Tag Archives: benoit peeters

Preview: The Invisible Frontier

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The Invisible Frontier

(W) Benoit Peeters (A) Francois Schuiten
In Shops: Dec 21, 2022
SRP: $24.99

Roland de Cremer is a young man who has just been assigned to the Center of Cartography in Sodrovno-Voldachia. It’s a secluded place that is usually insulated from the outside world. But something is happening out there. Rumors swirl of attacks, assassinations, war, and rebellions bloodily put down. Meanwhile, Roland has fallen in love with a young woman named Shkodra, who the authorities have also shown an increased interest in. She has mysterious markings on her back, tattoos that look like a map. As the threat to her increases, the two flee through deserts, mountains, and swamps. They have only one option for escape: to cross the border. But will they be able to find their way through this land that bears no resemblance to the maps Roland is familiar with and will his desire to save her get them both killed?

The Invisible Frontier

Preview: The Invisible Frontier

Posted on by

The Invisible Frontier

(W) Benoit Peeters (A) Francois Schuiten
In Shops: Dec 07, 2022
SRP: $24.99

Roland de Cremer is a young man who has just been assigned to the Center of Cartography in Sodrovno-Voldachia. It’s a secluded place that is usually insulated from the outside world. But something is happening out there. Rumors swirl of attacks, assassinations, war, and rebellions bloodily put down. Meanwhile, Roland has fallen in love with a young woman named Shkodra, who the authorities have also shown an increased interest in. She has mysterious markings on her back, tattoos that look like a map. As the threat to her increases, the two flee through deserts, mountains, and swamps. They have only one option for escape: to cross the border. But will they be able to find their way through this land that bears no resemblance to the maps Roland is familiar with and will his desire to save her get them both killed?

The Invisible Frontier

Preview: The Tower

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The Tower

(W) Benoit Peeters (A/CA) Francois Schuiten
In Shops: May 04, 2022
SRP: $19.99

Masterful fantasy comes alive as the fifth release in Alaxis Press’ The Obscure Cities series brings the award winning graphic novels to readers in English with an all-new translation!

Giovanni Batista is a third-class maintainer of the Tower. His section is deteriorating more and more by the day and he has not heard from any of his inspectors or fellow maintainers in months. He makes the decision to go to the base office to file a complaint. While using his chute, he ends up somewhere even higher than his level. He meets Ellias Aureolus Palingenius and the lovely Milena. Together with Milena, he tries to figure out the purpose of the Tower and finally decides to climb to the top.

The Tower, presented in this new edition, is a fabulous story for the exploration of a deliquescent world, an epic fable to the dimensions of world-building, a fantastic escape full of paradoxes, simulacra, and pretense. Magnificent mastery, invention, and poetry, this is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful jewels of the exciting saga of the OBSCURE CITIES.

The Tower

Review: The Shadow of a Man

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The Shadow of a Man

There are few movies in the stratosphere that speaks to certain times in peoples’ lives that words could not find.  I remembered the first time I watched Full Metal Jacket, it did not dawn on me how true those boot camp scenes were until I went through it myself. As the stripping away of being an individual, is certainly acute almost immediately. Then there are those movies that you never knew was you until you see it.

One such movie is Under The Tuscan Sun. As the movie followed a woman as she rediscovers herself shortly after her marriage falls apart. It through her discovery, that we identify those unfettered strings of ourselves. In the fourth volume of the Obscure Cities series, The Shadow Of  A Man, we find our protagonist spiraling out of control, looking for direction wherever the light hits him.

We find the newly married Albert Chamisso, as he spends restless night after night, waking his wife at odd hours of the night, and spends anxious days an insurance adjustor. Eventually his “ night terrors “ would lead to full on paranoia and to the dissolution of his marriage. He would eventually move out of his luxury apartment, and to a remote part of the city, where he would meet a mysterious young woman, Minna. By book’s end,  Minna becomes his conduit for what becomes of his dreams, allowing to finally fall in love.

