Ray Banana

Ray Banana, a stylish Franco-Belgian noir series launched by Carlsen in 1985, follows the titular detective through a retro-futuristic world of jazz, rain-slicked streets, and high-contrast shadows. Created primarily by writer Ann Descroix and artist Ted Benoît—whose sleek, ligne claire artwork defines the series’ elegant, melancholic tone—the single published issue stands as a cult artifact of European comics. Its blend of hard-boiled mystery and surreal, period-inflected design makes it a distinctive, if fleeting, gem for fans of sophisticated graphic storytelling.