EDWARD GAUVIN

Jessica, Volume 6 of Golden City, an all-ages series written by Daniel Pecqueur with art by Nicolas Malfin, is  now available as a digital exclusive from Delcourt at Comixology. With this book, the first arc of the series comes to a close.

The real Harrison Banks is in the hands of Professor Seed and Brad, the usurpers of his inheritance, and they have arranged for his execution by the authorities of Golden City. Meanwhile, the Jackal’s secret is finally revealed, as an unlikely team of heroes, with varied motivations, is about to risk all to save Harrison from certain death.

The latest issue of Anomaly (formerly Anomalous), guest edited by Rachel Cordasco, is devoted to translated spec fic by women, and features my translation Belgian fabulist Anne Richter’s early story “The Great Beast” among some brilliant work from around the globe!

Rachel runs the site Speculative Fiction in Translation, the go-to clearinghouse for all information on science fiction, fantasy, and everything in between being translated into English.

Anne Richter (1939 – ) is a prominent Belgian author, editor, and scholar of the fantastic. Her first collection, Le fourmi a fait le coup, was written at the age of fifteen and translated as The Blue Dog (Houghton Mifflin, 1956) by Alice B. Toklas, who praised her in the preface. She is known for her twice-reprinted international anthology of female fantastical writers, whose introductory essay she expanded into a study of the genre. She has also edited official anthologies of the fantastical work of Meyrink and de Maupassant. Her four collections have won her such Belgian honors as the Prix Franz De Wever, the Prix Félix Denayer, the Prix du Parlement, and the Prix Robert Duterme. She is a member of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, the Association of Belgian Writers, and PEN. My translations of her work have appeared in Ann and Jeff VanderMeers’ anthology of feminist speculative fiction, Sisters of the Revolution (PM Press, 2015), and online at The Collagist.

Here’s an excerpt:

Then they turned to me and said, “It’s settled; you’re the one who’ll be going. Don’t think we made this decision lightly; we had lots of reasons for choosing you. For one, to the victor go the spoils; you’re the one who discovered the beast that washed ashore one morning. Really, all we did was witness your discovery. And so, by law, you should make the most of it. But up until now, you haven’t done a thing. There it lies, inviolate, still as a shipwreck. Can’t you see it mocks us? It’s up to you to unravel this living riddle. That gaping mouth, cool as a mausoleum, is all yours, as is that thick carpet of a tongue of indeterminate color. Think of your parents, your village! Go forth without fear. If the mouth swallows you, too bad. You shouldn’t have been playing hooky on the beach. If it lets you back out safe and sound, so much the better. We’ll know more than we do now. Go! Your parents’ wishes go with you.”

The Walking Dead, but with werewolves, and maybe a little bit of Escape from New York thrown in… This series in love with all things American hails from Soleil’s new French Comics imprint, with page layouts and panel designs more like American floppies, resulting in pacing that’s less like traditional Francophone bande dessinée. Written by Jean-Luc Istin, with B&W art by Kyko Duarte and grayscale by Ellem. The longer French volumes, coming in at about 100 pages, have been divided in half, so you’re still getting bang for your buck: twice the length of the average American comics issue. The beginning of the second arc, Once a Man, Now a Wolf, is now available as a digital exclusive from Soleil at Comixology.

While John Marshall investigates in Las Cruces, seeking to uncover the identity of the lycanthrope that is killing his neighbors, blind guitarist Jeremy Lester and young Sarah flee Philadelphia for Lancaster, wondering why the wolves have spared them.
On Riker’s Island, Malcom Spolding, who can’t bear being the slave of the wolves any longer, is planning his escape when James Raven, head of one of the most powerful wolf packs in America, pays them a visit…

SelfMadeHero is delighted to announce the publication of JOSEPHINE BAKER, a new graphic biography by Catel Muller and Jose-Louis Bocquet.

Written and drawn by the creators of the acclaimed Kiki de Montparnasse, this is breezy, mammoth 568-page graphic novel on the life of of the pioneering dancer, French Resistance fighter and civil rights campaigner. With over 100 pages of supplementary background material (translated by Mercedes Gilliom), it is among the most comprehensive biographies of its subject.

Working on this book was an enlightening and tumultuous experience, and I spill some beans about that process in the most recent episode of the monthly Eurocomics podcast at The Comics Alternative. Catel Muller pulls off some first-rate cartooning, capturing the essence of the volatile Josephine in motion, while maintaining admirable clarity as the chronicle of the superstar’s life sweeps through every era of the 20th century. Smash Pages: The Comics Super-Blog, ran a fascinating interview I translated with the creators, where they share stories of their hopes for the book, how it got started, and the extensive visual research they did.

