JohnnyEnzyme

Long overdue update, baby!

So... wow. Step-by-step, we’re on our way. And wouldn’t you know it, our one-year anniversary is coming up on August 1st. For a little background– we were founded directly in response to Reddit cracking down on 3rd-party app creators, which was the beginning (or possibly continuance) of Reddit essentially monetizing its volunteer labor. More on all that in the FAQ's comment section.

So what's new, matey?

• Matey, the Resources page has been updated with lots more info and links, specifically to help future posters.
• Some of the older posts had lost their lead-images due to server ("instance") glitch. They've now been fixed.
• Some of the older reviews still lack internal picture content. I (Johnny) work on that when I have time, such as by adding new content to the Hilda review (https://lemm.ee/post/2740095).
• The site's been added to the Wayback Machine tracking. Hopefully if something happens to me, Lemm.ee or the FV, the community can carry on somewhere else, preserving the best content.
• More clickable #tag searches have been added in the sidebar. The searches will by default search this specific community here on this instance, but you can adjust those factors as you like.
• The banner! Its resolution is higher now, noticeable perhaps if one zooms in.
• There was a linked-image issue the past few weeks that was frankly driving me up the wall, but fortunately, with the help of our instance-runner, the bug now seems squashed. A bunch of recent posts have now been fixed so that images will appear right in the body of the post, without needing to click a link, altho just to be cautious, I’m now adding the Imgur links underneath as a failsafe.
• One of these was a temporarily-deleted POST that’s now been fully restored, dedicated to the art of Alexander Petela, celebrating PRIDE month. I feel bad that more people didn’t see it, so check it out if you like. The art is pretty gorgeous and unique IMO.

I'm a newcomer. Any advice?

Welcome, welcome! ^^
Feel free to simply enjoy the new posts as they're published! But more than that, feel free to keep paging back through the archives or use the tags / search. As of the moment, there are over 360 postings to enjoy.

And of course, feel free to create your own topics, share your favorite stuff, discuss various comics, or just ask questions from the knowledge-base of our members.

Volunteer opening: News Reporter

I (Johnny) spend most of my 'BD time' reading, researching and writing, but what I'm not so good at is keeping up with the latest news. For this reason, we could use someone to keep an eye on the latest Euro comics news and post some interesting bits from time to time. If someone's willing to do that on a regular basis, it's worth a mod position.

There are many good sources with news (we have a ~dozen listed in Resources), most of which tend to get updated on a ~weekly basis. It's a job that probably only requires 30-40min per week. About one post per week of something interesting would be ideal.

Volunteer opening: Archivist

Proof-checking and fact-checking are needed on older posts that contain significant text content. There are no doubt some spelling, grammar and phrasing errors here and there, but probably even more needed is to: 1) properly organise and supplement our "master list," and 2) yell at Johnny for not including enough picture content in whatever posts that seem long and dry, with only text. If that makes sense.

Indeed, I'd say the "master index" greatly needs to be updated with new content, which should probably become a new, pinned post created and maintained by the future archivist. This is also worth a mod position.

Job opening: Publicist

I make a point of dropping semi-regular links to our content on Reddit, while not trying to go overboard. What's needed far more than that is posting our content around the web to appropriate communities in a non-aggressive, friendly way. I'm talking about Tumblr, Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, and other major sites, as well as various BD communities and wherever else seems receptive. Not in a spamful way, but simply in a 'hey, here's some cool, recent content,' such as the reviews. Maybe 1-2 links per week to each type of site.

Since this strikes me as a pure service, I'm thinking it's probably appropriate to PayPal such a publicist per link generated, or something like that. Anyone interested, feel free to message me about this.

Final thoughts

Averaging over a post per day for an entire year is not something I thought would be *remotely* possible in the beginning, yet it somehow happened, with huge thanks to Nacktmull, and with proper thanks to a handful of others.

Still, to be clear-- ultimately, the goal here is to create a self-sustaining community in which the mods do not themselves need to create the lion's share of the content. TBH, I’m not a big fan of administration myself, and would prefer to be just a content-creator, at the end of the day.

Now, yes-- I realise those are goals for down the road, when the community is bigger, but I also happen to think they're good, healthy goals. So I want to let everyone reading know that we really *do* need more regular posters, even if it's only to post on an occasional basis, such as once per 1-2 mos. Every little bit helps, hey?

Thank you for reading

I hope it wasn't too hard to get through all that, and I also hope that you might consider my requests. They are sincerely intended for the good of the sub/community, not just me personally.

