Animal Lecteur #1

Sergio Salma and Libon's Animal Lecteur arrives with a fittingly bookish sense of humor: the cover shows a wide-eyed, beleaguered fellow hauling a hand truck piled so high with labeled cardboard boxes — from publishers like Dupuis, Blénat, Le Lombard, Glénat, and more — that the stack curves and wobbles absurdly overhead. The subtitle Ça va cartonner! (roughly "It's going to be a smash — in boxes!") is a perfectly self-aware pun that sets the tone for this gag series celebrating the joys and chaos of comic book culture. Published by Dupuis in 2010, it's a warm, witty love letter to bande dessinée readers and the booksellers who survive the avalanche.