What gift should you put under the tree to please a comic and manga fan? BFMTV.com has put together a selection that is sure to delight bubble lovers. Suspense, humor, science fiction, history, there is something for everyone.
• Generation Lou
For the 20th anniversary of louJulien Neel opens his archives and publishes a beautiful book that reveals behind the scenes of his successful series (3.4 million copies sold). The author shows the multiple drawings and preparatory sketches made to imagine Lou’s adventures, always halfway between humorous and melancholic chronicle and science fiction.
Julien Neel also released around twenty unpublished plates, as well as the first pages of the next volume of Lou Sonata. A book that testifies to the graphic inventiveness of its author.
Generation LouGlénat, 304 pages, 25 euros.
• The Escamotor
Author of successful podcasts on Léon Blum and Napoleon and best-seller The Ritz bartenderPhilippe Colin publishes a new historical comic after The journey of Marcel Grob. With his accomplice Sébastien Goethals, he offers an immersion in the anarchist circles of the 70s and paints a portrait of the Lebanese artist Gabriel Chahine, who worked with the RG to catch members of Action Directe thanks to the theft of a painting by Hieronymus Bosch. A gripping thriller about a forgotten page of history.
The EscamotorPhilippe Colin and Sébastien Goethals, Futuropolis, 320 pages, 26 euros.
• Rumiko Takahashi
Author of cult mangas such as Ikkoku House AND Rank 1/2Rumiko Takahashi is in the spotlight of Delcourt editions with this box that brings together several collections of stories, including two unpublished ones. The birds of destiny AND The witch’s dinner. The opportunity to discover or rediscover often very funny stories of this designer adored in particular by Riad Sattouf.
Rumiko Takahashi – Stories, Delcourt/Tonkam, 42.50 euros.
• In Botchan’s time
Casterman, who has undertaken to publish for the first time in France the works of Jiro Taniguchi in their original reading sense, has just published a new version of the mangaka’s great fresco. In Botchan’s timeOffering an overview of the history of Japan at the beginning of the 20th century, it paints an intimate portrait of the founding fathers of modern Japanese literature. One of the monuments of this author’s bibliography, praised for his contemplative stories.
In Botchan’s timeJiro Taniguchi (drawing), Natsuo Sekikawa (script) and Sophie Refle (translation), Casterman, 20 euros. Two volumes available.
• 1629
A story inspired by real events, told by a master screenwriter, all in a careful edition reminiscent of the adventure novels of yesteryear: 1629, or the terrifying story of the castaways of Jakarta by Xavier Dorison and Thimothée Montaigne is the ideal gift for fans of Franco-Belgian comics. After a successful first volume (75,000 copies sold), the second volume plunges into absolute horror the castaways who take refuge in a lost archipelago off the coast of Australia.
1629, or the terrifying story of the castaways of JakartaXavier Dorison (screenplay) and Thimothée Montaigne (drawing), Glénat, 35 euros. Two volumes.
• To drink and eat
After several years of absence, designer Guillaume Long returns with a new volume of to drink and eatHis album series combines culinary chronicles, humorous gags and delicious recipes. On the program: how to make Tagliatelle al ragù, filet mignon with herbs or shrimp sautéed in coconut. An educational book that makes you want to cook.
to drink and eatvolume 5, Guillaume Long, Gallimard, 144 pages, 24 euros.
• The 4 Aces
Classic from the 60s and 70s, The 4 Aces takes on a new appearance. Ediciones Casterman once again brings to the fore this children’s comic written by George Chaulet (fantomette) and drawn by François Craenhals in an anthology that compiles four notable stories. All this accompanied by files to put into perspective the creation of this adventure comic that is a bit reminiscent of Scoobi Doo.
The 4 Aces AnthologyCasterman, 232 pages, 35 euros.
