Comic Books (2026)
- 2026-07-19: Achille Talon - 35. Achille Talon et l’archipel de Sanzunron
- 1985
- Author: Greg
- Dessin: Robert Pire
- tags: #reread
- rating: 4/5
- NOTES:
- This is one of the first Achille Talon albums I had. I probably bought it soon after its release.
- This is not drawn by Greg, but by Robert Pire. The art is very good in its own way, but again we have a different visual style.
- The humor is excellent. But this story was sponsored by a French bank, and had to have an educative message about the importance of financial institutions. You might like this or not.
- Talon in this story is clearly the wise person, the one how understands that society cannot work without certain institutions, while Lefuneste is the naive character who believes there is a truly different way, but without much supporting evidence. In the end, Talon wins: the world needs banking, insurances, etc. A pure return to barter alone cannot work.
- In its way, this is a small masterpiece, and there are many memorable moments. But it is not exactly in line with Talon’s regular adventures, which is why I don’t think I can give it a 5/5. Also note that Petard, Talon’s duck, is missing from this story - another indication that this story sits separately from other Talon adventures.
- 2026-07-19: Achille Talon - 36. Achille Talon n’a pas tout dit…
- 1984
- Author: Greg
- tags: #reread
- rating: 3/5
- NOTES:
- A clear change of visual style in this album. The art is less detailed, the characters different from the older Greg styles. I am not sure Greg drew these himself, but that is possible.
- Here we have several multipage gags. Some are quite funny, in their way, like the one about laundry detergents, and the one about doing a magazine special. I’ll regret seeing Talon burning cash on page 24 - this has been done other times in Talon’s career. Some of the other gags are so-so.
- 2026-07-17: Achille Talon - 35. Achille Talon… à bout portant !
- 1984
- Author: Greg
- tags: #reread
- rating: 4/5
- NOTES:
- Another album of gags.
- This is possibly the first Achille Talon I had. I have two instances, one in worse condition, and I must have bought a newer one later.
- Several excellent gags here, including the “telephone game” one, the 250th gag, and more.
- 2026-07-16: Achille Talon - 34. L’incorrigible Achille Talon
- 1983
- Author: Greg
- tags: #reread
- rating: 4/5
- NOTES:
- Another album of gags.
- Some excellent ones, like the chess game, the new neighbor, the modesty contest, the car accident. Some so-so gags.
- The last one, “Faux tôt printemps”, is a 4-page story with some extraordinary humor, although the story itself is not much. Papa Talon says “C’est curieux, Chichille mon fils, mais soudain je t’observe et je m’interroge: l’air vif de la campagne te donne bien des couleurs, mais plus variées qu’il n’est d’usage.” Then later the same happens to papa Talon. Also: “Dommage que ton chapeau ne réponde à aucune forme précise. - Il a la forme de ma tête, mon chapeau!”
- 2026-07-15: Achille Talon - 33. Achille Talon et la vie secrète du journal… Polite !
- 1983
- Author: Greg
- tags: #reread
- rating: 4/5
- NOTES:
- Gags about Talon at Polite - first, about this return to the journal, and then older gags too.
- There are some really good jabs at life in a magazine, and a lot of self-deprecating humor about the author, his own work, and his character.
- 2026-07-15: Achille Talon - 32. Achille Talon et la traversée du disert
- 1982
- Author: Greg
- tags: #reread
- rating: 4/5
- NOTES:
- Finally, a new complete story, after a series of albums of gags.
- The story is fairly unambitious: a family picnic turns to an abduction by two bandits and a run towards the border.
- But there is so much humor along the way!
- 2026-07-14: Achille Talon - 31. Il n’y a (Dieu merci) qu’un seul Achille Talon
- 1982
- Author: Greg
- tags: #reread
- rating: 4/5
- NOTES:
- Again, an album of gags, which I usually don’t like as much as the complete stories.
- The series about history is pretty funny.
- The other gags are quite good as well.
- 2026-07-13: Achille Talon - 30. Achille Talon a un gros nez Ah ! Ah ! Ah !
- 1982
- Author: Greg
- tags: #reread
- rating: 4/5
- NOTES:
- Again, an album of gags, which I usually don’t like as much as the complete stories.
- Gags are from multiple periods. There are even some so-so strips (possibly not drawn by Greg?).
- The short series about Talon being a presidential candidate is quite funny, as are some other two-page gags.
