Great atmospheric comic
Harlem revolves around the figure of Stéphanie St. Clair, a female gangster of West Indian origin who dominated this neighborhood located north of Central Park, in New York, at the beginning of the 20the century. The comic dwells on what is swarming around her: poverty, shenanigans, gang struggles, jazz scene, police corruption and the lottery that will make her fortune. Mikaël leads his story by staying close to the characters, bringing them to life in magnificent visual compositions, inspired by the painters of the Ashcan School, creating vaporous pages where matter, dirt and street noises are superbly evoked. . We are waiting for the sequel.
Alexandre Vigneault, The Press
Harlem, t. 1
Michael
Dargaud
64 pages
A comic strip knitted with the threads of the heart
Catherine Ocelot, Quebec cartoonist with heightened sensitivity, gave us at the beginning of the year the magnificent album Symptoms. She explores with great tenderness the invisible bonds that connect us to each other, but also the impact that these same bonds can have on our bodies. With her delicate features, Catherine Ocelot presents to us in the form of paintings the fate of five women members of the group Solitude anonyme. The metaphors of the body fascinate the cartoonist. His work fascinated us just as much.
Stephanie Morin, The Press
Symptoms
Catherine Ocelot
pow-pow
280 pages
live hidden
More than 15 years later Gomorraha romantic investigation in which he portrays the Neapolitan mafia, Roberto Saviano still lives in hiding, under police protection. I’m still alive chronicles this life next to life, cut off from his own, without that freedom of movement that everyone takes for granted. It is the story of a stubborn and broken man, but still capable of self-mockery. The Israeli cartoonist Asaf Hanuka transposes with a touch of eloquent poetry this cruel story, but also what still makes the writer condemned to the shadows dream.
Alexandre Vigneault, The Press
I’m still alive
Roberto Saviano and Asaf Hanuka
Gallimard
144 pages
A mule to counter the auto-da-fé
The bibliomule of Cordoba, comic book superbly written by Wilfrid Lupano and illustrated with great vivacity by Léonard Chemineau, dwells on a little-known but very real event in history: the burning of Cordoba, perpetrated in 976. The authors have imagined here a mismatched quartet trying to save as many titles as possible from the stake: a eunuch librarian, a slave girl, a highwayman and a stubborn mule loaded with a mountain of books! An album filled with humor, tenderness and wisdom, which delights the head and the heart.
Stephanie Morin, The Press
The bibliomule of Cordoba
Lupano and Chemineau
Dargaud
264 pages
Stories of Resistance
With The reflections of the world: in struggle, Fabien Toulmé returns to his role as a social documentary filmmaker and focuses on the political and social struggles waged by communities in Lebanon, Brazil and Benin. Less journalistic than that of the American Joe Sacco (Palestine, Gaza 1956, etc.), Fabien Toulmé’s approach is more personal: he stages himself trying to understand the issues in order to tell them better. His subjects are tough, but there is always something sympathetic and light in the tone and the line of the French cartoonist, who never appropriates the struggles of others, but looks at them with empathy.
Alexandre Vigneault, The Press
The reflections of the world: in struggle
Fabien Toulme
Delcourt
336 pages
A grieving family
Jean-Louis Tripp (General store) signs a comic strip with neat movement which acutely translates the fluffy state in which one finds oneself when one is struck by mourning and the guilt he felt when Gilles, his “little brother”, was caught by a driver in the summer of 1976. The tragedy is an opportunity for him to explore the reactions of his mother, father, brother and sister to this sudden death, partly buried in silence. The little brother advances at a slow pace and with a freedom that allows the designer to explode the form to reveal his inner world.
Alexandre Vigneault, The Press
The little brother
Jean Louis Tripp
Casterman
350 pages
Chronicles of a changing neighborhood
Nothing is going right in the life of Sam, an inveterate potty who is struggling to pay his rent. A more or less forgotten ex has landed and her building is threatened with demolition due to the gentrification that threatens the popular district of Utown. With her gallery of endearing marginal characters, the Montreal cartoonist Cab offers here a love letter to the unloved neighborhoods of our cities and to those who transform them into real communities. A dense and touching story, carried by a black and white drawing openly inspired by manga.
Stephanie Morin, The Press
Utown
cab
New address
228 pages
Paul “psychoanalyzed”
It’s not a comic strip per se, but interviews with Michel Rabagliati conducted by comic book enthusiast Michel Giguère. In addition to being enjoyable, this dive into the art of comics — and of this celebrated cartoonist — turns out to be enlightening for the reader who wants to understand the narrative, visual and emotional mechanics of the 9e art. The two Michels, who know and obviously appreciate each other, find the right tone to make Paul: interviews and comments a scholarly book… cleverly relaxed. The work designed by La Pastèque is of course abundantly illustrated.
Alexandre Vigneault, The Press
Paul: interviews and comments
Michel Rabagliati and Michel Giguere
The watermelon
302 pages
feminine resistance
Madeleine Riffaud was only 18 when she joined the French Resistance in 1942. This steely woman remains one of the last living witnesses to have known the Resistance from within. His extraordinary life, strewn with exploits and pitfalls, would have been passed over in silence without the work of cartoonist Jean David Morvan, who collected his words for the creation of the triptych Madeleine, Resistant. The result is overwhelming: a first-person account of a freedom-loving woman, beautifully illustrated by Bertail. An award-winning documentary series, the second volume of which is scheduled for 2023.
Stephanie Morin, The Press
Madeleine, Resistance fighter. Volume 1 : The unpinned rose
Morvan, Riffaud and Bertail
Free Area
128 pages
Initiatory quest
For years, Amédée has been drinking like whey the fantastic stories of her great traveler neighbor, Joseph. When the latter passes the weapon to the left, Amédée, a retired notary, will leave his slippers to try to trace the thread of the existence of his mysterious neighbor. A journey that will lead him to astonishing discoveries, especially about himself. Antananarivo is a joyful album, of a great humanity, which keeps us in suspense until the last box. Perfect for chasing the gloom.
Stephanie Morin, The Press
Antananarivo
Valley and Eacersall
Glenat
116 pages