Régis Loisel

This is the kind of book that the regular North-American comics-reading audience is probably not used to. It is, however, the kind of tale that the BD (Bandes Desinees) reading audience is familiar with. It really makes me glad to be trilingual!

Marie is a widow who finds herself responsible for the General Store in a very small rural village of Quebec (Notre-Dame-des-Lacs). We watch as she attempts to pick up the pieces of her life after her husband dies and she's forced to take the lead in show more continuing to be the town's link to the bigger city. She seems to possess the only car in the village and takes her responsibility to heart as the demands of everyone begin to consume all her time. But, she doesn't seem to mind as it gives her purpose and she is the kind of person who wants to help.

I don't know how many people can relate to Marie's tale (be it directly or becomes of some still-living relatives) but considering the push of the local press when it was released, there is no doubt that are plenty of us out there.

It is a beautiful book both in execution and in context with characters (and a whole village, actually!) that come alive and become as real as the people you meet every day. It is a very moving tale of human nature, perseverance, and the ability to come together in difficult times.

Régis Loisel & Jean-Louis Tripp have created a truly wonderful book and I very much look forward to the subsequent volumes. show less

In this graphic novel, we follow a gruff heroic knight forced out of retirement and a beautiful warrior maiden with a temper as they search for the magical ingredients the maiden's sorceress-princess mother requires to stop the return of a despotic imprisoned god.

With an interesting tonal mix between the typical epic fantasy stakes, typical low fantasy character flaws and splashes of irreverent blue comedy, the story is rather engaging, even as it to some extent goes through the motions of show more the typical genre Quest. This is, however, greatly alleviated by the ending, which feels both surprising and inevitable at the same time.

What really sells one on this story, though, is of course the gorgeous artwork, which really gets a chance to shine in the huge page format this book has.

However, the English translation is unfortunately rather erratic, sometimes making it hard to know exactly what a character is referring to with a given statement, and I often had to pan back and forth between several panels to make proper sense of what was being said. If you can read it in the original French, I therefore suspect you'll get a much better experience.

But even with the translation's issues, I really enjoyed this, and would not hesitate to recommend it to any fans of epic fantasy who are looking for something pretty to read that is both tried and true, but also ever so slightly different. show less

The Men have come home from the woods and sure don't like what's happened to their village and to their women! Serge's true influence is felt as the differences between what the men expect daily life to be comes up against the genteel and warmth/ sophistication brought in by Serge. Those who've lived with him these hard winter months obviously understand him and appreciate what he's done for his community, but for the men, he is a venomous snake in their midst. A fracas only forces a show more division between the women and the working men and it takes an almost-tragedy to bring him back to the fold - just as he was leaving town!

An engaging and moving story, once again brought to life by two wonderful writer/ artists who continue to share the lives of these interesting and very real people in Notre-Dame-des-Lacs. The veracity of this village and village-life during the struggling years of the early 1900's is, again, a place you can easily immerse yourself in. It's not only a trip down a form of ancestral-memory-lane, but an historical retelling of situations so close to similar recent-day events, but with an execution of life long gone by.

This series is simply amazing and I am delighted to learn that they will be continuing it for a few more albums at the least! show less

In Notre-Dame-du-Lac, een gehucht in de Canadese provincie Quebec, draait het leven rond de dorpswinkel, de Magasin General. De beheerder daarvan, Felix Ducharme, is in het voorjaar overleden en zijn weduwe Marie zet zijn werk naar beste vermogen voort. In deze reeks vertelt Loisel over de kleine en grote gebeurtenissen in Notre-Dame-du-Lac, waar het bestaan zich afspeelt op het ritme van de seizoenen. Hij schildert het dorpsleven op een wijze die tegelijk nostalgisch en tijdloos is, met show more groot gevoel voor humor en oog voor stille tragiek. Een strip over schijnbaar alledaagse personages, maar weergaloos getekend en meeslepend verteld.
Het wel en wee van een dorpsgemeenschap in het Québec van de jaren 1920. Drie eerste delen van Magasin General van deze bejubelde bestseller met onvergetelijke personages. Door Loisel (Op zoek naar de tijdvogel, Peter Pan, De grote dode) en Tripp.

Bevat de volgende verhalen: Marie, Serge en De mannen. show less