Conquêtes #4

The fourth volume of Istin and Louis's ambitious sci-fi series brings the story to "Uranie," and the cover sets the scale immediately: a blue-haired pilot perches atop a massive, battle-worn combat mech whose red-eyed helmet glows with menace, while a fleet of warships streaks across an alien sky ringed by a giant planet and armored ground vehicles advance across the rust-colored terrain below. Stéphane Louis's linework — with colors by Eber Evangelista — gives the whole scene a sweeping, cinematic weight that makes the conflict feel genuinely planetary in scope. Published by Soleil's Anticipation imprint in 2019, this is science fiction bande dessinée doing exactly what the genre does best.