- 2026-07-12: Achille Talon - 29. Achille Talon et la loi du Bidouble
- 1981
- Author: Greg
- tags: #reread
- rating: 4/5
- NOTES:
- An entertaining story with a lot of humor. But it is maybe not quite as good as the previous album where Fo-Pli, the Chinese scientist, appears.
- I have never liked the cover of this album, where Talon’s nose is obviously too small.
- 2026-06-26: Valérian - 2. L’empire des mille planètes
- 1971
- tags: #reread
- Scénario: Pierre Christin
- Dessin: Jean-Claude Mézières
- rating: 5/5
- NOTES: Considered one of the best, if not the best album of the series. The adventure moves quickly, and is quite rich.
- 2026-06-26: Achille Talon - 28. L’insubmersible Achille Talon
- 1981
- Author: Greg
- tags: #reread
- rating: 4/5
- NOTES: After a series of five full stories, we are back to an album of gags. The Achille Talon I enjoy the most is the hero of the complete adventure stories, even though the character started with one-page or two-page gags. In addition, in this album, the gags are a little uneven. Some of them are funny, but the ones about the flea, for example, are a little boring.
- 2026-06-25: Valérian - 1. La Cité des eaux mouvantes
- 1970
- tags: #reread
- Scénario: Pierre Christin
- Dessin: Jean-Claude Mézières
- rating: 4/5
- NOTES: First adventure of Valérian, with a lot of action. Excellent, just not perfect because the characters are not visually finalized yet.
- 2026-06-24: Les petits hommes - 5. L’œil du Cyclope
- 1976
- Dessins: Pierre Seron
- Scénario: Jean Mariette (Hao)
- tags: #reread
- rating: 5/5
- NOTES: My only album of “Les petits hommes”, that I have owned since I was a kid (actually, I also have “Le pickpocket”, a funny album which crossed over with the Scrameustache). It seems that the series is really good, and that this one is not the best album. But I enjoyed this story.
- 2026-06-24: Achille Talon - 27. Ne rêvons pas !
- 1981
- Author: Greg
- tags: #reread
- rating: 5/5
- NOTES: Good story, in which Maman Talon takes an important role. Pétard also plays a role. Papa Talon is hilarious when his wife takes the lead to get him to serve as bait to trap the villains.
- 2026-06-23: Achille Talon - 26. Achille Talon et l’arme du crocodile
- 1980
- Author: Greg
- tags: #reread
- rating: 5/5
- NOTES: Pétard the duck is now fully part of the Talon universe. But Achille, throughout the beginning of the story, doesn’t yet want to admit that he loves the animal. We know from the first drawing that in fact he does, with Pétard in his own swimming pool, including a little rubber ducky. Eventually, our Chichille has to admit it. I, for one, like Pétard. It is an unlikely companion for a hero, but that is part of the humor, as Talon himself is an unlikely hero. Again, here we have a detective story. But in the end the monopoly of the “Bzz” company would have been discovered anyway. However, Talon, Lefuneste, Papa Talon, Mr. Honeywell, and Pétard, help remove Gavial’s threat entirely. And curiously, Gavial is not punished at all.
- 2026-06-23: Achille Talon - 25. Achille Talon et l’esprit d’Éloi
- 1980
- Author: Greg
- tags: #reread
- rating: 5/5
- NOTES: Talon inherits the duck Pétard at the end of this story. This is a great detective story. The humor is top notch, from the first page to the last. The atmosphere of the beginning of the story, in an unusually heavy rain, is wonderful. It makes me think of “S.O.S Météores”, although here the weather is not being manipulated. I like how Papa and Maman Talon help save the day in the end.
- 2026-06-06:Les cités obscures - 12. Le Retour du Capitaine Nemo
- 2023
- Language: French
- Scénario: Benoît Peeters
- Dessin: François Schuiten
- rating: 3/5
- NOTES: There is beautiful art in this book, but it is not a classic bande dessinée, or even truly what I would call an interesting story. I give 5/5 for the art.
- 2026-05-18: Thorgal Saga 4. De givre et de feu
- 2025
- Language: French
- Scénario: Olivier Legrand, Jean-Blaise Dijan
- Dessin: David Etien
- rating: 4/5
- NOTES: The first album in the “Thorgal Saga” series I have read. It’s a fairly good, although classic Thorgal story. Good art. The difference with regular albums is that it is about double the length, at 90+ pages.
