JohnnyEnzyme

I like this informal, yet detailed watercolor style, with those guitar pedal-effects really doing it for me. Indeed, from what I've seen, most Italian artists in BD tend to go for a more painstakingly detailed style, with this one reminding me more of a 'French approach,' with more of a loose energy.

So-- "Gipi" is a thumpingly-good Italian author/writer. I think the only full work I've read of his so far was Land of the Sons, an incredible contrast to this story, being 'post-apoc' in theme.

At the end of the day? He thinks about a million things, and finds ways to express them all, somehow & some way. This is the very case for great BD being a nominate for great literature. No joke...

Here's some more about the man himself, and his works:
https://www.lambiek.net/artists/g/gipi.htm
https://www.bedetheque.com/auteur-10118-BD-Gipi.html

This is a real good murder mystery with some cool plot twists, pretty right-on for classic film noir, both in style and era. Definitely worth a deeper dive when I figure out my Imgur-alternative.

Hervé Bourhis (writer) and Lucas Varela (artist) are the excellent creative team.

https://www.bedetheque.com/serie-88105-BD-American-Parano.html

EDIT: Welp, this post originally started in frustrating fashion, some of it due to the scheduling tool breaking down repeatedly, and some more of it due to the recent death of my friend and neighbor "Cal," who I'd previously mentioned here in October, when he was in the hospital. Let's just say those were some rough days for me, and I apologise for the creative swearing, i.e. "&*(%!@#."

Ah well, moving on...

As I see it, Bryan Talbot is one of the three biggest, living British talents in comics, along with Pat Mills and Alan Moore... oof, with Neil Gaiman pretty-much nuking his reputation, recently. :S

Talbot's The Tale of One Bad Rat moved me a lot, winning multiple awards as it were, and I'd say his five, hard-hitting Grandville books are just about the pinnacle of conventional anthropomorphic adventure-dramas in BD's, alongside the sensational Cité 14 / "District 14" series.

Now, I've had this panel queued up -forever- to post, but have been equally torn since forever whether I wanted to actually post it. For example, as someone fascinated by sea life, such as mollusks & crustaceans, the fact that we keep lobsters in tanks like this, with their pincers tied, only to meet a boiling end when they get 'lucky,' doesn't sit very well with me.

Bah. OTOH, in art there is truth, and one thing Talbot does a lot of in Grandville is demonstrate the vagaries of human cruelty.

In any case, it's a great BD art piece IMO.

https://www.lambiek.net/artists/t/talbot_bryan.htm

In which we shine a little spotlight on "A Stolen Lunch, Avenged" from this promising, enjoyable, nicely-executed webcomic.

On a distant planet, a prying scribe, an overly sentimental constable, and a mayor resurrect a sleepy town’s long-defunct priest-bot. But “Father Stanley” is not what he seems. Meanwhile, in a nearby region, a scheming wizard accidentally sends a war-god into the body of an angry rooster(!) Story by Simon Roy and Jess Pollard, Art by Simon Roy, Colors by Sergey Nazarov. --with Johnny edits

Okay, that's the overall webcomic's self-description, but what this little chapter is specifically about is our scribe (the young woman), her hulking friend, and his dad on a side-quest to rescue a beloved statue's head, which was sawed off by vandals some time in the past. (hmm, could that have been you, Bartholemew?)

Meh, enough balloon juice, here are the dang-ol' pages:

https://www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/griz-grobus-and-other-stories/a-stolen-lunch-avenged/viewer?title_no=741329&episode_no=22

Now, I'd say my one and only complaint about this series is that it shifts a bit wildly between different characters & different stories, altho even so, it remains remarkably easy to flow along with IMO. Meanwhile, what the webcomic gets RIGHT to me is the impressive world-building, skilled but homegrown-style art, overall imagination, and intercharacter-dialogue, to mention some mentionables.

Good dialogue is SUCH an underrated thing in comics... 😔

Haha yes, and it's kinda wild to submit this to "Euro comics," when the imp clearly sounds like an NYC taxi-driver. But hear me out, if you please:

I'm working on the upcoming master list of Euro & Euro-style webcomics, but wanted to first add a little context to one of the upcoming entries, i.e. Wormy, which appeared in TSR's Dragon magazine from 1977-'88. The magazine of course was directly founded to aid and inform serious Dungeons & Dragons players, a pioneering role-playing game which was heavily inspired by European fantasy, wargaming, and of course J.R.R. Tolkien's fictional worlds.

David Trampier was just about my favorite of all the talented TSR artists, whose work heavily featured in much of the original 'modules' and reference books. [samples] Wormy itself was hugely creative, frequently hilarious, and did excellent world-building IMO. It was quite unique for it's time, and remarkably, I'm not sure I've ever seen it's match, since. Jeff Smith's Bone might be the closest thing I'm aware of.

Sadly, Trampier split from TSR rather acrimoniously around 1988, and he passed away in 2014 before his Wormy stories could be fully collected, expanded upon, and published. (one's mind practically salivates over his final, unpublished pages, presumably being somewhere in storage when he died)

Here then are the opening pages to this classic, which a few years ago I did some color and contrast corrections on: [Wormy, the first seven]

EDIT: Ooh, ooh, and the helpful template of the music that trampier was riffing on: Misty Mountains Cold (it's a nice little song, don't you think?)

(can't believe the post is still alive on Imgur, haha)

Lol...it hit me square in the teeth the other day, so I just HAD to try my hand. 😂

The lead pic is a still from Alexander, Servant of the Water of Life, by Reimena Lee. I've only just started it, but as a history nut, I have hopes! Here's the about:

It's an online graphic novel retelling the life and legends of Alexander the Great, part of a 2000yr old literary tradition called the Alexander Romance.

