It's been a good year for comics. For the first time in four years there was a comic salon in Erlangen, the industry get-together par excellence. There was a Marsupilami volume by Flix, a new Lucky Luke and an intense book about the Holocaust. But even at the end of the year there are still enough recommendations for Christmas. Be it Corto Maltese exploring Berlin's nightlife, a rabbit ending up in Asterix's body, Genghis Khan wandering between the real and the spiritual world, or a Frenchwoman meeting a tanuki with big balls in Japan.
Corto Maltese has seen the world. From the Pacific to Egypt, from Brazil to Manchuria, and now a "Night in Berlin", as the title of the latest volume goes, published by Schreiber
Even in Berlin in 1924, Corto Maltese, the captain without a ship, does not lack the typical ingredients: a murder, a few mysterious characters, a treasure and occult booth magic, garnished with a few plot twists. It's a dark adventure set in night bars and a graveyard. But things aren't too squeamish in Berlin in the 1920s either. Corto stumbles through the politically complicated melee to investigate the death of his friend Steiner. He takes on the enemies of the Weimar Republic, discovers a conspiracy and ends up in Prague.
Of course, the volume is not lacking in allusions to the time and its (un-) culture. Corto meets the writer Joseph Roth ("Job"), celebrates with Marlene Dietrich and Max Schmeling and goes to the theatre, which was world famous at the time. Unfortunately, these references sometimes seem a bit artificial, as if you still have to check off this and that person. And the authors make a historical mistake: In 1924, the NSDAP was banned - and with it thugs with swastika flags, as they appear in the volume. In addition to this incorrectness, "Nacht in Berlin" is a volume worth reading, with which fans of classic Corto Maltese adventures will get their money's worth.
Of course, Asterix is one of the great comic classics. Unlike Spirou or Lucky Luke, of which numerous homage volumes have already been published, the Asterix universe remained reserved. In addition to the main series, there are only a few special volumes. That now "Beim Teutates!" by Lewis Trondheim was allowed to appear, is therefore a small miracle. The volume takes place in the village of the indomitable Gauls, but in no way sticks to the rules of the series. Rather, it is a loving bow and an ironic break in one.
In fact, the volume belongs to the Trondheim series about Mr. Hase, which is published in German by Reprodukt. One day Mr. Rabbit wakes up in the Gallic forest and only gradually realizes that a villain's machine has brought him into the world of the comic classic. He has ended up in Asterix's body, but the other villagers do not notice this at first. This is how a comedy of mistaken identity begins, in which Mr. Rabbit aka Asterix has to stop the villain from stealing the recipe for the magic potion.
Between parody and homage, Trondheim balances its story into an adventure far more anarchic than the original. And always questioned the obviousness of the Asterix volumes. For example, the violence: Mr. Rabbit quickly realizes that a blow strengthened by a magic potion can definitely end fatally for Roman legionnaires. And the side effects of the magic potion probably simply hid the Asterix creators Goscinny and Uderzo. Fans of the comic classic can not only look forward to performances by Obelix, Majestix and Co., but also to numerous allusions.
While the invincible Gauls were still dealing with Caesar, more than 1000 years later Genghis Khan set out to conquer the world, from the Japan to the Caspian Sea. To this day, his name stands for the former power of the Mongolian horsemen. The comic "Dschingis Khan", published by Splitter, is not a conventional biography, but takes motifs from the life of the military leader and enriches them with spiritual and fantastic elements. And the authors Antoine Ozanam and Antoine Carrion succeed very well.
The boy, identified and raised by a shaman as the reincarnation of Genghis Khan, gets to know the world of demons and nature spirits of his people at an early age. Again and again he dives into their world, maintains a dialogue with them and is thus prepared for his role as leader of the Mongols. In the excellent coloring, these scenes are kept in blue. Alongside this is the reality, rendered in pale natural tones, in which the title character becomes a slave but gradually earns the respect of the tribes and becomes their leader.
The volume impresses both with its realistic drawings, in which large-format landscape shots and quickly cut battle scenes alternate, as well as with the story with its spiritual level. Because the authors skilfully interweave the human and spirit worlds, they create a poetic approach to a mystical figure.
"Nami and the Sea" by Catherine Meurisse is as poetic as it is cheeky - the comic published by Carlsen is a highlight of this year. Meurisse, who was the first comic artist to be admitted to the French Académie des Beaux-Arts, deals with her stay as a scholarship holder at the Villa Kujoyama in Kyoto, Japan. Her alter ego says in the book that she wants to paint nature and refresh her internal image archive, which is far too western. And so she throws herself into this nature and into this foreign country. "They'll never understand, since they're not from here," however, a talking tanuki with huge balls tells her about the calligraphy. And indeed, the wandering protagonist struggles to capture the essence of the land on paper.
Meurisse's preoccupation with Japan and its culture tends to remain superficial. She wonders about customs and penis altars, despairs of the country's modern toilets - these are not deep insights into the Far East. However, that does not reduce the fun of reading, which is mainly due to the great drawings. Again and again she captures the wonderful nature of Japan in large-format pictures - a beautiful further development of the book "Weites Land" about her childhood in the French province.
This sublime splendor of nature is counteracted by the depiction of the people she meets on her walk. Here Meurisse shows her great experience as a cartoonist - she worked for "Charlie Hebdo" for a long time, she only survived the attack on the satirical magazine in 2015 by chance. With a sweeping stroke and a feeling for timing, she intersperses almost slapstick-like scenes. And in the end she experiences a kind of revelation that gives her a deeper understanding of Japanese culture.
