Brussels-based artist Exaheva recently released her interactive digital comic Still Heroes, a tender story of self-discovery that experiments with reader agency in visual storytelling. Readers follow main character Emeline’s struggles after her superhero group suddenly disbands and she finds herself lost for direction. Though seemingly a superhero narrative, Still Heroes touches on intimate experiences with…
Comics Culture: Visiting a Comic Book Store in Russia
Back in the Before Times when people could still go outside and interact with each other in close proximity, I went to Russia to visit my relatives, whom I haven’t seen in several years. From December 2018 to early January 2019, I stayed at my aunt and cousin’s apartment in the southwest end of Moscow,…
Yoko Tsuno is a Heroine On the Edge
Yoko Tsuno: On the Edge of Life Roger Leloup (Writer and Artist) Cinebook August 16, 2007 There is something special about Franco-Belgian comics from the 1970s. The comics of Spirou Magazine, Tintin, and Pilote solidified the dominance of Franco-Belgian comics into the modern era. Large format, long-form narrative storytelling, complex characters, and clean, clear artistic…
IR$: A Serious-Minded Economy-Law Action Comic
IR$ Bernard Vrancken and Stephen Desberg Cinebook (English Translation), 2008 IR$ is a Belgian comic book about an American tax inspector, translated to English for the British market by Cinebook. A comic about a tax man. Wild, right?
Lea & Julius Antoine: A 1980s French Comic About Ephebophilia
Lea: The Confessions of Julius Antoine Serge Le Tendre (writer), Christian Rossi (artist) Fantagraphics, 1989 First published in French by Albin Michel, 1985 This article contains discussions of ephebophilia and paedophilia.