Trylogia Nikopola #[3]

Enki Bilal's "Zimny równik" — the third volume in the Trylogia Nikopola, published by Egmont Polska in 2003 — arrives with a cover that draws you in immediately: a battle-worn man in checkered boxing gloves dominates the foreground, his bruised face set with grim determination, while behind him cluster a younger figure, a pale woman with stark makeup and a crimson emblem, and a weathered older man beneath the wing of what appears to be a dark bird, all framed by industrial silhouettes in a brooding sky. Bilal handles every line, ink, and color himself, and that total authorial control shows in the moody, painterly atmosphere that blends science fiction dread with deeply human weariness. A compelling capstone to one of European comics' most distinctively haunting trilogies.