COMICS
Decades ago, when the pap that DC Comics spit out was barely fit for the 7-Eleven magazine rack, Europeans started taking les bandes dessinées - graphic novels - very seriously. Today, the artistic merit of a Parisian comics shop may not rival the Louvre, but it's a hip way to sharpen up your French.
If your tastes run to sci-fi, a leader in this genre is the Swiss-based publisher Les Humanoïdes Associés - home to a few of the artists from the now defunctMétal Hurlant (the original version of Heavy Metal magazine). Recent series includeUrban Games, the cartoonish tale of aBlade Runner-inspired future ruled by a man in a bunny suit. While the illustration style is traditionally cartoonish (with a few risqué touches), the dark undercurrents of the narrative make you take the characters a little more seriously than you would Archie and Jughead. The storyline in theMegalex series isn't especially novel: A drone breaks free from his Brave New World with the help of an overly pneumatic Winona Ryder lookalike. However, the rich, heavily detailed artwork gives every panel a stunning three-dimensional feel. One of the collaborators onMegalex is cult filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky.
For their fantastic art alone these books warrant purchase - even if you can't read French. But Anglais is on the way: Les Humanoïdes Associés has recently formed LA-based Humanoids Publishing, which is translating some of the company's books, as well as publishing American/European collaborations. I can't wait.
Megalex #1: "L'Anomalie," by Alejandro Jodorowsky and Fred Beltran: $13.Urban Games #1: "Les rues de Monplaisir," by Christophe Raufflet, Laurent Hirn, Laurent Cagniat, and Luc Braunschwig: $13. Les Humanoïdes Associés: +41 (22) 736 28 75,www.humanos.com.
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