All right, today I have discovered a series of graphic novels that I thought would be a treat to read. Turned out, they are also a trip. And this is amazing.
Written by the French writer Benoît Peeters and drawn by the Belgian artist François Schuiten (ultimate francophone creative duo), these graphic novels (or comics, if you prefer this term - I personally do not) take place in a parallel universe, on a huge planet with one continent. In the first book we follow Franz who got a mission to find out what the fuck is happening in Samaris - a city quite far away from his native Xhystos. He is not the first to go, because other people sent there never returned.
If the annotation sounds good, please read it. If you can’t find the book, use this page - it is the first part of in-depth review from 2011 by Julius Darius and a piece of art in itself
Alas, spoilers, sorry, need to get it out of my chest. And no "click here to read", because it is my messy way of life. You are warned.
Mary Mother of Jesus, this was awesome!
First of all - architecture is a hallmark of entire world-building, visually and linguistically. For example, Xhystos - native city of Franz, is probably derived from architectural term xystus - a covered portico. This whole city is based on art nouveau/art deco at its finest which also concerns the societal mores of the applicable historical period. On the other hand, Samaris is not a city per se, but a simulacrum, a huge machine, that includes people performing same parts daily. Windows are walls, walls are breakable construction material, streets are the Golden ratio of sameness.
What happens to Franz is called "Samaris fever" - he ends up feeling strange and upon learning the "real" Samaris, escapes it only to find out, that his native city has gone far away in time. This fever describes the space-time confusion and I find it a genuinely complex and beautiful idea. The last thing we as readers see is a page from a book, where Samaris is pictured as an eye of a vortex - I bet you a chocolate bar, that this is a time-vortex and has something to do with a) the machine as the city, b) the size of the planet or c) something that will come up in later stories. Won’t be surprised if the authors found inspiration in Einstein’s relativity.
Another thing that struck me was Xhystos - it resembles Vienna of 19th century in terms of bureaucracy. It is a simulacrum itself, because after getting back with Franz (a very Viennese name by the way), we see that the Council - ruling body, are not real people, but cardboard figures, well, at least one we are shown, and it is not clear wether this is objective truth, or subjective hallucination of Franz. No wonder he founds it all vexing and leaves for Samaris again, saying he should have never left. Vortex.
I am sorry if it all sounds chaotic, but this story is just mind-blowing. I have read it in the original French just now and can’t wait to start the next book!