Non Album Collection 133

War picture library, issue 50 "The Crimson Sea" (Hugo Pratt)

One of a handful of war stories drawn by Hugo Pratt during the late 1950s early 1960s. War Picture Library No. 50 - The Crimson Sea. Publisher: Fleetway Publications Ltd, London.

A Game for Swallows. To Die, To Leave, To Return

Zeina Abirached’s evocative memoir, translated from French and told in a graphic novel format, opens with an attractive skyline of East Beirut in 1984. As the perspective zooms in, the initial beauty gives way to empty streets, windows protected by cinder blocks, rooftops lined with barbed wire, electrical wires dangling from homes, and rows upon rows of steel drums indicating the Green Line, a demarcation separating Muslim and Christian factions during the Lebanese Civil War, which took place from 1975 to 1990. The author’s apartment building looks out over this troubled area.

The Arab of the Future - A Childhood in the Middle East, 1978-1984 - A Graphic Memoir

This first part of former Charlie Hebdo columnist Sattouf’s autobiography was a controversial bestseller in France. It follows his early childhood through stints in France, Libya, and Syria, and his cross-cultural alienation from all of them. Sattouf’s father is Syrian, his mother French, and his story recounts the way his father commandeered their family life to reconcile himself with his Arab heritage. Though he is often forced back to France, Sattouf’s father takes teaching jobs in dictator-run Arab countries, then works to convince himself, and his family, that their near-utopian dreams are close to coming true. But through the author’s young eyes these regimes are revealed for all their weirdnesses and hardships. Despite his father’s determination to integrate his son into Arab society, little Sattouf—with his long blond hair—never fully fits in, and this report reads like the curious pondering of an alien from another world. Caught between his parents, Sattouf makes the best of his situation by becoming a master observer and interpreter, his clean, cartoonish art making a social and personal document of wit and understanding. - Publishers Weekly.

Samurai

Takeo has finally achieved his dream; he has left behind the darkness of his past and become a Samurai. But now, with the courage that comes from knowing you are worthy, he finally feels ready to confront his demons. Yet Imperial Japan is in turmoil; General Akuma, one of the Empire's most powerful men has turned his back on the Emperor, and is planning to betray him. The two men are linked by a dark secret; the 13th prophet. It is into this mysterious feud that Takeo will stray on his quest to find out who he really is and answer the questions that have followed him his whole life. Why was he left to grow up in a monastery? And where is the brother that abandoned him ten years earlier? Samurai. by Jean-François Di Giorgio (Author),‎ Frederic Genêt (Illustrator),‎ Delphine Rieu (Illustrator).

Non Album Collection 132

Mysteries of the Quantum Universe (2017)

The bestselling French graphic novel about the mind-bending world of quantum physics. Famous explorer Bob and his dog Rick have been around the world and even to the Moon, but their travels through the quantum universe show them the greatest wonders they've ever seen. As they follow their tour guide, the giddy letter h (also known as the Planck constant), Bob and Rick have crepes with Max Planck, talk to Einstein about atoms, visit Louis de Broglie in his castle, and hang out with Heisenberg on Heligoland. On the way, we find out that a dog - much like a cat - can be both dead and alive, the gaze of a mouse can change the universe, and a comic book can actually make quantum physics fun, easy to understand and downright enchanting. Created by Richard Marazano, Jean-Michel Ponzio.

Polina (2013)

As a very young girl, Polina Oulinov is taken on as a special pupil by the famous ballet teacher Professor Bojinsky. He is very demanding and refuses to adapt his standards to the talents of his pupils, and Polina has to work hard and make great sacrifices in order to reach the level Bojinsky senses she has the talent for. When she graduates and is admitted to the official theatre school, she discovers that Bojinsky's view of ballet is only one of many and that she can't adapt to new rules, new visions. She flees Russia for Berlin, where she meets a group of drama students. Together they create a new form of theatre -- and conquer the world. Brilliantly drawn, Polina is a moving and intimate story of self-discovery. It confirms Bastien Vivès as one of the most exciting talents at work in the graphic novel field today.

Genetiks 1 (Digital)

What happens to Thomas Hale when the company he works for cracks his genetic code? Genetiks is a pharmaceutical company on the cutting edge of biological science. Thomas Hale is one of thousands of employees in the Genetiks' labs. Like his colleagues, he had agreed to give a drop of blood to his employers; a drop of blood that will allow the researchers at the company he works for to decode his entire genome. As the drop of blood is the property of Genetiks, Thomas will become, in effect, the first man to be privately owned by the corporation he works for.

