La Survivante #1

Paul Gillon's striking 1985 cover sets an immediately arresting scene: a sensuous dark-haired woman tilts her head back against a warm red sky while a weathered, orange-toned robot stands close beside her — all of it set against a cityscape that looks unmistakably like a deserted Paris, obelisk and classical architecture looming in the background amid abandoned vehicles. The pairing of human vulnerability and mechanical presence against that eerily empty urban landscape signals something bold and provocative from one of French comics' most accomplished draftsmen. La Survivante promises a science-fiction story with real atmosphere, published by Albin Michel's L'Écho des Savanes imprint at a moment when European bande dessinée was pushing boundaries in every direction.