Weekly Treats! Lucille and Knight & Squire

 
So what will comfort us in the wilderness of a fabled fifth week? Well the publishers haven't left us hanging. Lucille (Top Shelf) is the first translated work from highly regarded Ludovic Debeurme. Originally released in 2006 it won the Renee Goscinny prize and the Youth Essential prize at the Angouleme International Comics Festival. It tells the story of Lucille and Arthur, two teenagers struggling with damaging legacies of their parents, who go travelling across Europe. Lucille's anxieties have manifested themselves as anorexia and Arthur's in OCD tendencies and from the sample pages it looks like Debeurme's simple, delicate lines and sparse, borderless storytelling beautifully capture the characters feelings of insubstantiality. The work itself however is substantial weighing in at over 500 pages making it closer in spirit to Bottomless Bellybutton or Blankets. 

The Publisher Weekly website has a 15 page sample (see here). If you're a review junkie then try the Top Shelf website for a collection of review links (see here).

But if you want something commmpleeeeetely different then I'd recommend a slice of Batman: Knight and Squire by Paul Cornell and Jimmy Broxton. It was made just for us with British cultural references and a nicely judged tone including a gear changing finale.

Which leads us nicely into the Weekly Treats. Casting my eye across the list I spy a few artists that I'm always happy to see: Gene Ha graces Flashpoint: Project Superman #1 (of 3), Jim Cheung on Avengers: Children's Crusade #6 and Arthur Adams on Ultimate X #5. There's also a slab of Grant Morrison on Batman Inc. #7 and in Flashpoint: Hal Jordon #1 (of 3) apparently never got the ring so let's hope he has something else to offer the superhero genre. Finally, recently previewed in an issue of Walking Dead is Witch Doctor #1 (of 4) the first title from Robert Kirkman's Image imprint (although not written by him). It's looking pretty and nasty and has it's own website (see here) to explore.