Customer Reviews

Pioneers of the Human Adventure

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A few years back, I came across a treasure trove of Catalan Communications graphic novels and bought many. This was one of the titles. Francois Boucq is a supremely imaginative storyteller and this book showcases it to the Nth degree. Boucq has a wry sense of humor and a very humanistic slant, though his art does have touches of the grotesque. However, he knows how to tell a story. The book is an anthology of several stories, each with a twist on reality. My favorites include:

"Adventures in Malaysia" about boys who take playing war to the extreme.
"Gross Growth Games" which lives up to its title and is a fine commentary on physical obsessions.
"Bengal Tiger" which illustrates the "jungle" of selling insurance.

Boucq's other work is just as worthy, with Billy Budd, KGB, and The Magician's Wife published by Catalan in the 1980's, and Bouncer published by Humanoids more recently (though all are out of print). Boucq's tales remind one of Windsor McCay's Little Nemo in Slumberland, with the ordinary transforming into the extraordinary.