Les croques #2

The cover of Les Croques #2 — subtitled Oiseaux de malheur — immediately draws the eye to two small backpack-wearing children dwarfed by enormous, unsettling shadows that stretch across the ground around them: the silhouettes of looming figures, a circling bird, and what appears to be an airplane cast long and ominous shapes across an otherwise pale, leaf-scattered landscape. Léa Mazé's artwork is quietly atmospheric, using this striking contrast between the tiny, vulnerable protagonists and the oppressive shadows overhead to build a sense of adventure tinged with foreboding. A wonderful entry in this French series from Les Éditions de la Gouttière, it promises the kind of thoughtful, beautifully illustrated storytelling that makes European all-ages comics so compelling.