La guerre des autres #1

A striking image sets the tone perfectly: in the foreground, a man and a woman wade casually through shallow water, cigarettes in hand, their leisure standing in sharp, unsettling contrast to the soldiers and burning cityscape visible on the Beirut shoreline behind them. Bernard Boulad, Paul Bona, and Gaël Henry deliver Rumeurs sur Beyrouth — "Rumors on Beirut" — a French-language graphic novel that uses this collision of normalcy and conflict to frame its story of a city caught between everyday life and war. Published by La Boîte à Bulles in 2018, this is a compelling, atmospherically rich work that promises to explore Beirut from a deeply human vantage point.