Agrippine #2

Claire Bretécher's sharp, warm eye for teenage life is on full display in this Dargaud album, as the cover shows the blonde, spiky-haired Agrippine sprawled across a green park bench in supreme boredom — sneakers out, backpack dumped on the ground — while two other figures in animated red conversation hover nearby, utterly failing to disturb her magnificent indifference. Bretécher's line work captures adolescent ennui with remarkable affection, and Agrippine Prend Vapeur ("picks up steam") promises exactly the kind of wry, observational humor that makes this series such a pleasure. A fine 2008 entry in one of French-language comics' most endearing character studies.