L'Homme de l'année #9

Set against the smoldering amber glow of a 19th-century harbor, this 2015 Delcourt entry in the L'Homme de l'année series drops us into the pivotal year of 1848. A lone silhouetted figure in a top hat and long coat stands on the cobblestones, cane in hand, with tall-masted ships and a red-flagged vessel looming in the atmospheric dusk behind him — the subtitle "L'homme qui publia le Manifeste du Parti Communiste" leaving little doubt about the charged historical ground Jean-Pierre Pécau and Benoît Dellac are exploring. The cover art by Manchu and Fred Blanchard masterfully frames this shadowy protagonist against a world on the edge of transformation.