Douce France #[nn]

A brooding industrial atmosphere radiates from this 2013 Futuropolis album, with Simon Rochepeau's painterly cover depicting a large, hard-hatted worker looming over a crowd of shadowy figures, while a lone man in a fedora and overcoat stands apart in the foreground — the tension between collective and individual rendered in striking rust-orange and slate-blue tones. Lionel Chouin and Simon Rochepeau together conjure a France that feels anything but "sweet," the title's gentle irony playing against imagery of labor, surveillance, and unease. A compelling Franco-Belgian graphic novel for readers drawn to socially charged storytelling with real visual atmosphere.