He cheerfully plays with codes and reinvents himself with each of his projects. This rising and unmistakable figure of the new Flemish comic strip is not at his first try. Gradually, he will lose control and drift away from reality, getting caught up in his own paranoia.Ī fantasized biography, a parody of colonialist adventure stories, the story narrated by Olivier Schrauwen is captivating, funny, and resolutely surreal. He will have to face the dangers of the jungle, come to terms with his feelings for Marieke and deal with a strange tropical virus that threatens to decimate his men. Arsène will then leave alone and inexperienced at the head of the expedition to the promised land. Achieving this goal will be a very difficult undertaking.Īrsène falls madly in love with Marieke, his cousin’s wife, when the latter is interned because of a temporary mental imbalance. Together, they will create the impossible, a utopian city in the heart of the wilderness that will be called “Freedom Town”. Once on his feet, Roger reveals his plans to him. On the spot, he resides on his relative’s vast estate and painfully acclimates himself to local life. Olivier Schrauwen’s grandfather made this long journey at the request of his cousin Roger. He crossed the ocean to reach a mysterious colony. (Nov.In 1947, Arsène Schrauwen embarks on a liner. This sophisticated, inventive story cycle never fails to entertain, and strikes plenty of cerebral sparks. Throughout, Schrauwen explores and deconstructs the subjective nature of reality. “Mister Yellow,” set in the present day and told in two pages of tiny panels (recalling Chris Ware), again offers enigmatic warnings that go mostly unheeded.

In the formalistic tour de force “Cartoonify,” the lead uses the titular app that allows its user to “experience life as a cartoon character in an animated world.” This allows for all manner of cartooning hijinks.

From a relatively simple black-and-white alien abduction tale, “Greys,” the volume builds in both narrative and visual complexity to the final, full-color, novella-length “Space Bodies.” The second tale, “Hello,” features one of the book’s recurring themes: the use of technology in an attempt to record grave warnings and enlighten subsequent generations-only to be met with complete indifference by denizens of the future (“I guess the future has no time for the past”). Schrauwen ( Arsène Schrauwen) returns with another heady and inventive collection of six tales featuring sci-fi and magical realism tropes, all featuring Schrauwen or one of his relatives at different points in time (mostly in the far-flung future).

Arsène Schrauwen by Olivier Schrauwen