{"id":30372,"date":"2024-08-19T08:00:47","date_gmt":"2024-08-19T08:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=30372"},"modified":"2024-08-18T15:05:03","modified_gmt":"2024-08-18T15:05:03","slug":"the-marquis-of-anaon-volumes-1-2-the-isle-of-brac-the-black-virgin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2024\/08\/19\/the-marquis-of-anaon-volumes-1-2-the-isle-of-brac-the-black-virgin\/","title":{"rendered":"The Marquis of Anaon volumes 1 & 2: The Isle of Brac & The Black Virgin"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" \"\"
\nBy Vehlmann <\/strong>& Bonhomme<\/strong>, coloured by Delf<\/strong>: translated by Mark Bence <\/strong>(Cinebook)
\nISBN: 978-1-84918-255-3 (PB Album\/Digital edition Brac) & 978-1-84918-265-2 (PB Album\/Digital edition Virgin)<\/p>\n

These books include Discriminatory Content<\/strong> included for dramatic effect. <\/em><\/p>\n

In 1972 Fabien Vehlmann entered the world in Mont-de-Marsan. He was raised in Savoie, growing up to study business management before taking a job with a theatre group. His prodigious canon of pro comics work began in 1998 and has earned him the soubriquet of \u201cGoscinny of the 21st<\/sup> Century\u201d.<\/p>\n

In 1996, after entering a writing contest in Le Journal de<\/strong><\/em> Spirou<\/strong><\/em>, he caught the comics bug and two years later – with illustrative collaborator Denis Bodart – produced a mordantly quirky, sophisticated portmanteau period crime comedy entitled Green Manor<\/a><\/strong>. From there on his triumphs grew to include – amongst many others – C\u00e9lestin Speculoos<\/strong><\/em> for Circus<\/strong><\/em>, Nicotine Goudron<\/strong><\/em> for L\u2019\u00c9cho des Savanes<\/strong><\/em> and major-league property Spirou and Fantasio<\/strong>…<\/p>\n

Scion of an artistic family, Matthieu Bonhomme received his degree in Applied Arts in 1992, before learning the comics trade working in the atelier of western & historical strip specialist Christian Rossi. Le Marquis d\u2019Anaon<\/strong><\/em> was Bonhomme\u2019s first regular series, running from 2002-2008, after which he began writing as well as illustrating a variety of tales, from L\u2019Age de Raison<\/strong><\/em>, Le Voyage d\u2019Esteban<\/strong><\/em>, The Man Who Shot Lucky Luke<\/strong> and much more.<\/p>\n

So, what\u2019s going on here? Imagine The X-Files<\/strong> set in France in the Age of Enlightenment (circa 1720s), played as a solo piece by a young hero growing reluctantly into the role of crusading troubleshooter. With potent overtones of Jane Eyre<\/strong>, Wuthering Heights<\/strong>, The Fall of the House of Usher<\/strong> and similar traditional gothic romances, 2001\u2019s L\u2019Isle de Brac<\/strong><\/em> was the first of 5 albums (all available in English-language paperback and digital formats) tracing the development of a true champion against darkness and human venality.<\/p>\n

Under-employed scholar and middle class, pragmatic philosopher Jean-Baptiste Poulain<\/em> is the son of a merchant, an ardent disciple of Cartesian logic and former medical student. Educated but impoverished, he accepts a post to tutor the son of the mysterious Baron of Brac<\/em>. It is a career decision that will shape the rest of his life…<\/p>\n

As he approaches the windswept, storm-battered and extremely isolated island off the Brittany Coast, Poulain cannot understand the fear and outrage in the downtrodden villagers who initially believe him to be a visiting nobleman. Taken under the wing of another passenger – an itinerant professional storyteller – the teacher-in-waiting learns that the surly peasant inhabitants secretly call their master and liege lord \u201cthe Ogre\u201d. Moreover, Poulain is utterly astounded by how violently protective they are in regard to the village\u2019s few children…<\/p>\n

In an oppressive atmosphere and crushed beneath ever-mounting social tensions, the facts gradually unfold. Even as the young man endures suspicion and veiled hostility from the lowly classes, he gradually nurtures a deep appreciation for the forward-thinking, rationalist and compellingly charismatic Baron de Brac. However, when the heir – and his sole student – Nolwen<\/em> is found brutalised and murdered, heightened feelings spike and Poulain painfully learns that this is not the first body to be found…<\/p>\n

From then on, it\u2019s hard to determine who is friend or foe and – although a trained thinker always inclined to challenge the old superstitions – the tutor increasingly ponders if unworldly forces are in play…
\n\"\"
\nConversations with the roaming mariner known only as The Storyteller<\/em> lead to Poulain being attacked by some villagers – or perhaps they are merely opportunistic thieves? Barely escaping, the dazed, astounded scholar sees poor murdered Nolwen before passing out…<\/p>\n

The baffled teacher awakes under the Baron\u2019s care and resolves to leave at the first opportunity by any means necessary. When disturbed housemaid Ninon<\/em> begs him to take her with him, an incredible secret history of unremitting horror is exposed, leading to the Baron ruthlessly hunting his fleeing employees and caging them in a hidden laboratory.<\/p>\n

Here Poulain discovers the appalling truth of his employer. The elder savant is obsessed with unlocking all secrets of the human mind and man\u2019s inner world, and has over many years devised pitiless experiments to test all his theories. Of course they yield the best results if carried out on unformed minds…<\/p>\n