• Popeye
Futuropolis discovers another hero of yesteryear. The sailor Popeye, whose superhuman strength linked to his consumption of spinach has made generations of readers dream and laugh, returns to France thanks to an edition that offers the Sunday pages (in color) of his comic strip, published between 1930 and 1933. No You have to miss the rediscovery of the work of its creator, EC Segar, whose dynamic and rounded line remains very modern.
popeyeEC Segar, Futuropolis, 208 pages, 32 euros.
• Children
An extraordinary book to discover an unknown part of comic history. guysAn anthology imagined by American comics pioneer Trina Robbins, it brings together the work of half a dozen cartoonists from the 1920s and 1930s in the United States. Authors such as Nell Brinkley, Eleanor Schorer, Edith Stevens, Fay King, Ethel Hays and Virginia Huget whose stories demonstrate great formal inventiveness.
Garçonnes – The Forgotten Authors of the Roaring TwentiesHappiness, 39 euros.
• Compulsion
François Schuiten, an important figure of the ninth art, stopped producing comics, but dedicated himself to illustration for several years. After publishing a new volume of its flagship series last year The dark citiescome back with Compulsiona science fiction story by British author Adam Roberts, illustrated by him. As usual, the Belgian designer imagines illustrations as grandiose as they are mysterious while renewing his way of approaching drawing. In an unspecified future, humans suddenly feel compelled to move objects to a specific location. By destroying the old world, they create a new one. But the disparities are increasing…
Compulsion, François Schuiten and Adam Roberts, Dargaud, 128 pages, 35 euros.
• Alita
Jérémie Moreau, Fauve d’or by The Grimr Saga in 2018, offers with alita a rereading of the history of Bambi. An animal and philosophical fable about the cycle of life told with a toad. We should not trust the author’s apparently simplistic line, which hides a sharp and never naive perspective: the designer denounces the way in which the human species destroys the planet that gave it life.
alitaJérémie Moreau, 2024 editions, 304 pages, 28 euros.
• Dawn Runner
This is the ideal book to please science fiction fans. Imagined by the duo Ram V (script) and Evan Cagle (art), dawn runner It tells the story of the confrontation between giant robots, the Iron Kings, and giant monsters, the Tetzas. A great science fiction saga with a backdrop of criticism of capitalism and the media and reflection on transhumanism.
dawn runnerRam V (screenplay) and Evan Cagle, Hi Graphics, 168 pages, 24.95 euros.
• Majnoun and Leïli
Famous love story and great classic of Persian literature, which tells of an impossible love, Majnoun and Leïli It was adapted by Yann Damezin. oriental pendant Romeo and Juliet, Majnoun and Leïli It also features a strong female character. Bestseller and winner of the 2023 Orange Comics Prize, this album is reissued in a large format that allows you to admire in detail Yann Damezin’s drawing, inspired by Persian miniatures.
Majnoun and LeïliYann Damezin, The Bubble Box, 192 pages, 45 euros.
• Eurydice
After revisiting fairy tales and deconstructing their origins, which are not as magical as we think And in the end they dieLou Lubie continues his momentum with the complicity of designer Solen Guivre, for whom this is the first album. In Eurydiceoffer a reinterpretation of the Greek myth of Orpheus, staged in a captivating graphic universe reminiscent of something from Disney. Following the fate of Eurydice, she invites us to question the beauty dictates of our time.
EurydiceLou Lubie (screenplay), Solen Guivre (drawing), Delcourt, 128 pages, 24.50 euros.
• Sand land
The brilliant creator of dragon balldied at the beginning of the year, published after the success of the Son Goku saga, sand land. A post-apocalyptic story in the vein of crazy max. While the Earth has been transformed into a desert due to wars between humans, the prince of monsters sets out in search of a legendary oasis. A story republished in large format. Note also the publication of volume 4 of Super Dragon Ball Bookdictionary detailing every detail of Toriyama’s crazy universe
Sand Land, Glénat, 224 pages, 7.20 euros.
Dragon Ball – The super book – Volume 4, Glénat, 310 pages, 32 euros.
Source: BFM TV
