
Football-Fantasy
Zviane
Pow pow
520 pages
Suzette or the great love
A young woman helps her recently widowed grandmother to find her childhood love. There is nothing, in this synopsis, to attract attention. Fabien Toulmé, with an extraordinary delicacy, both in tone and in design, transforms this somewhat naive quest into a story that inspires dreams and feels good, while reflecting on the couple, on the hopes and sorrows of life. Very pretty and without sentimentality. (AV)
Suzette or the great love
Fabien Toulme
Delcourt / Mirages
335 pages