Trapped but not helpless, Poulain uses the tests and data de Brac has indulged and fanatically compiles against him, before escaping to expose the ghastly secret of the \u201cghosts\u201d who walk the island. When the Baron and his terrifying flunkey come for him, fortune finally favours the tutor and apparently divine justice is rendered unto all…<\/p>\n

In the aftermath, Poulain quits the island alone, as much to avoid the pitifully grateful, still fearful villagers as to resume his interrupted life in healthier climes. Sadly, he cannot outrun the obnoxious title they have bestowed upon him in their Bretagne argot: Le Marquis d\u2019Anaon<\/strong><\/em> – \u201cthe Marquis of Lost Souls\u201d…<\/p>\n

The Black Virgin <\/strong><\/p>\n

Jean-Baptiste Poulain returned in 2003\u2019s La Vierge Noire<\/em><\/strong> (with Cinebook\u2019s translated tome released in October 2015) as his travels and compulsions bring him to isolated, snowbound Puy-Marie in the middle of Advent. Here the populace are far less diffident, actively poking into his affairs and even his luggage. Finding worthless books – and a loaded pistol – they back off and a pedlar engages him in conversation, assuming he\u2019s here to observe the witchcraft and murder all are expecting to manifest once again on the sacred solstice…<\/p>\n

Women have been horrendously killed at the Christmas feast for years now and a ghastly trade in sensationalistic, prurient gutter prints and memorabilia has grown up around the phenomenon of \u201cthe Demon of Puy-Marie\u201d and its connection to the Shrine of the Black Virgin. Poulain has indeed travelled from Paris to observe the expected imminent atrocity, but does not believe the killer is a supernatural force…<\/p>\n

Despite wanting the Christmas Eve murders stopped, the Count of Puy-Marie<\/em> is far from encouraging, but does actually not forbid the scholar\u2019s investigations, which begin in mid-December at the woodland shrine. Local priest Fra Guillaume<\/em> despairs: his parishioners still believe the little relic in the woods has magical powers and even admits it is also a focus for those who still believe in the old practises of witchcraft… most notably the heathen gypsies who travel to the shrine every yuletide and are currently infesting the woods around the village. He also urges the godless rationalist to abandon his morbid unhealthy curiosity and leave things alone…<\/p>\n

With every pauper, vendor and lord anticipating another torture\/murder in the days to come, Poulain ponders again the horrid discoveries and fascinations of Baron de Brac and debates whether this might be another case of twisted human madness unleashed. If so, it is one he can end…<\/p>\n

After using his medical knowledge to help a woman \u201ccursed by gypsies\u201d, he gets some of the terrified citizens onside even as sporadic incidents of blood magic denote \u201cthe Demon\u201d is back and flexing his infernal muscles. One such incident even deprives Poulain of his most trusted and faithful companion, and his new friends readily fall back on old prejudices and condemn the homeless, impious, degenerate and debauched \u201cEgyptians\u201d in the forest…<\/p>\n

When another village girl is found horrifically mutilated by the shrine days earlier than expected, the scholar fears escalation in the perpetrator\u2019s behaviour but must first head off potential mob retaliation. With the appalled Count\u2019s approval he visits the Roma encampment and has a most disturbing encounter with a brazen young fortune teller Sarah<\/em>, who seems to know all his secrets. She rattles his intellectual composure so much that Poulain almost issues a crucial clue when her guardians Allesandro<\/em> and Lucas<\/em> come to blows over her gifts and reputation…<\/p>\n

In the village tempers are still flaring and when Poulain discovers a nasty warning to back off, he only intensifies his enquiries: learning key background from the oldest woman in town that at last points him in the right direction. This in turn unearths more shocking secrets and illicit affairs that would rock the status quo if exposed…
\n\"\"
\nWith too much information to sift through, Poulain again despairs: even backsliding to consider a supernatural culprit, but when The Demon strikes, making him the next Christmas offering, the proximity of agonising extinction sharpens the detective\u2019s wits. Deducing the killer\u2019s identity, Poulain shamefully employs psychological tricks gleaned from Baron de Brac\u2019s journals to turn the maniac\u2019s hatred fatally, finally inward…<\/p>\n

Vehlmann\u2019s tight, taut authentic compellingly scripting, backed up by Bonhomme\u2019s densely informative but never obtrusive realistic illustration delivers moody, ingenious, utterly enthralling tales of modern horror tropes imbedded in an era of superstition, class separation, burgeoning natural wonder, reason ascendant and crumbling belief: spooky crime mysteries with a troubled, self-doubting quester holding always at bay the crippling notion that all his knowledge might be trumped by the lurking unknown…<\/p>\n

The Marquis of Anaon<\/strong> is a mystery milestone well-deserving of a greater audience and one no mystery maven should miss.
\nOriginal edition \u00a9 Dargaud Paris 2002, 2003 by Vehlmann & Bonhomme. All rights reserved. English translations \u00a9 2015 by Cinebook Ltd.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Vehlmann & Bonhomme, coloured by Delf: translated by Mark Bence (Cinebook) ISBN: 978-1-84918-255-3 (PB Album\/Digital edition Brac) & 978-1-84918-265-2 (PB Album\/Digital edition Virgin) These books include Discriminatory Content included for dramatic effect. In 1972 Fabien Vehlmann entered the world in Mont-de-Marsan. He was raised in Savoie, growing up to study business management before taking … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The Marquis of Anaon volumes 1 & 2: The Isle of Brac & The Black Virgin”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[191,75,239,214,122,66,225],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventure","category-crime-comics","category-drama","category-european","category-historical","category-horror-stories","category-mystery"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7TS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30372"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30379,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30372\/revisions\/30379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}