EDWARD GAUVIN

The Walking Dead, but with werewolves, and maybe a little bit of Escape from New York thrown in… This series in love with all things American hails from Soleil’s new French Comics imprint, with page layouts and panel designs more like American floppies, resulting in pacing that’s less like traditional Francophone bande dessinée. Written by Jean-Luc Istin, with B&W art by Kyko Duarte and grayscale by Ellem. The longer French volumes, coming in at about 100 pages, have been divided in half, so you’re still getting bang for your buck: twice the length of the average American comics issue. The beginning of the second arc, Once a Man, Now a Wolf, is now available as a digital exclusive from Soleil at Comixology.

While John Marshall investigates in Las Cruces, seeking to uncover the identity of the lycanthrope that is killing his neighbors, blind guitarist Jeremy Lester and young Sarah flee Philadelphia for Lancaster, wondering why the wolves have spared them.
On Riker’s Island, Malcom Spolding, who can’t bear being the slave of the wolves any longer, is planning his escape when James Raven, head of one of the most powerful wolf packs in America, pays them a visit…

SelfMadeHero is delighted to announce the publication of JOSEPHINE BAKER, a new graphic biography by Catel Muller and Jose-Louis Bocquet.

Written and drawn by the creators of the acclaimed Kiki de Montparnasse, this is breezy, mammoth 568-page graphic novel on the life of of the pioneering dancer, French Resistance fighter and civil rights campaigner. With over 100 pages of supplementary background material (translated by Mercedes Gilliom), it is among the most comprehensive biographies of its subject.

Working on this book was an enlightening and tumultuous experience, and I spill some beans about that process in the most recent episode of the monthly Eurocomics podcast at The Comics Alternative. Catel Muller pulls off some first-rate cartooning, capturing the essence of the volatile Josephine in motion, while maintaining admirable clarity as the chronicle of the superstar’s life sweeps through every era of the 20th century. Smash Pages: The Comics Super-Blog, ran a fascinating interview I translated with the creators, where they share stories of their hopes for the book, how it got started, and the extensive visual research they did.

I’m not sure if the English editions have been released yet, but I translated the first three books of this World War II series about the WASPs, or Women Airforce Service Pilots, for their Swiss publisher Paquet, who has a habit of commissioning the occasional English translation of his work and then publishing it directly. I previously worked on this creative duo’s well-reviewed book The Grand Duke from Archaia (pre-BOOM!) and artist Hugault’s earlier solo book Pin-Up Wings from Paquet. Whereas The Grand Duke focused on Europe, these three books–Burma Banshees, Black Widow, and Destination Broadway–center on the Pacific theatre. If you’re a fan of well-researched, realistically depicted period aircraft or retro pin-up girls, these will be right up your alley. Keep an eye out!

This month at Words Without Borders, the short story “Motherhoods” by Rwandan author Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse, in their “New French” issue.

Kubyara indahekana—that is what we say of a woman who has more babies than she can carry on her back at once. My son had the ingobyi,* that tanned leather carrier, all to himself, and he breastfed till he was two. Less overwhelmed than other mothers, I could devote myself to him, teaching him to speak well, singing him lullabies. I even planted a few feet of strawberries by the banana plantation where he spent his afternoons squatting while I shelled peas or sorted beans in the courtyard. People said, “That boy clings to his mother too much. He’ll never be a real man.”