Satania

by Fabien Vehlmann (Writer), Kerascoët (Illustrator), Joe Johnson (Translator)

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Charlotte—aka Charlie—a pretty redhead, sets up an expedition to find her brother. The young scientist, who disappeared underground several months ago, claimed, to everyone's astonishment, to be able to prove the existence of Hell by using Darwin's theory of evolution. The little group, led by Charlie, plunge underground in his pursuit. The deeper they progress into the entrails of our planet, the more they enter another world that hides other forms of life heretofore never experienced. The discovery changes them gradually in a way they cannot at first perceive…

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

128 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 26, 2016

About the author

Usually uses the pseudonym Vehlmann

Fabien Vehlmann est comme son héros : pétillant, engagé et plein d'humour.

Après avoir patiemment suivi les cours d'une école de commerce nantaise, Fabien Vehlmann réalise que sa voie est ailleurs. Bien décidé à se lancer dans la bande dessinée, il se consacre à l'écriture de manière intensive durant une année entière. Il empile les projets et inonde scrupuleusement la rédaction du journal Spirou. Sa ténacité est récompensée : il y fait ses débuts dans le courant de l'année 1998. Dans les pages du beau journal, il apprend son métier en scénarisant des animations, puis ses premières séries dont le fameux "Green Manor" avec Denis Bodart.

Curieux et enthousiaste, Vehlmann touche à tous les genres : humour, science-fiction, aventure, conte,... Il multiplie les collaborations avec des dessinateurs aux styles aussi divers que Matthieu Bonhomme ("Le Marquis d'Anaon"), Frantz Duchazeau ("Les Cinq conteurs de Bagdad") ou Bruno Gazzotti ("Seuls"). En 2006, il réalise une première aventure de Spirou et Fantasio avec Yoann : "Les Géants Pétrifiés". Quatre ans plus tard, les deux compères reprennent en main la destinée du plus célèbre héros des Editions Dupuis...

Les albums de Spirou qu'il emmènerait sur une île déserte : Le Nid des Marsupilamis, Le Voyageur du Mésozoïque et Virus.

Source: http://www.dupuis.com/catalogue/FR/au...

Reviews

[Shai · Rating 3 out of 5]

Satania is a graphic novel of Fabien Vehlmann that was first published in French on 2016. It is about the expedition of Father Monsore, Lavergne, Legoff, Michael, and Charlie underground to search for Charlie's brother Christopher who was missing for more than two months. Christopher had a theory that there is an ancient colonization that went underground, thus he decided to prove it and he still hasn't appeared since he left.

The story sort of reminds me of Verne's Journey To The Center of The Earth , but Satania is rather weirder because of the creatures they had encountered while going deeper on their journey. What's more peculiar is the copulation of Charlie and a demon while they were in Satania, and the hallucinations of Charlie that her mother was talking to her since they went underground.

As a whole, Satania is okay, but not that remarkable; the only notable thing that I can recall after reading this is that there's a probability that demons can love after all.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charlotte, or Charlie, wants to find her brother, who went on an expedition into the center of the Earth to find Hell, which he thinks exists based on his study of Darwin's theory of evolution. This is not elaborated on in the written narrative, which is really not elaborate in any respect, but it does provide what seems to be the real occasion for this book, an opportunity to imagine and enact a fantasy universe, not Hell but Satania. It's an adventure book, a trek with a group of quirky, smart people who encounter all manner of strange creatures and places. This is a 2 star story and a 5 star art project featuring cartoony characters and elaborate landscapes in a large book format.

For other work by these two see Beautiful Darkness. Kerascoet, the artist, also did Beauty, and Miss Don't Touch Me (set in a Paris twenties brothel), which in part might explain why the young Charlie must suddenly be topless for a portion of the book (because they are two young men collaborators, and because they can!). Nevertheless, the world-making in this book is visually impressive.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Journey to the Center of the Earth type story with a bit of existentialism thrown in. Gets really weird in places.

