Springtime in Chernobyl

Emmanuel Lepage’s Springtime in Chernobyl (IDW, 2019–present) is a graphic travelogue that blends memoir and reportage, documenting the artist’s own journey into the exclusion zone around the infamous nuclear disaster site. Through Lepage’s lush, painterly watercolors, the series captures the eerie beauty and lingering trauma of a landscape frozen in time, offering a contemplative and deeply personal exploration of memory, ecology, and human resilience. A single-issue work, it stands as a striking example of comics journalism, rooted in the creator’s firsthand experience and meticulous observation.