De Duistere Steden

Benoît Peeters and François Schuiten’s De Duistere Steden is a sprawling, decades-spanning series from Casterman that builds an alternate world of fantastical, architecturally obsessed city-states. Since 1983, each of its 15 issues explores a different metropolis—from the perpetual night of Brüsel to the frozen canals of Mylos—blending meticulous linework with philosophical mystery. The series matters as a landmark of European graphic literature, a slow-burning, interconnected epic where the cities themselves are the true characters.