Discovery

Sanctuaire #2

by Xavier Dorison, Christophe Bec (Artist), Riccardo Crosa (Illustrator)

A Lovecraftian and claustrophobic SF thriller set under water. After receiving a distress call from another submarine off the Syrian coast, the crew of the USS Nebraska search a series of massive caverns, where they discover a 70-year-old shipwrecked Soviet sub, whose crew died under mysterious circumstances. While investigating this enigma, the Nebraska's away team discover a massive underground sanctum dedicated to Môt, the ancient Ugarit god of death. Now, the crew must find a way to escape the death god's prison without freeing him to wreak destruction upon the world.

Genres: Comics, Bande Dessinée, Graphic Novels, Horror, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

63 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2003

About the author

Xavier Dorison est né en 1972 à Paris et passe trois années en école de commerce, où il organise le festival BD des Grandes Écoles, puis travaille chez Barclays Corp. Dès 1997, il écrit le premier tome du Troisième Testament, série co-scénarisé et dessiné par Alex Alice qui remporte un succès immédiat. Il publie ensuite deux séries aux Humanoïdes Associés : Prophet avec Matthieu Lauffray et Sanctuaire avec Christophe Bec. Il co-scénarise, avec Fabien Nury, le film Brigades du Tigre, qui sera également adapté en bande dessinée aux éditions Glénat avec Jean-Yves Delitte au dessin. Il co-scénarise, toujours avec Fabien Nury, le western fantastique W.E.S.T. mis en image par Christian Rossi. Et lance début 2007 une fresque pirate : Long John Silver. En 2008, il crée la série Les Sentinelles et participe au projet XIII Mystery, en scénarisant l'album sur La Mangouste. En 2008 également, il écrit Le Syndrome d'Abel pour son comparse Marazano, de retour au dessin. En septembre 2010, il s’associe à nouveau avec Alex Alice et commence la publication de l’antésuite du Troisième Testament, intitulée Julius, toujours chez Glénat. En mars 2012, paraît chez Dargaud le premier tome d’Asgard, série dans l’univers des vikings, dessinée par Ralph Meyer. En 2013 paraîtra chez Glénat une série coécrite avec son frère Guillaume Dorison.

Reviews

[Mirnes Alispahić · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cinematic comic book. Claustrophobic atmosphere continues and tension grows as they descend into Lovecraftian madness.

P.S.

Bec is playing a bit so he's putting characters that resembles Hollywood actors which gives more cinematic feeling. There is Bruce Payne and Beau Bridges, but others are present as well. Still, Bec's drawing varies, as if two persons were drawing this series.

[M. P. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I definitely feel like the story is more Ridley Scott than Lovecraft, though I suppose I can see the latter somewhat in how the crew of USS Nebraska keeps having moments of extreme insanity that drive them to suicide and other desperate actions.

Most of the story is kind of Alien-esque, though, as the search team in the ruins is practically trapped in with an unknown horror, that's offing the members one by one. This likeness unfortunately takes down the suspense a lot, as everything's pretty much expected, and the ginormous insides of the ruins completely take away the claustrophobic feel of the first volume.

Despite all that it's still a decently enjoyable comic with cinematic progression, though. Might as well read the last volume as well.

[Shaun Stanley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sanctum Vol. 2 Discovery (Originally published as Sanctuaire #2) is written by Xavier Dorison with art by Cristophe Lee.

A research team has stopped responding to calls and a rescue team is dispatched and Nebraska crew members are coming down with rare diseases. Meanwhile, the Nebraska has suffered extensive damage and the crew is developing ways to save the ship.

I felt this volume greatly improved in the first and it helps tremendously that I know who is who now. The book continues to be a mix of horror, mystery, and adventure. I am really looking forward to see how this story ends!

[Clin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dans la lignée du tome 1 sur les dessins, dommage sur ce point la. Toujours un peu flou, parfois on a du mal à les différencier clairement. Sinon l'histoire reste prenante. Le suspense est présent.

