Jean-Pierre Pécau

Back in prehistory, twin sisters Reka and Aker, and their brothers Dyo and Erlin, are each given a rune by the tribe’s shaman to safeguard the runes from an attack by a tribe of… Neanderthals? The Secret History follows the four, who are now immortal, through human history, their various struggles, between themselves and against others, and their attempts to direct human history toward their own ends. During the fourteenth century, William of Lecce is born, and proves to have similar powers… and becomes their enemy (although Dyo occasionally fights on his side). Later, the mythical city of Kor, located either in the Empty Quarter or another dimension, begins to influence human affairs. Pécau has done an extremely clever job of tying his story of secret magical combat by immortals into real history, but unfortunately the story skips about so much it’s often hard to figure out the actual narrative. This is not helped by Archaia’s decision to only translate and publish The Secret History and not the two pendant bandes dessinées, Arcanes majeur and Arcanes. They’re also some way behind – Volume 3, published last year, covers albums 15 to 20, but the series is actually currently up to 32. (Volume 3 was a recent purchase, incidentally, but I had to reread 1 and 2 before tackling it.) I suppose if I’m going to keep on reading bandes dessinées there’s little point in doing so in English – I should get the original French editions instead. Anyway, for all its faults I like The Secret History and plan to keep on reading it.… (more)

Zentak is a three-volume graphic novel set in a cyberpunk future, and La passe des Argonautes is the first volume. The main character is Tim Page, a netrunner and a former mercenary, who hired to steal a set of memory modules from a corporation, and who is aided by a competent female ronin called Blade.

The story has all the cyberpunk elements in place: hi-tech low-lifes, hackers, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, mega-corporations, and shady deals. Even William Gibson is named as a source of inspiration in the acknowledgements. Pécau's story is interesting but the pacing is slightly confusing at times. Def is a competent artist and he captures the milieu quite well. The colors would have benefited from a bit more elaborate approach, though.

This is a sturdy piece of cyberpunk science-fiction.… (more)