Now, if you liked the artwork (by Simon Stålenhag), here's a big, bonus gift:

https://imgur.com/gallery/collection-of-prehistoric-art-by-simon-st-lenhag-2015-rthOp

Kriek's a super-illustrator who works in a variety of styles and formats, but some of my favorites are these 'woodcut-style' pieces with their limited color palettes. For a nice big intro on Kriek and more sample pics, see: https://www.lambiek.net/artists/k/kriek.htm

As for this particular work, it's his latest, and one can see a load of sample pages here. That's in Castellano, so hit your translate button!

After the tragic loss of their son, Huub and Sara move into an old, isolated family home in the Veluwe woods. They hope to put the grief behind them and get their lives back on track. But is it really a good decision?

In the forest, at the bottom of their garden, there is a mysterious pond, filled with stagnant black water. The waterhole is surrounded by old beech trees with strange markings carved into the bark.

Sara hopes to rediscover her taste for creativity, and paint new canvases in this new environment. She abandons her psycho-medical treatment to achieve this. When she discovers old sketchbooks left by Huub's great-uncle, she gradually sinks into darkness... --BDT

She was a bull mastiff, kept by her owner, a guy who arranged hits on other people, who was also terrified of any and all retribution, hence Lizzie's official purpose.

In any case, I hearken to her sad, expressive face.

So, she and her 'human' appear in one of the stories of the utterly superb Streets of Paris, Streets of Murder collection by Jacques Tardi and the late, great, Jean-Patrick Manchette, one of the great crime-novelist writers.

Part of the reason I'm posting this is because Tardi often drew human faces with little more than 'slanting lines' to indicate mouth and eye regions. For example, here's one his most famous characters:

https://i.imgur.com/cZdK12d.jpeg

(they even made it in to a film, daggit!)

And another from the 'murder' series:

https://i.imgur.com/9mHdzK7.jpeg

See what I mean about the facial expressions? So there's the irony, if you follow me, hmm.

By gosh, though! Tardi was no chump. He could change it up however he liked to suit the current work, as with Les Tontons flingueurs, which apparently involved an angry Rowan Atkinson as lead mafioso:

https://i.imgur.com/BrrGwQy.jpeg

Whoa...!
I just read the first two ~150pp tomes, and was thoroughly blown away by how much better this series was than I was expecting.

For the record, the artist "Crom" is an Englishman, and the writer, I must admit... evidently American. Still, I think the sidebar addresses this kind of situation fairly well!

Right then, our main characters begin as "Bianca," and her forge-master "Thonir," who unknown to her happens to be her own uncle. He's of a parallel race to man, who have a special ability for forging, creating artifacts out of gems & special ores, and even harnessing magic to some extent. But he's decided to shield young Bianca from almost all of that, plus much of their family history, thinking it temporarily for the best.

Here's a sketch-sheet of these two:

https://i.imgur.com/8TauJOV.jpeg

(true confessions: she vaguely reminds me of the wonderful "Nimona" character)

Now, one of Bianca's favorite getaways from laborious forge-work is in visiting the ruins of Feather Hill, which was completely decimated by the regional wizard-lich for refusing to ally with him, formerly.

Here's the moment Bianca first discovers the "Birdking's" decrepit remains:

https://i.imgur.com/N503TMh.jpeg

I don't want to give too much way here, but the Birdking is not nearly as 'finished' as he looks right there, which might remind some American fans of Walt Simonson's cool "Undead Thor" series.

But actually, these tomes mostly remind me on the whole of two other classics: Jeff's Smith's Bone and the absolutely ingenious (but tragically shortened) Ogre Gods.

Oh, and here's one last little sketch I liked, vaguely Mayan-style or something?

https://i.imgur.com/uZTM7fo.jpeg

Anyway, here's 16 more pages from the first book to look at:
https://www.bedetheque.com/serie-87921-BD-Birdking.html

I understand he did this piece as sort of a love-letter to videogames from his youth.

Another closeup:

https://i.imgur.com/IDXW9Lb.jpeg

And the overall piece, The Journey Begins:

https://i.imgur.com/wl8aljO.jpeg

More explained here about this project:
https://www.geek-art.net/p/art-print-geek-art-x-editions-caurette

Loved that famous Seurat painting, what was it again..?
(I'm getting old, memory bumbling itself away)

Anyway, this is by new-to-me-artist / storyteller Rebecca Dautremer.