[Jesse A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some improvement from Volume 1. Has the potential for a banger ending.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of the USS Nebraska continues: the sub has lost communication with the Alpha Team exploring the underwater ruins, the violence aboard the nuclear submarine has escalated as mistrust between the officers and the crew grows. And there is another problem, the undersea landscape shifts, causing damage to the Nebraska. Left with only a few minutes of power, escape seems impossible.

While the Captain leads a team searching for the lost sailors of Alpha Team, his XO hatches a plan for the officers to abandon the ship, and the crew, to a watery grave. Will he go through with this or try the Doctor's plan? What demons lie in wait for the undersea explorers?

[Jsaa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot felt like filler to me as in comparison to USS Nebraska #1. It made a turnaround at last 40% to keep engagement. Keep you wanting to read next one. But right now set for average 3.0 rating as a whole for entire Sanctum #1 - 3

[Damian Herde · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part 2 of this submarine adventure, where poor choices in volume 1 gave the inevitable result of it being trapped in a cavern. Now, due to their choices, the clock is ticking to escape the cavern before the submarine implodes.

The teams out exploring the sunken ruins are holding up their ability to leave, and more poor choices and weak leadership just keep making things worse. For the crew of the largest, state of the art submarine, they are wildly unprofessional.

The tagline stating this story is Lovecraftian was written by someone who doesn’t understand the term, as this series is not that. We get to see that there is something hostile in the ruins with them, but the reveal was not satisfying for me, as it’s built around standard Christian themes and imagery, with a human focus, rather than anything remotely cosmic horror (ie showing the insignificance and irrelevance of humanity).

I have the next volume, so will see if the writing improves.

[Carey Healy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second volume of this series does an excellent job at capitalizing on the ominous and suffocating atmosphere of the first volume. In volume 2 the submarine begins to fail as the crew is left with a wild shot to escape the horror.

The submarine's captain leaves the boat on a rescue mission, and by doing so, he leaves the crew of the USS Nebraska to unravel without his strong leadership. As much as I loved the captain's heroic choice, I can't help but think it will ultimately lead to more problems than it solves. This character action and those of others in the story help build the suspense established in the first volume. The selfishness, uncertainty, and fear of crew gradually spiral into madness. This works to further the Lovecraftian horror of the the series, and also to highlight the inspiringly heroic actions of a few crew members.

The art continues to be appropriately dark and oppressive. It compliments and propels the atmosphere established by the premise. During the second volume, I had less trouble distinguishing between the characters because their are fewer characters and the characters inhabit more diverse spaces. So my critiques on the first volume are very much solved here. The layouts, captions, and speech bubbles work to keep the plot moving and are mostly unintrusive to the experience. Unfortunately, as the effects of the horror become more visible, the tightness of the plot and pacing from the first volume begins to unravel. Overall, volume 2 is still excellent.

[Andy Hickman · Rating 4 out of 5]

#2 – “Simple. Lieutenant: Were the Russians trying to find something or .. DESTROY IT?” – June

Intense Lovecraft-ian US naval submarine on a supposed rescue mission finds themselves exploring an ancient submerged archaeological site. Sci-Fi (ish) horror with all the elements of a mysterious infectious ‘plague’. Lengthy and detailed and unique. ****

[Maria Dellaporta · Rating 4 out of 5]

#Readathon2021 - Graphic Novels // Maria Reads Youtube Channel

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Band 2 von Heiligtum intensiviert sich die bedrohliche Stimmung und die Besatzung des Außenbordteams und der USS Nebraska wird erheblich dezimiert. An genau an dieser Stelle beginnt es auch zu stören, dass die Charakte so schwer auseinander zu halten sind, und ich als Leserin nicht mitbekomme, wer Freund oder Feind ist. Immerhin gibt es mehr, beeindruckende, Bilder aus dem Inneren des Artefakts und dem, was es verbirgt.

[Brillosaurusrex · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tolle Zeichnungen, aber der Plot hat mich nicht gepackt und ich hatte Schwierigkeiten die hölzernen Charaktere auseinander zu halten.

[tivasyk · Rating 4 out of 5]

вельми цікаво.

[Stephen Theaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

More slow-motion submarine adventures from the writer of Carthago. (I read the English-language version.)

[Tristan · Rating 3 out of 5]

See volume one for comments.