Messara #1

A young woman in a simple white dress stands at the center of this beautifully rendered cover, her calm, direct gaze drawing you in immediately — behind her, an ancient Mediterranean fresco comes alive with painted monkeys, birds, and flowering reeds, while ceramic vessels of every size surround her in the foreground. Writer Philippe Bonifay and artist Jacques Terpant launch the Messara series with this first volume, "De Egyptische," published in 2019 by Silvester, and Terpant's lush, painterly linework already signals a story steeped in antiquity and atmosphere. If you have any affection for historically grounded European comics with gorgeous visual world-building, this opener deserves a place on your shelf.