- 2026-05-15: Alix - Tome 44. Le royaume interdit
- 2025
- language: French
- Scénario: Roger Seiter
- Dessin: Marc Jailloux
- rating: 4/5
- NOTES: I tend to buy the Seiter/Jailloux albums, but not the others, as this duo usually produces better stories. Here, we have a decent album. The art is quite good, especially Alix and Enak’s faces and proportions. We see a new people, with new architecture, new ships, which is interesting. The story is nothing too surprising: we know quickly who the villain is, and that the heroes will be able to go back home after figuring things out.
- 2026-05-10: Yoko Tsuno - 23. La pagode des brumes
- 2001
- tags: #reread
- Roger Leloup
- language: French
- rating: 5/5
- NOTES: The third “Chinese” story in the intégrale “Sous le ciel de Chine”, and a direct follow-up to “La jonque céleste”. Yoko takes Sin Yi to find one of her maids, but finds that the latter is staying at a pagoda, in the Hunan region (says Leloup), guarded by a “dragon”. Unexplained (but Leloup says, separately, that it probably came from another planet), the dragon turns out to be a giant robot, connected to an intelligence residing in the tower. The drawings of the mountains and the pagoda are beautiful. The story also unites Yu, a young boy, with Liao, a girl with a heart condition which was treated by the robot/entity of the tower. Yoko comes back to the present time with Sin Yi.
- 2026-05-09: Yoko Tsuno - 22. La jonque céleste
- 1998
- tags: #reread
- Roger Leloup
- language: French
- rating: 4/5
- NOTES: The second “Chinese” story in the intégrale “Sous le ciel de Chine”. This is a typical time travel story. Yoko learns that an 11th Century Chinese emperor’s third wife, Sin Yi, whom the emperor has never even seen, is about to get murdered. Yoko, on a whim, decides to go save her in the past. It works, and Yoko brings back Sin Yi to the present time, by tricking people to think that Sin Yi had died and her heart was stored into an urn, where Yoko has placed a tape player. Besides the time travel, there is no science-fiction involved in the core of the story. The time is that of the Tang/Song dynasties.
- 2026-04-29: Lefranc - La grande menace
- 1954
- tags: #reread
- Jacques Martin
- version facsimile
- Rating: 5/5
- NOTES:
- I last reread it about 6 years ago, and another time almost 9 years ago.
- See previous notes. As noted, this is action-packed. Almost everything happens in this story!
- Published in album in 1954, but in magazines starting in 1952.
- 2026-04-17: Walt Disney’s Uncle Scrooge - 28. Cave of Ali Baba
- Author: Carl Barks
- language: English
- 2026-04-17: Walt Disney’s Uncle Scrooge - 26. The Golden Nugget Boat
- Author: Carl Barks
- language: English
- 2026-03-28: Manu Larcenet - La route
- 2024
- Language: French
- Scénario et dessin: Manu Larcenet
- Adapted from: Cormac McCarthy
- Rating: 5/5
- NOTES:
- Heavy, beautiful, dark, intense, horrible, touching, sad, etc.
- Of course, one can complain that the story doesn’t have much. But that’s the idea.
- I hadn’t read the novel, but this seems to follow it closely.
- 2026-03-09: Largo Winch - 25. Si les dieux t’abandonnent…
- 2025
- Language: French
- Scénario: Jérémie Guez
- Dessin: Philippe Francq
- NOTES: Start of a new diptych. Reviews complain about the small amount of text in this opus compared with previous ones. Somehow that didn’t strike me as I was reading it, but indeed there is very little text overall.
- 2026-03-01 : Blake et Mortimer - 29. Huit heures à Berlin
- 2022
- Language: French
- Scénario: José-Louis Bocquet, Jean-Luc Fromental
- Dessin: Antoine Aubin
- NOTES:
- 2026-02-28: Donjon Zénith - 10. Formule incantatoire
- 2023
- Language: French
- Scénario: Lewis Trondheim, Joann Sfar
- Dessin: Boulet
- NOTES: Alcibiade, Marvin, and Pirzuie (who are busy taking care of their newborn) must find how to save Horous, who is dying trying to control the “coffre aux esprits”, which could not only kill Horous but then free all its spirits into the Dungeon. Since that chest came from Blaise Pilozzi, a magicien-entrepreneur, they first go get his help. He is a not very likable, but very competent, magician. He is also an old friend and old classmate of Pirzuine, and there is some complicity between the two, while Blaise is otherwise a heartless businessman with everybody. Blaise knows that there is an elf poem, located in their central library, which might help solve the issue. So they enter that library. The elves, it turns out, are extremely racist and cruel beings. But the team manages to escape with the scroll of the poem, thanks to Marvin. With the help of Professor Cormor, the undercover automaton, they unlock the solution: the chest, and Horous, must be dropped from a very high place. Marvin jumps into action and his dragon friends do it, and the resulting blast creates the “trou aux esprits”, as well as makes a ghost out of Horous, thanks to a charm by Blaise. In this story, we see again those who care about life and friendship, and those who don’t.
