Mattéo #3

Jean-Pierre Gibrat's Mattéo: Troisième Époque (Août 1936) arrives in 2013 as the third chapter of this richly painted French series, set against the charged summer of the Spanish Civil War era. The cover, entirely Gibrat's own work, draws you in with a sun-drenched outdoor gathering — a dark-haired young woman in a white hat at its center, flanked by a brooding man in the foreground and two older figures sharing an accordion in the background, the whole scene radiating the bittersweet warmth of a world on the edge of change. It's a masterclass in intimate, literary bande dessinée that reminds you why Gibrat's naturalistic draftsmanship and warm palette have earned him such devoted readers.