By Serge Lehman, Stéphane Créty, Julien Hugonnard-Bert & Gaétan Georges translated by Edward Gauvin (Titan Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-78276-108-2
It’s a great time for comics science fiction, and here’s one of the best examples of the bande dessinée take on tomorrow’s worlds, courtesy of Titan Comics’ ever-expanding line of stellar European translations.
Serge Lehman is the main nom de plume of prolific and multi award-winning author Pascal Fr̩jean (F.A.U.S.T., Thomas Lestrange, Metropolis, The Chimera Brigade) whilst mercurial illustrator St̩phane Cr̩ty came relatively late to comics Рvia stints as archaeologist, warehouseman and storyboard artist Рbut has been making up for it ever since.
With Sylvain & Sandrine Cordurié he created – between 2003 and 2004 – Salem le Noire and followed up with Acriborea. He has since lent his considerable skills to graphic serials Les Fleaux d’Enharma, Hannibal Meriadec et les larmes d’Odin amongst others, replaced Guy Michel on Le Sang du Dragon and produced stellar work on assorted Star Wars titles for Dark Horse in America.
In 2011 he united with Lehman to craft a cunning and captivating chronicle set just a bit ahead of Now: a world getting progressively stranger day by day…
It all begins with a patrol of peacekeepers in the Caucasus, policing a flash-war between Russia and Georgia. When they come across a devastating robotic combat drone only Sergeant Frank Braffort and Gunner Melissa Taleb survive the staggering assault of the kill-machine. They have no idea how: twin beams of red light simply blazed down out of an empty sky to destroy it…
The event was recorded as “incident 41†and filed away in army reports to be forgotten. It wasn’t…
Now, years after being hung out to dry by his superior officers for the inexplicable debacle, Braffort is back in Greater Paris. It’s December 23rd in District One of the XIII Arrondissment and strange mechanical trinkets keep turning up on the streets to grow and die like metal flowers or plastic mayflies. The blasé natives have grown used to them and dismiss the little widgets as mere “anomaliesâ€â€¦
Young science student Raphaelle Braffort is mildly intrigued by the phenomenon but is more concerned by her recently returned brother’s inability to accept the changes that have occurred during his six-year absence.
Back in town for twenty-four hours and all he can focus on is anomalies, the pirate media broadcasts of the enigmatic Lightning Network and the colossal ghostly hologram of legendary masked serial killer Fantoma manifesting all over the city. What Frank should be worried about are real issues like the growing political unrest, riots, repression and the swiftly boiling-over vendetta between District One Mayor Michelle Caprice and domineering, overreaching Joel Beauregard, Special Prefect of Greater Paris…
A quiet night in is interrupted when old army buddy Victor “Rocket†Duroc pays a call and drags Frank to a job interview that will be to his advantage…
As they cruise across town in Rocket’s municipally-owned flying Renault, the former sergeant cannot believe how much has changed: street riots, anomalies, a flying skateboarder, robot giants in the Seine…
The meeting is with Beauregard himself, who has an awful lot of ex-military in his entourage for someone whose official job is modernising the city and turning it into a global capital. However, before they can get started, a terrifying new type of Anomaly savagely attacks the Special Prefect before suddenly and inexplicably turning “her†sights on Braffort…
Most disturbing of all, the assault and its brutal conclusion are broadcast live by the Lightning Network. When the dust and cogs settle Frank finally meets the big man and is offered a job on the already formidable security team, but Beauregard is holding something back and asks Braffort to meet him at a secret location later.
The ex-sergeant has no idea how closely he’s being monitored, nor the unique role he’s being groomed for, and spends the day visiting Melissa Taleb. She’s in jail for “visiting†their old commanding officer and rather physically explaining why he shouldn’t have blamed his tactical screw-up on the men who died because of it…
Later that evening Braffort arrives at a deserted building in Montmartre and is ushered into an incredible basement complex which was once the lair of super-criminal Fantoma. There Beauregard and his scientific advisor Cleo Villanova – an expert on the clearly evolving and escalating Anomalies – reveal how research into the mechanoid plague uncovered this fortress, the history of a previously unknown superhero active from 1925-1940 and an even more incredible secret: one that has been kept by every government since De Gaulle liberated the city in World War II…
The Anomalies stem from an incredibly old technological temple hidden beneath Paris, and the mysterious motivating force reacts whenever Braffort is near. It wants something from him and the ruthless politicos are going to find out what by feeding him to it…
Braffort’s transformation is sudden, explosive and astonishing, but as the reaction sets the sky afire and alerts other clandestine elements in an ancient struggle Beauregard cannot help but gloat…
To Be Continued…
Fast-paced, suspenseful, imaginative and utterly compelling, this stunning opening salvo is supplemented by faux news article ‘Metrology: All Things in (im)Moderation by Zoe Kader’ offering a potted history and technical overview of the Anomaly phenomenon complete with illustrations of the rapid evolution of the intruding artefacts.
Complex, challenging and supremely enticing, Masked promises to be an outstanding addition to the annals of unmissable French science fiction classics.
Masked and all contents © Guy Delcourt Productions 2012. Masqué volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, Lehman-Créty © Editions Delcourt -2012-2013.
Masked: Anomalies will be released on March 30th 2015 and is available for pre-order now.