The Shadow Of  A Man is a disjointed tale that feels as though as it loses a lot in translation. The story by Benoit Peeters is lucid yet endearing. The art by Francois Schuiten is utterly beautiful. Altogether, it’s a story that feels like a connection of dreams that the reader can barely keep up with.

Story: Benoit Peeters Art: Francois Schuiten Translation: Stephen Smith
Story: 6.0 Art: 8.5 Overall: 7.0 Recommendation: Read

IDW Publishing provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: Amazon – Bookshop

Preview: The Shadow of a Man

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The Shadow of a Man

(W) Benoit Peeters (A/CA) Francois Schuiten
In Shops: Apr 07, 2021
SRP: $19.99

The fourth release in Alaxis Press’ The Obscure Cities series to be published by IDW brings the award winning graphic novels to readers in English for the first time!

Albert Chamisso, a newlywed of just a few weeks to Sarah, begins to have nightmares. Dr. Polydore Vincent helps him to get rid of the nightmares, but a strange side effect of the treatment is that his shadow is in color afterwards. He struggles with this, losing his wife and his job in the process. He moves to the outskirts of Blossfeldtstad where he meets the lovely Minna. Together, they create a light show that becomes very popular in this bittersweet romantic noir tale.

The Shadow of a Man

Preview: The Theory of the Grain of Sand

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The Theory of the Grain of Sand

Benoit Peeters (w) • François Schuiten (a & c)

The second book of The Obscure Cities series following The Leaning Girl. Gholam Mortiza Khan comes to Brüsel to sell some jewelry, but before the sale can be closed, Khan dies in an accident. Thus begin events sparking an investigation by Mary von Rathen: accumulation of sand in the apartment of Kristin Antipova; accumulation of stones in the house of Constant Abeels, and Maurice who is loosing weight by the day. The events have a catastrophic effect on Brüsel and time is of the essence.

Newly translated into English by Ivanka Hahnenberger and Steve Smith (translator of The Leaning Girl and The Beauty) and edited by Smith and Karen Copeland at Alaxis Press for publication by IDW.

TPB • PC • $19.99 • 128 pages • 9.375” x 11” • ISBN: 978-1-63140-489-4

theoryofthegrainofsand-cover

Tintin scholar appointed as UK’s first Professor of Graphic Fiction

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Benoit Peeters (left) with Professor Simon Guy

Benoit Peeters (left) with Professor Simon Guy

Lancaster University has appointed renowned French graphic novelist and critic Benoit Peeters as its Visiting Professor in Graphic Fiction and Comic Art, the first such appointment in the UK. The news was announced by Professor Simon Guy on Wednesday 25th November.

The new post represents a significant investment in the academic significance of comic art by the University and has been created in close working partnership with the Lakes International Comic Art Festival (LICAF).

Additional support has been provided by Wallonia Brussels International (WBI).

The three-year appointment will see Mr Peeters deliver a series of lectures, run creative writing workshops, and supervise post-graduate students.

Benoit Peeters is a world-renowned authority on Hergé and Tintin, having written Tintin and the World of Hergé and Hergé’s biography, Hergé, Son Of Tintin.

He is also author of  biographies about 19th century comics pioneer Rodolphe Töpffer, and  the French philosopher Derrida, and co-creator, alongside François Schuiten, of Les Cités Obscures, one of Belgium’s most famous francophone comic strips created in the past 30 years.

The appointment strengthens the links between the University and the Lakes International Comic Art Festival in Kendal and is the first of its kind in the UK.  In the three years of its existence, LICAF has quickly established itself as a major annual event in October bringing together creators, publishers and audiences alike from across the world.

By making this significant appointment, the University is not only acknowledging the Festival’s success but also its full academic commitment to placing comic book art not just in its creative writing and literature department, but also across its wider disciplines including philosophy.

The additional support of Wallonia Brussels International is part of a wider initiative to increase the visibility of Belgium Francophone culture in UK.

Benoit Peeters takes up his post in Summer 2016 and will be present at next year’s Lakes International Comic Art Festival, which runs 14th – 16th October 2016.