- 2026-02-24: Donjon Crépuscule - 113. Passation
- 2024
- Language: French
- Scénario: Joann Sfar, Lewis Trondheim
- Dessin: Obion
- NOTES: Better than the previous tome. Zakûtu is the main character. An older Herbert appears in the story, but wants to stay out of it. Vaucanson needs rebuilding, and Zakûtu is in charge, having to fend off the Clérembards, a local mafioso, l’Atlas, traitors, and some kind of zombies. Marvin Rouge is mostly useless, except by mistake.
- 2026-02-18: Donjon Crépuscule - 112. Pourfendeurs de démons
- 2021
- Language: French
- tags: #reread
- Scénario: Joann Sfar, Lewis Trondheim
- Dessin: Obion
- Rating: 3/5
- NOTES: The story is a little disappointing compared with the previous arcs.
- 2026-02-18: Donjon Crépuscule - 111. La fin du Donjon
- 2014
- Language: French
- tags: #reread
- Scénario: Joann Sfar
- Dessin: Mazan
- NOTES: I confirm that the last page is nice, but otherwise the story, while it moves fast, is a little difficult to follow.
- 2026-02-17: Namibia - 3. Épisode 3
- 2012
- Language: French
- Scénario: Leo et Rodolphe
- Dessin: Bertrand Marchal
- 2026-02-17: Namibia - 2. Épisode 2
- 2010
- tags: #reread
- Language: French
- Scénario: Leo et Rodolphe
- Dessin: Bertrand Marchal
- 2026-02-17: Namibia - 1. Épisode 1
- 2010
- tags: #reread
- Language: French
- Scénario: Leo et Rodolphe
- Dessin: Bertrand Marchal
- 2026-02-16: Thorgal - 41. Mille yeux
- 2023
- Language: French
- tags: #reread
- Scénario: Yann
- Dessin: Fred Vignaux
- Rating: 3/5
- NOTES: We had left Thorgal, Jolan and Boréale (plus a certain Sven - where does he come out from?) on a small ship. That ship is about to sink, but is able to reach an island. Thorgal manages to swim to the mainland, but is captured in a fairly typical way by an cruel village chief. Thorgal has to find a special stone underground, and then he’ll be freed and able to provide help to Jolan and Boréale. Of course the chief does not keep his word. But Thorgal is eventually able to escape and save Jolan and Boréale. The other main character, Mýsla, who had helped Thorgal, doesn’t make it. Boréale makes it only thanks to Jolan’s asking Odin’s crows. Overall, a fairly standard Thorgal story, ok but not particularly exciting. In short, I mostly agree with the reviews on Bedetheque, but I wouldn’t put this album below Neokóra/Tupilaks, which I consider to be a better story. Here we learn more about Boréale, who was an astrophysicist, specialized in quantum physics, no less. Now, she has to deal with a much less developed world (although not necessarily morally worse overall).
- 2026-02-15: Thorgal - 40. Tupilaks
- 2022
- tags: #reread
- Language: French
- Scénario: Yann
- Dessin: Fred Vignaux
- Rating: 4/5
- NOTES: I had almost no recollection of reading this album, in spite of having taken some notes three years ago! In those notes, I complained a little about the over-explanations of the ship’s history. I am a little less bothered by it now. The new information we are getting from this diptych is that the Atlantians had genocidal plans for Earth, and that some of them agreed with that plan while others didn’t. A malevolent (or malevolently-directed) AI is quite terrifying. So-called advanced societies turn out not to be so advanced, especially morally, when the metal hits the road. I must disagree with the average rating on Bedetheque (2/5), which is quite low, and I would consider it in fact a rather good story. Overall, it’s a decent arc, and a way to get Jolan a life partner.
- 2026-02-14: Thorgal - 39. Neokóra
- 2021
- tags: #reread
- Language: French
- Scénario: Yann
- Dessin: Fred Vignaux
- Rating: 4/5
- 2026-02-12: Sillage - 23. Immersion
- 2024
- Language: French
- tags: #reread
- Scénario: Philippe Buchet
- Dessin et couleur: Philippe Buchet
- 2026-02-10: Sillage - 24. Concessions
- 2024
- Language: French
- Scénario: Philippe Buchet
- Dessin et couleur: Philippe Buchet
- NOTES: Nice atmosphere on a world with Western inspiration. Some discoveries about the metamorphs, but that story goes very slowly. The idea of an alternative, paradisiac underground world is interesting, but the pacing of the story and the explanations is a little clumsy.