This next one's a bit scarier, The Chickens Must Have their Say:

https://i.imgur.com/sEJrjSI.jpeg

And of course, who could forget Oh, and here's Anty!:

https://i.imgur.com/dalbGlB.jpeg

And... interesting interview with her HERE. It's in Castellano, so please hit the translate button.

Dans tous les cas, regarde:
https://www.bedetheque.com/auteur-6280-BD-Dautremer-Rebecca.html

One of the things I always loved about Treasure Island was how Stevenson here & there included little bits pertaining to 'The Pirate Code.' For example, what the "black spot" meant exactly, and how pirate democracy worked, anyway.

I feel that the two books comprising Republic of the Skull (200+ pages in all) do a fascinating job exploring in much greater depth how that all worked in terms of the early 1700's Caribbean and African Coast "golden age of piracy" period. Whilst meanwhile telling a damn good story, that is!

https://i.imgur.com/fxq9K6n.jpeg

Another fascinating thing I found in this work is that one of our protagonists was based on a real-life African Queen who really did command pirate fleets and conducted counter-wars against the Euros, i.e. Nzinga.

Now in our story, after the pirates met her with some skepticism initially, she proved to pretty much be a genius at language, tactics, and whatever else.

Which was in fact true to the person!
Seriously, it seems she was a sort of perfectly-audacious, 'Napoleon of the day.'

Right so, moving on-- it seems there was a special ceremony when it came to threats against 'our brothers and sisters' (i.e. the currently-serving pirates), in which real trials or mock-trials could occur. Here we have the start of one, for example:

https://i.imgur.com/JxRzdUR.jpeg

Primarily, it was a means of helping ones' mates deal with their looming, inevitable, early mortality.

Republic of the Skull covers literally 4x significant content as I'm attempting to bumble around via these haphazard words. In short, it's the very best pirate-themed BD I've ever read.

I really enjoyed this mashup of Medi / Ren styles, courtesy of "ColinArcArtPerson."

And another from this series:

https://i.imgur.com/mhm9M6k.jpeg

The artist "Colin" is on Tumblr, for starters:
https://www.tumblr.com/colinarcartperson

(from Les Schtroumpfs T4, L’œuf et les Schtroumpfs)

TAGS: Schtroumpf, Smurf, Peyo

Full title: Ballad against the enemies of France.

One of 18 illustrations he did for Ballades, a book of poems by François Villon. This immediately stood out to me because I've seen so little of Moebius' watercolor & marker work like this.

In fact the pieces as a whole distinctly remind me of major arcana tarot cards. (hmm, I wonder if anyone's had the chutzpah to try arranging such a deck out of his art?)

You can see more of these at the bottom:
https://www.vagabond-des-etoiles.com/arts/ballades-de-francois-villon-moebius/

This comes from the Conquistador series. As a huuuge Jean Dufaux fan, I'm embarrassed to say that so far I haven't gotten to it yet. :S

Still, tho:

Since their landing in America, Hernán Cortés and his army have been considered deities by the Aztec emperor Moctezuma. Unfortunately, Cortés has been working more for himself than for the distant crown of Spain for some time.

While he mounts a punitive expedition designed to remind others of their allegiance to him, Cortés also sends a motley group, mixing soldiers and mercenaries, to steal Moctezuma's priceless treasures.

That group of adventurers will soon be decimated by a mysterious entity which relentlessly pursues them in the jungle.

Are the enemy creatures mythical in nature, or simply human killers bent on vengeance? Perhaps one should not attack the ancestral and powerful Aztec legends with impunity… --BDT and Johnny

There are 4 tomes in all, listed & summarized here:
https://www.bedetheque.com/serie-32722-BD-Conquistador-Dufaux-Xavier.html

This comes from a fun, rollicking, 8-tome adventure series scripted by Alejandro Jodorowsky. The premise involves a boy born without arms & legs but with a fierce willpower, who finds ways to reverse some of his infirmities by going on various quests, which also tend to involve the fate of his very world. It's not as dark as some of Jodo's other stuff, reminding me more of the Arzach series.

Tragically, the artist (Arnaud Dombre) lost his life around the time the last book was being finished up, which was turned in to a rather fascinating memorial to him in the final pages, the likes of which I've never seen before. Some 'Blackadder & co. making their final push' type of energy, if that rings any bells.

A bit more on Arno here:
https://www.lambiek.net/artists/a/arno.htm

And on the complete series: (translate alert)
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Aventures_d%27Alef-Thau