Umso schlimmer

Jean-Jacques Sempé’s Umso schlimmer is a single-issue comic published by Diogenes Verlag in 1978, collecting the beloved French artist’s characteristically gentle, wry observations of everyday life. Best known for his New Yorker covers and the Petit Nicolas series, Sempé here delivers a wordless or nearly wordless gallery of scenes—typically featuring his trademark eccentrics and dreamers—that capture small, absurd moments with warmth and a light, melancholic humor. As a standalone book from a major European publisher, it stands as a concise, charming showcase of Sempé’s unique visual storytelling and his influence on the modern comic strip.