Euro Comics: Reviews of Luisa, Now and Then and Green Almonds: Letters from Palestine - a podcast by Stergios Botzakis & Derek Royal

from 2018-08-31T12:29:18

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For their August show, Pascal and Derek look at two works whose creators may be largely unknown here in the states. They begin with Carole Maurel's Luisa, Now and Then, one of the first books published as part of Humanoids' new Life Drawn imprint. As the guys point out, this is a time-travel narrative where an individual confronts herself from another time. While this is a popular trope, Maurel gives it a different spin. Instead of time-traveling backwards, as found in most such narratives (e.g., Peggy Sue Got Married), in Luisa, Now and Thenthe movement is forward in time. This story is filled with intriguing scenarios, given the premise, and also a lot of humor. One could argue that it's one of the best introductions to the Life Drawn imprint.

Next, Derek and Pascal check out Green Almonds: Letters from Palestine, written and drawn by the sisters Anaële and Delphine Hermans (Lion Forge). This is an epistolary travelogue, the story of Anaële's 10-month stay in Bethlehem volunteering for a youth organization. She and Delphine corresponded during the Anaële's sojourn, and then Delphine used her sister's letters as a basis for her art. It's an intriguing concept, but as Pascal points out, there are potential problems in the visual representation, given the fact that the artist wasn't the one experiencing the time in Palestine and Israel. As a result, there are several unanswered questions imbedded in the narrative. There are various contexts that weren't addressed (apparently) in Anaële's original letters, so those are absent in the text.

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