JohnnyEnzyme

Evidently there are a lot of BD-themed murals around the city.

Album #40 is coming out the end of next month. It's got a new writer in Fabcaro, taking over for Jean-Yves Ferri. Didier Conrad remains the artist, and I think he's done a great job following the late Albert Uderzo.

As for the theme? Well... I don't know. Evidently the story's about a faddish, influential figure who gets most of the Roman world interested in healthy diets and 'New Age' philosophies, which eventually spreads to The Village and creates a strong divide, as you can pick up on looking at the background characters on the cover. "Bleeding Cool" has more details here.

Oh, and here's some alternate wallpaper, below:

So, I could see this one turning out anywhere from 'lamely trying to interject modern topics' all the way to being a surprising success. Apart from that, dividing the Gauls has always been a fruitful theme, as we saw in previous albums such as The Mansions of the Gods, The Soothsayer, Caesar's Gift, The Roman Agent, and Obelix & Co.

Finally, I took the preview page from that last article and upscaled it, below. Let's cross our fingers that the album's good, let's say at least at the level of the last one, Asterix and the Griffin!

Another funky dream sequence. This one's from Tintin #4, Cigars of the Pharaoh.

It's well known that author Hergé got burned out doing Tintin, evidently on more than one occasion. Some of the likely contributing factors: 1) the adventures often took years of research and preparation, 2) they had to be meticulously drawn, particularly as Tintin picked up in popularity, and 3) for most of his career, a finished page or two needed to be produced on a weekly basis in order to go in to such publications as Le Petit Vingtième, Le Soir, and Le journal de Tintin. Hergé was even accused of being a Nazi collaborator after the war, a terribly stressful time for him that thankfully got sorted out in the end.

Which brings me to why I like these rare dream sequences, in which one supposes that Hergé was able to cut loose more freely and indulge more of his creative sensibilities.

I love these antique automobiles as seen in small towns and gorgeous countrysides. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any web-matches for this image, nor figure out who the artist is. Best I could do for now was upscale the image a bit from the original low-res pic.

If anybody has any ideas, please add a comment.

EDIT: Looks like it's François Roussel, as answered by @[email protected]!

[SAMPLES]

1a) What's your single favorite Euro graphic novel? 1b) And series? ❦

2) What's your best recommendation of a GN or series for people who don't read Euro comics? ❦

3) Are you happy with the type of content posted here so far? If not, please add suggestions / critiques.

❦ - if you can't decide between 2-3, feel free to post them all

Thanks to IAMag [note: a couple NSFW]

Sillage ("Wake" in English) is my favorite sci-fi BD series, about espionage and special operations (mostly), featuring a young human woman (Nävis), last of her peoples amongst a slew of alien species living in a travelling collective.

I'm thinking the hat is also a tribute to Moebius' Airtight Garage.

I'm enjoying the similarities to ligne claire!

This one came out in May, and continues the story of the "Schtroumpfs" (original name for the "Smurfs"), created by the late Peyo. It's by artist-writer Tébo, and breathes some welcome new life in to the franchise. HERE are some samples of Tébo's work, and here's BDgest's summary of the new album:

A smurf wakes up in the middle of the village. No one knows him, and he doesn't quite understand the language of the Smurfs. In fact, he's not even sure who he is, and doesn't know what he's doing there. After dealing with the suspicion that Gargamel is behind all this, Papa Smurf gets busy preparing a remedy for this curious amnesia. In the meantime, Smurfette decides to set up an expedition to clear it all up, accompanied by a small group including the newcomer who, for lack of a better word, will call himself "Unknown Smurf."

So I read the album in my beginner-ish French and am happy to say that I found it quite enjoyable and fresh. I must admit that one of my frustrations with Peyo's albums is that despite how lovable the Smurfs are and how amusing their 'language' is, the scenarios, artistry, and expressiveness of the characters are generally quite limited. While yes, adorable, these are essentially kids books that double as all-ages books at best. Which brings me to artist-writer Tébo, who addresses those traditional limitations with a great deal of skill, creativity, and humor.

To give a couple examples-- one of the things I liked in this album is that Smurfette takes a leading role in the adventure, and not just as a pretty face. There's also a fun new character who's effectively "Brawny Smurf," a nice alternative to "Hefty Smurf." But best of all, the little questing party travels to a completely unknown, maze-like realm in the forest, with brand new characters and dangers to contend with. This was a welcome change compared to the routine of idling around the village, with the same old characters repeating cliché jokes and the same old behaviors (lookin' at you, Jokey-Smurf, Lazy-Smurf, Grouchy-Smurf, etc). Another amusing novelty was seeing the normally unflappable, problem-solving Papa Smurf meet his Waterloo, so to speak. Finally, as a special bonus, two semi-famous BD characters play significant roles in the story.

Anyway, let's get to the goods. Here are 12 page samples from the new album at BDgest: [LINK]

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Criminal villain Rastapopoulos' right hand-hand man "Allan" makes a tragic error in judgement.

From Tintin album #22, Flight 714 to Sydney.