Frederik Peeters’ Pachyderme in Publishers Weekly

February 5th, 2014 § 0 comments § permalink

Next month, UK indie comics dynamo SelfMadeHero will be releasing the first volume of Frederik Peeters’ ongoing far-future science fiction epic Aama in the US (it’s been available in the UK since the fall). The second volume of Aama won the prize for best series at Angoulême last year.

In case any readers out there want to read some other work by this creator in preparation for the upcoming release, here’s a glowing Publishers Weekly review of his last graphic novel, Pachyderme, which no less than Moebius himself called a masterpiece:

guided by her own future corpse, Madame Sorrel has a series of increasingly surreal encounters; corpses talk, spectral babies wander the halls, and hidden truths crawl towards the light. Caught in a dreamlike path that crisscrosses time itself, a confused and frightened Madame Sorrel struggles to understand her true situation; she faces a terrifying transformation but as the aged, dead Madame Sorrel assures herself, what is frightening and tragic from one perspective can be liberating from another. Each element in the story has purpose and meaning, one that invites close examination. Peeters is the winner of several European comics awards, and his work rises above mere period piece, offering the reader a story of painful growth and introspection. Masterfully translated by Edward Gauvin, Peeters’ tale of self-discovery is enthralling; in the author’s hands, Cold War paranoia and thoughtfully subverted realist art provides commentary on other kinds of secrets, other kinds of betrayals and the conflict between duty and need.

Always nice when reviewers take time to give a nod to the translator.

pachyderme-cover

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