From thrillers to touching graphic novels, including great UFOs, we have selected the comics and graphic novels that have marked us during this year 2021. To read, reread, offer or lend without moderation.
In the palace of mirrors by Liv Strömquist
Liv Strömquist has become in a few years a reference in feminist comics: it is in particular The Feelings of Prince Charles (2008) which contributed to the fame of the Swedish author, who brilliantly transcribes sociological concepts through examples and drawings.
In his latest opus, In the palace of mirrors (Rackham),Strömquist tackles the myth of beauty, from its origins to its contemporary applications. Where Sissi the Empress mingles with Kylie Jenner, sprinkled with deconstruction of love rituals.
The Great Void by Léa Murawiec
In The Great Void (Editions 2024), the names of women and men have become their most precious possession. The more they are known, the more they gain in “presence”, which allows them to stay alive as long as possible.
Léa Murawiec’s comic strip is above all a visual slap, all in movement and a game of perspectives. The use of blue and red supports dystopian diving while submerging us with information, bordering on epileptic.
Moon river by Fabcaro
It’s hard to do without Fabcaro in recent years. The author, who exploded thanks to Zaï Zaï Zaï Zaï, has since published loads of other comics in this same absurd style, and Moon river is the latest.
The screenplay, which sees a well-known actress undergo ” an unprecedented and particularly heinous crime », Is as usual an excuse to chain stupid jokes, with a design so serious that the shift adds a little layer of weirdness. Behind his thriller tunes, Moon river is a small monument of absurd comics.
Coming Inby Élodie Font and Carole Maurel
There are coming-outs, where you reveal a part of yourself to others. And then there are the coming-ins, where you realize who you are. This path is sometimes the most difficult, and the graphic novel Coming In , written by journalist Élodie Font and illustrated by Carole Maurel, describes well the chaotic journey that it can be.
This work is autobiographical: Élodie Font tells how she first rejected the fact of being a lesbian, constrained by subconscious injunctions motivated by a need to conform to a society that values, represents and “validates” plus love. heterosexual than others. The story is both sweet and exhausting, like a journey of incredible violence that is played out more inside than outside. A book that will speak to all, whether it is to see an echo in his personal story or to try to listen to the stories of those who must grow up outside of a ” norm ”more brutal than you think.
The Young Actorby Riad Sattouf
After the essential series Arabic of the future , Riad Sattouf tackles again a biographical subject, but from another angle this time. The Young Actor tells how Vincent Lacoste, an actor known today for his role in the series Hippocratesin particular, came to the cinema through the adaptation of comics The Beautiful Kids … From Riad Sattouf precisely.
The story exudes honesty and teenage sweat and hilariously describes how the destinies of the comic book author and the future actor influenced each other.
Cop, the true story of the journalist who infiltrated the police by Valentin Gendrot and Thierry Chavant
One year after the publication of the thunderous investigation by Valentin Gendrot in book, the Goutte d’Or editions are coming out Cop in a comic book version. This is the adaptation of the two-year investigation of this journalist infiltrated into the police, including several months spent in a police station in the 19th arrondissement of Paris. We dive into an icy environment, where men abuse their power, lie and beat up, and even commit crimes.
The publisher has chosen to transform the protagonists into cats here, reinforcing the systemic nature of police violence. The line of Thierry Chavant, him, gives an atmosphere of thriller to what is however nothing of a fiction.
Blacksad Volume 6 So everything falls
In the world of comics, a new volume by Blacksadrepresents a small event. For those who do not know this series, masterfully led by Juan Díaz Canalès (screenplay) and Juanjo Guarnido (drawing): it depicts a New York populated by anthropomorphic animals where Blacksad , a somewhat tortured private investigator cat.
This volume 6 (which will still have been delayed 8 years) revives what made the success of the series: atmosphere close to the black films of the 50s, characters still so rich and scenario that mixes corruption, murder and other whatnot. The story is divided into two volumes, so we will have to wait for the next one to see the end of it. If you haven’t bought the previous books, you’re in luck and a few good hours of reading in front of you.
The Culottées: full by Pénélope Bagieu
The Culottées is certainly not a very recent work, but the two volumes of Pénélope Bagieu’s comic strip have been reissued in a complete version and this is a sufficient excuse to recommend this book to you again. For those who have missed this phenomenon,The Culottéespaints the portrait of several women (hacker, computer scientist or even empress) unfairly ignored. The design is elegant, the stories fascinating and you come out a little less silly after reading. The comic is still 312 pages and 1.4 kilograms, so prepare a good bag to carry it.
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