In 323 BCE, Alexander the Great begins to fear. Fearing the destruction of his pothos — i.e., his longing for life, ambition, and eternal conquest — from old age, Alexander embarks on a quest for the elusive Water of Life while accompanied by his wisest, most trustworthy Servant.

As they experience a series of countless fabulous wonders, including glass submarines, naked philosophers, Amazonians, and talking prophetic trees, Alexander confronts his complex legacy and reflects on the life and deeds that will cement his transformation into one of the most unforgettable figures in world history.

alexanderromance.com

And here's one I finally finished, the other week. It's called Vattu:

It's set off-world, in a sort of middle-ages era, and reimagines what society, species, politics and even physical laws are like. It took 12yrs to produce and consists of 1200+ pages, so anyone who digs it is in for a long treat. My one complaint is that some of the main characters are a bit hard to tell apart, but then there's a helpful guide for that. 🙂

https://rice-boy.com/vattu/

• TBH it's Southern-USA produced, and I can understand any appropriate backlash upon that, but this one truly does seem 'Euro' in spirit, from my POV.

Mille sabords!, I'd like to put together a nice summation of our favorite Euro-tinged webcomics, a bit like the "Movie Night" link post did.

So... got any favorites there, mateys?

Here's one more gorgeous, unique cover by LEO & colorist Marchal from Amazonia's final book.

The year is 1949, and all the pieces of the puzzle around a strange creature and his extraordinary powers begin to reveal themselves and come together. In the humidity of the Amazon, agent Austin and Captain Délio finally come across the stranded German submarine. This time, the treasure they're looking for is within reach! But they must act quickly, because gold fever spares no one, neither the Brazilian secret services, nor the fleeing Nazis, not to mention the cannibal tribes that roam the area... --BDT

Yes, I'm afraid this series dipped in to the age-old "lost Nazi gold" trope, but it still managed to avoid falling in to overt stereotypes for the most part. For example, it was nice to see an MI6 officer (in Kathy Austin) who wasn't stamped in the typical James Bond-type role & mindset. Also interesting in that she's primarily focused on finding a local humanoid with paranormal qualities, whilst everyone else is seemingly after the stashed gold, with both things occupying the same maze-like branches of the mighty Amazon.

There was also a pretty amusing nod to Hergé's Bianca Castafiore, whose counterpart diva -- you guessed it -- can't help bursting in to Faust's The Jewel Song at every opportunity. Still though, as usual with Rodolphe & LEO, there's a careful avoidance of going heavy on the humor, drama and overt eroticism in order to better focus on the core story. On the whole, I found this a good, solid adventure with satisfying art, which will appeal to fans of this specific genre / timeline, as well as fans of the artist-writer team, who already completed two series in this set.

More art samples:
https://www.google.com/search?q=LEO+Rodolphe+Amazonia&udm=2

Oh boy and oh dear, here's another wonderful artist I kinda stumbled backwards in to discovering the other day, when I googled-up the increasingly-relevant phrase "here, at the end of all things."

From his ABOUT:

I've been drawing since I was a young boy at the age of eight. My interest in Sci-Fi and Fantasy was sparked when I first read C.S. Lewis's "The Chronicles of Narnia" books. Later, I discovered J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings." C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien put their Christian perspective to work that made for beautiful storytelling, as well as leaving me with some profound truths that I found in their work. Their writings inspire my love for the genre today.

My client list includes Weta Workshop, Sideshow Collectibles, Ace, Roc, Pocket, and Scholastic books, as well as the Franklin Mint, The Bradford Exchange, Vivendi/Universal Games, Capital One Bank, Hasbro toys, Acme Archives, Topps Trading Cards, and Lucasfilm Ltd.

I also work closely with Weta Workshop in the creation of licensed reproductions for my "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" Fine Art program."

The images above may or may not last, of course, but in any case, here's where they're sourced from, i.e. Vanderstelt's own site:

https://vandersteltstudio.com/gallery/

This panel comes from the sixth book of the 'godfather of manga's' brilliant Buddha series.

Not only were Tezuka's lines incredibly clear in the ligne claire sense, they were also gorgeously detailed when it came to backgrounds, as seen above. What's more, he never seemed to 'take the easy way out,' i.e. every background had this same level of detail, an amazing feat across the ~2800 total pages of this series.

Now, there are approximately a million interesting things to say about Tezuka's life, his library of works, and his huge influence on the industry that go way beyond a little daily post like this, but if you're not familiar with him, you might hit up good ol' WP. Or for those who've already read a couple books, THIS is a nice reading companion.

As for this particular work? I'd already studied and practiced Buddhism a bit across the years, being influenced by my mom, but this series really brought Gautama Siddhartha to life for me, as well as gave me new perspectives on his teachings. So not only is this 8-book series a semi-fictional literary classic, but I'd say it's also a great way to meet the legend and explore some of his basic teachings.

Plus, it's really just fun, wild, and moving. ❤️

This is the cover from Amazonia #3, which itself represents the third 'season' of Rodolphe & LEO's cool Kenya series. Each season runs five tomes, and I believe that Cinebook has translated the first three of these, so far.*

More at BDT:
https://www.bedetheque.com/serie-53487-BD-Amazonie-Kenya-Saison-3.html

* Oh dear, all those "threes" remind me of the STTNG episode in which the ship gets caught in a "cause and effect" loop. [video]