I’m not sure if the English editions have been released yet, but I translated the first three books of this World War II series about the WASPs, or Women Airforce Service Pilots, for their Swiss publisher Paquet, who has a habit of commissioning the occasional English translation of his work and then publishing it directly. I previously worked on this creative duo’s well-reviewed book The Grand Duke from Archaia (pre-BOOM!) and artist Hugault’s earlier solo book Pin-Up Wings from Paquet. Whereas The Grand Duke focused on Europe, these three books–Burma Banshees, Black Widow, and Destination Broadway–center on the Pacific theatre. If you’re a fan of well-researched, realistically depicted period aircraft or retro pin-up girls, these will be right up your alley. Keep an eye out!

This month at Words Without Borders, the short story “Motherhoods” by Rwandan author Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse, in their “New French” issue.

Kubyara indahekana—that is what we say of a woman who has more babies than she can carry on her back at once. My son had the ingobyi,* that tanned leather carrier, all to himself, and he breastfed till he was two. Less overwhelmed than other mothers, I could devote myself to him, teaching him to speak well, singing him lullabies. I even planted a few feet of strawberries by the banana plantation where he spent his afternoons squatting while I shelled peas or sorted beans in the courtyard. People said, “That boy clings to his mother too much. He’ll never be a real man.”

The Harrison File, Volume 5 of Golden City, an all-ages series written by Daniel Pecqueur with art by Nicolas Malfin, is  now available as a digital exclusive from Delcourt at Comixology. Some big reveals in this book, as long-buried secrets come to light…

Finally, the big day has come! Six months after the events which made him an usurper, a fugitive, and the most wanted convict on the continent, Harrison Banks secretly returns to Golden City. It is in the depths of this seaborne edifice that the fallen CEO can solve the mystery, and finally understand the dark secret his mother has left for him to inherit.

This well-meaning and, on the whole, fairly innocent kids’ entertainment inspired by the City Palace in Udaipur nevertheless bungles its treatment of social themes (from the caste system to drug legalization) and fails to avoid, in its lightly fantasized setting, some icky issues of cultural appropriation. Prolific and bestselling scripter Eric Corbeyran collaborates with Melvil, who draws a cute cow, to bring us a colorful and briskly paced two-parter with mythological overtones, based loosely on the short life of Princess Krishna Kumari, who at the tender age of 16 martyred herself to secure her people peace.

Spirited, independent-minded Princess Natty of Orchidhali is a member of the floral caste and lives in a luxurious, sunshine-filled palace. But once she refuses her arranged marriage, she is forced to flee thelife she knows, ending up in the dark realm of the Untouchables, the very lowest caste of society, where a strange form of leprosy reigns as a result of the lack of sunlight. Natty meets an Untouchable named Sami, who is just as rebellious as she is, and together they make a plan to leave the shadows of the underworld and return to the light. But just as they are about to make their escape, a battalion of soldiers arrives, and Sami ends up in prison.

Eighty pages of story are now yours for the taking as a digital exclusive from EuropeComics on a number of platforms (Izneo, Kindle, Kobo, Google Play, and Comixology).

I only got to translate the first volume of the African trilogy, but it was a beauty, Zidrou’s soulful script rich in human fellow-feeling, and Raphaël Beuchot sensitive line lending a fitting air of folktale to the story: Once Upon A Time in Africa. I’d known Zidrou primarily as a humor writer for his bestselling series about schoolboy Ducoboo, king of the dunches (available from Cinebook), but I’ve been impressed with several books of his recently, especially his collaboration with Édith, Emma G. Wildford.

No one thought he’d ever dare return. In this African country where dictatorship has banned all forms of cultural expression, the storyteller named Once-Upon-A-Time has already had a brush with death. For refusing to stop performing his puppet shows, he lost both his hands, severed at the wrist with the slash of a machete. Now he’s back, ready to begin performing again, and ready to take on the powers that be…

This graphic novel is now available as a digital exclusive from EuropeComics on a number of platforms (Izneo, Kindle, Kobo, Google Play, and Comixology).

The pitch for this series could not have been simpler: Highlander, with a hot babe. It’s written by Christophe “License to Print Money” Arleston, superstar of French epic fantasy comics with his Lanfeust universe, and drawn by Thierry Labrosse. Fair warning: kids and progressives, keep a wide berth. The third volume of the ongoing series Morea, The Fire of Time, is now available as a digital exclusive from Soleil at Comixology. This one has a space station in it.

Morea, held prisoner by the Angels, in an ancient satellite orbiting the Earth, must see to her own escape from their cruel experiments. Meanwhile, back at the DWC, the directors of her company maneuver to claim power in her absence… While Morea’s mentor, the Knight Terkio, seeks a means to rescue her.