The year hasn’t started for a very long time, but the beautiful comic book albums are already jostling. Here is our evolving selection of titles not to be missed.
Retaliation, Volume 1
SF with an ecological tendency is a story that works. The first volume of “Talion” (the series will have three) confirms this, with a story thought out and put into images by Sylvain Ferret. Laying the foundations of a vast story, the author takes us into his teeming imagination where humanity is decimated by vermin, a terrible incurable disease caused by pollution. A fresco both aesthetically magnificent and terrifying.
Talion, de Ferret, ed. Glénat, 64 pages, €15.50
Harlem
Franco-Quebecer Mikaël has been telling us, since 2017, about New York in the 1930s and 1940s through a series of fascinating diptychs. After “Giant” and “Bootblack”, here is the third: “Harlem”. This time, the African-American community is at the center of his story and in particular Stephanie Saint Clair, alias Queenie, a gang leader. Still just as effective, Mikaël’s line pays sublime homage to the period and to this little-known character. We want to know more, can’t wait for Volume 2!
Harlem, Volume 1/2, Mikaël, ed. Dargaud, 64 pages, €14.50
The Department of truth
Warning, this comic is a UFO. Graphically stunning, it follows Special Agent Cole Turner, a conspiracy theorist for the FBI. From JFK to Apollo 11, passing through satanist sects, he constantly follows those who believe in the most eccentric stories. To the point of finally believing them? Shaken by his past, Turner will have to ask the right questions, but there is no evidence that he will get answers.
The Department of truth, by James Tynion IV and Martin Simmonds, ed. Urban Comics Indies, 152 pages, €10
Franklin: Prisoners of the Arctic
The Franklin Expedition, famous in Great Britain, aimed to make the first successful crossing of the Northwest Passage located in the Arctic Ocean. Launched in 1845, she suffered a tragic fate, since the 128 crew members perished. No one has been able to tell his story and Michel Durand’s story, based on the latest discoveries in the field, skillfully fills in the gaps. Combining historical elements and more intimate considerations, “Franklin” is a magnificent adventure, where the shadows of death and madness hover.
Franklin: Prisoners of the Arctic, Volume 1, ed. Glénat, 64 pages, €15.50
I’m still alive
The incredible daily life of a survivor. Since the publication of his novel-investigation “Gomorrah” in 2006, Roberto Saviano has lived under permanent protection. In “I’m still alive”, he gives himself up like never before, well aware that his courageous choices condemn him to hiding. His childhood, his family, the fear of dying… he avoids nothing, supported by the expert line of Asaf Anuka.
I’m still alive, by Roberto Saviano and Asaf Anuka, ed. Gallimard/Steinkis, 148 pages, €20
Red Stone, Black Feather
An album with a curious fate. Initially produced as an order for a Chinese province, its warrior and bloody tone did not facilitate its exit on the spot. But Thierry Robin, passionate about the country and who spent five years there, thought that this story, both historical and mythological, could interest a Western audience. He took it well, because “Pierre rouge Plume noire” brings together all the ingredients of a successful album. Beautiful and profound at the same time, it emphasizes the emptiness of war, as the gigantic army of Emperor Ming besieges the fortress of King Yan. Little by little, the noose is tightening and the battle seems lost in advance. All that for this ?
Red Stone, Black Feather, by Thierry Robin, ed. Dargaud, 128 pages, €22.50