Les Z #1

Four armed men stand shoulder to shoulder against a darkened Paris skyline dominated by the Eiffel Tower, with a menorah symbol lending the series its distinctive identity — it's a striking opening image for this French-language thriller. Les Z #1: Sétif-Paris, created by Malka & Volante and published by 12 Bis in 2011, launches what promises to be a tense, historically charged saga rooted in the fraught corridor between Algeria and France. The confident, noir-inflected cover sets a mood of purpose and danger that should draw in any reader with a taste for European bande dessinée at its most atmospheric.