Katanga #1

The opening volume of Katanga announces itself with striking confidence: a massive figure wearing a UN blue helmet looms in the foreground, machete in hand, while a silhouetted squad of soldiers marches across a sun-scorched African landscape below — the whole composition layered over what appears to be a vintage map of the Congo region. Writer Fabien Nury and artist Sylvain Vallée, the acclaimed team behind Il était une fois en France, bring that same cinematic intensity to this new thriller subtitled "Diamants," set against the turbulent backdrop of the Katanga secession era. Vallée's cover work alone — all brooding shadow and blood-red lettering — makes this Dargaud album an immediately compelling addition to any shelf of serious Franco-Belgian comics.