Cadres noirs

A taut French political thriller from Rue de Sèvres, Cadres noirs adapts the novel by Pierre Lemaitre into a single, dense graphic novel. Published in 2022, the story follows a disgraced corporate executive who is blackmailed into committing an act of violence, exploring the dark intersections of power, class, and desperation. The adaptation is helmed by writer Sylvain Ricard and artist Olivier Martin, who translate Lemaitre's sharp social critique into stark, cinematic panels. This series matters as a potent example of the European bande dessinée tradition tackling contemporary socio-economic anxieties.