- 2026-02-09: Qui est ce Schtroumpf?
- 2023
- Language: French
- tags: #reread
- Author: Tebo
- Rating: 5/5
- 2026-02-09: Donjon monsters, tome 3. La Carte majeure
- 2002
- language: French
- Scénario: Lewis Trondheim, Joann Sfar
- Dessin: Andreas
- NOTES: This fits just after Armaggedon.
- 2026-02-07: Olivier Rameau - INT3. Intégrale 3
- Olivier Rameau 9. Le canon de la bonne humeur
- 1983
- NOTES: The Poyoutouffus turn out to be spreading a pollen causing bad mood. This is unacceptable for Rêverose. A special cannon ends up being the solution to spread love and good mood. The Poyoutouffus lose their hair and start loving each other and the rest of Rêverose.
- Olivier Rameau 8. La trompette du silence
- 1978
- NOTES: A big trumpet-shaped mountain starts making noises, which stun people. Olivier and the others must find what is going on. They discover that a tiny creature is the origin of the noise, and a sort of concert hall. The introduction is pretty nice, with Olivier and Colombe naked (but with leaves covering them), just enjoying nature and water.
- Olivier Rameau 7. Le miroir à trois faces
- 1977
- NOTES: Rêverose is threatened by Schnarkbuls, sort of empty being that can appear as the doubles of existing beings. They do this by using mirrors, hidden in the forest of Pas-Permis. The root mirror is destroyed, and all is well.
- 2026-01-26: Donjon Parade - 2. Le sage du ghetto
- 2001
- language: French
- Scénario: Lewis Trondheim
- Dessin: Manu Larcenet
- NOTES: Again, like tome 1, the story is really short at 30 pages. A story about segregation (the title gives it away) and extreme cruelty from the dog, the Duc de Clérembard, but also about the immense stupidity of those who accept to be oppressed and ask for more. Humor, of course, going to the ghetto.
- 2026-01-16: Lustiges Taschenbuch Sommer 13: Sommergeschichten
- 2023
- Language: German
- NOTES: Practicing my German reading a little.
- 2026-01-09: Blake et Mortimer - 23. Le bâton de Plutarque
- Language: French
- tags: #reread
- NOTES:
- Previous notes: A prequel to “Le secret de l’Espadon”. Involves Blake and Mortimer meeting again; the two secret bases of Scaw-Fell and Hormuz; Bletchley Park; and an early encounter with Olrik.
- Not a bad story, but one which suffers a little from over-explaining things: where did Blake and Mortimer meet; why are they preparing for WWIII against Basam-Damdu; where does Olrik come from; etc.
- 2026-01-04: Les cités obscures - H11. Souvenirs de l’Éternel Présent
- 1993/2009
- tags: #reread
- Language: French
- Scénario: Benoît Peeters
- Dessin: François Schuiten
- NOTES:
- I had forgotten most of this, last reread in 2020. As I noted then, this is based on the sketches for the movie Taxandria.
- The world is in the spirit of the Cités Obscures. Human activity is absurd (see the tram pullers and pushers). The world is initially unexplained.
- The story:
- A long time ago, Taxandria became prosperous thanks to scientific developments.
- But the rulers, president Brentano and his wife Irina, decided to bring the scientific achievements, but also the Taxandrian system of governance, to other places.
- Their power was, however, unchecked; their hubris, huge; and their decisions, arbitrary and incompetent.
- Irina directs scientists to create a duplicating machine. They succeed, and end up duplicating Irina, but also the sun. A huge tsunami destroys the country, kills most, and that is the end of that society.
- New rulers outlaw science, machines, books, and references to the past or the future. The world becomes, however, absurd, poor, and childless.
- The hero, Aimé, a young, bald boy, is, however, curious, and wants answers about everything. He finds a book, learns about the events, and ends up at Marinum, where he wanted to see the sea.
- The sea, there, is long gone, replaced by a desert. He proceeds further and finally finds the sea, almost drowns, and is rescued by fishermen.
- He says he came from Taxandria and Marinum, but they say there is nothing where he is pointing to. That’s the end of the story.
- The art is great, as usual. The story is less intriguing than other Cités Obscures stories. You’d like to know more about Aimé’s fate, in particular.