Ab Irato

In the dystopian future of 2111 and a world of mounting sea levels, the wealthiest fraction of the population has access to a rejuvenating vaccine that can allow lifespans of hundreds of years. A young man named Riel flees the bleak life of the drowning countryside for the urban metropolis of Montreal; there he meets a young woman named Neve, and falls in love, but he also discovers that the city is full of dangers, including rebel insurgents (the “Bastards of God”) who are fighting the corporate powers that control everything, demanding equal access for all to the miracle elixirs that can prolong life. 

Amongst the rebels is a young woman with unusual and mysterious powers, Gana, who is aiming to assassinate the CEO of Juvex, the company that produces the vaccine. As the story spirals into violence and the city into civil war, Neve is taken hostage by the rebels, Gana gets closer to her target, and their investigations begin to reveal that the vaccine may not be everything it’s cracked up to be... Created by Thierry Labrosse.

Non Album Collection 131

Millennium - The Girl Who Played with Fire 01 (of 02) (2017)

Written by: Sylvain Runberg Art by: Man Cover by: Claudia Ianniciello. The Millennium saga continues with The Girl Who Played With Fire: the second chapter in Stieg Larsson’s best selling novel series. nIn this exciting comics adaptation, anarchist-hacker Lisbeth Salander finds herself on the run after being accused of triple-murder and only renowned journalist Mikael Blomkvist has the skills to help clear her name.

Albert and the Others (2007)

Story and art by Guy Delisle. Limbs are swapped and pants are dropped in Albert and The Others, a collection of wordless strips that expose the pleasures, pitfalls and perversities of masculinity. In this companion volume to Aline and the Others, Guy Delisle delves deep into the male psyche and emerges with 26 alphabetically arranged strips, named after the men who tumble through the pages. These elastic protagonists risk damnation and dismemberment in a series of improbable slapstick relationships with women that veer from the titillating to the downright macabre.

Yallah Bye (Digital) (Europe Comics)

Script by Joseph Safieddine - Art by Park Kyungeun. July 2006. Gabriel El Chawadi says goodbye to his family at the Paris airport as they leave for their summer vacation in southern Lebanon. But a conflict at the Israel-Lebanon border escalates into a full-blown aerial attack, and for the next few harrowing weeks, the family hides for cover with friends and relatives, watches helplessly as people and buildings are destroyed all around them, and hope against all hope that France will evacuate them to safety. Back in Paris, Gabriel watches the events unfold on television with growing horror and sends out desperate calls for help to anyone who will listen.

Groom Lake

"Colonel, do you know what will happen if the media finds this child before us? It will be chaos! The anarchy ! All the very foundations of our society will collapse! Religions will crumble! So I leave you 72 hours to get me that kid otherwise ...- What's my colonnel? I have a search notice? -On can only rely on ourselves, no one should know the existence of this kid! Neither the police nor the FBI, nobody! " Groom Lake. Scenario: Rich, Hervé. Drawing: Dzialowski, Jean-Jacques.

Non Album Collection 128

Clara (2012,2016)

Script by Christophe Lemoine - Art by Cécile. There are some things that a child should never have to endure, but life can be cruel sometimes. Clara is only seven years old when she loses her mother to cancer. Before she passes away, Clara’s mother gives her a doll from the days of her own childhood. Clara doesn’t particularly like the doll at first, but it’ll prove to be a precious ally, accompanying little Clara along the rough road of grief and mourning, through all its stages.

Glenn Gould - A Life Off Tempo (2016)

Glenn Gould was a Canadian pianist, a child genius who became a worldwide superstar of classical music remembered for, among others, his almost revolutionary interpretations of Bach. This graphic novel biography seeks to understand the eccentric personality behind the persona. Who is the mysterious Glenn Gould? Why did he abruptly end his career as a performing musician? Why did he become one of the very first of his peers to disappear from the public eye like J.D. Salinger? Sandrine Revel delves into the life of Gould with hand painted illustrations and the viewpoint of an adoring fan.

Spanish Fever - Stories by the New Spanish Cartoonists (2016)

Fantagraphics Books is proud to introduce American readers to more than 30 artists working on the cutting edge of the form. Spanish Fever is an anthology showcasing the best of the new wave of art comics from a country with one of the strongest cartoon traditions in Europe. It includes the work of masters of the form such as Paco Roca, Miguel Gallardo, David Rubín and Miguel Ángel Martín as well as newcomers like José Domingo, Anna Galvan, Álvaro Ortiz and Sergi Puyol.

Prediction

David comes from a family of tightrope walkers who usually pray to the Virgin before each performance. After his mother and sister have lost their lives during a show, he decides to give up playing the son of the air but the trauma does not leave him. The fact of having relieved her nerves on a sacred statue did not release her. Eighteen years later, he reconverted to sculpture and suffered sarcasm from his father about his creations. While visiting his wife, interned for schizophrenia, his past catches up. Scenario: Makyo. Drawing: Rotundo, Massimo.