Received a review copy from nbm and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Tony Vacation · Rating 2 out of 5]

An uneven journey into the subterranean tropics of "hell," informed by Werner Herzog's philosophy toward nature, and rendered in small, unappealing panels that feature artwork reminiscent of Hergé on psychotropics. This reader counts Aguirre, the Wrath of God as one of his favorite films, but the attempts of other directors and artists to achieve something similar almost always fall on their faces, with the noticeable exceptions of Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West and Blacklung. Beautiful Darkness is a delightfully wicked deconstruction of the safety net beneath fairy tales that Disney has coddled viewers with for the past eighty years, but Satania suffers from a tedious first half before the drugs kick in and has the tiny drawings of our protagonists fleeing from horned baboons and behemoth lampreys. There is a nice freak-out scene briefly at the end, but the rest of this graphic novel is existential horror at its most ho-hum.

[fer · Rating 4 out of 5]

desconfortavel pra caralho de ler

[Nate D · Rating 4 out of 5]

The cover image here is perfect: a tiny, innocuous human figure lost in a grotesque yet beautiful underworld alive with horrible creatures. Don't be deterred by the lightness of the character design -- we're informed almost immediately that this is a spelunking expedition in search of hell itself, but the moral expectations that might accompany such a premise become swiftly unpredictable. It's essentially an adventure story, but also a coming-of-age set against a backdrop of natural and unnatural chaos, and towards the end becomes increasingly unexpected and borderline metaphysical, with a little Junji Ito thrown in for good measure. With the artwork and color becoming increasingly lurid the deeper the story descends.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Macabre. Unsettling. Gruesome.
I loved it.

My introduction when I reviewed Beautiful Darkness, also by Vehlmann and Kerascoët, had the above words and they prove true in this unique graphic novel too. At first glance, the storyline seems to be simply a dark fairy tale- yet, it goes deeper than that.

The story begins with a cave exploration gone wrong. Spelunker Christopher has gone missing, and the experienced guide and priest Father Monsore can not find him. Another recovery team sets out to find him including Christopher’s younger sister Charlotte. Monsure tries to save this group too when poor planning on smug team leader Lavergne’s part traps them in the cave and a spring flood pushes them deeper into the caverns.

Once the six characters are established, we find out the real reason for Christopher’s exploration- he was writing a book to prove the existence of Hell by using Darwin’s theory of evolution. Lavergne, a believer of Christopher’s theories, expounds further by explaining that perhaps Neanderthals moved into the cave’s depths and evolved to combat the heat, over thousands of years, to resemble demons of folklore.

Soon time begins to bend, and hallucinations occur for some of the team, so it’s hard to know if what they are experiencing or seeing is true. Some of the team disappear or go crazy and only three remain- Father Monsore, Charlotte and Lavergne. The three find some clues that Christopher might still be alive and they push deeper finding grotesque creatures and other-worldly landscapes. They encounter some demon-looking beasts, and one seems to take a liking to Charlotte. I will not spoil the end of what happens to everyone in the land of Satania, but the last few pages were perfectly disturbing.

The illustrations are lush and detailed with special attention to the subterranean landscapes. The world created is strange and lovely, with vivid coloring to help bring each part of Satania to life. The art is credited to Kerascoët, which is a pseudonym for the husband and wife team of Marie Pommepuy and Sébastien Cosset. These two have also worked with the writer Hubert to create the graphic novel Beauty. While their illustrations may seem suited for children’s tales, read further in and you will see why all their books are only meant for mature audiences.

If you like your fairy tales dark, pick up this book and the others by Kerascoët, to experience thought-provoking, haunting and allegorical tales.

This review can also be found on my blog: https://graphicnovelty2.com/2018/05/0...

[Maggie Gordon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Satania is a rehash of Journey to the Center of the Earth, but with more superfluous boobs. I usually adore books from this illustrator/writer combo, but this one felt underdeveloped and sexist. The story lacked substance. It touched on themes of humanity, but then did little with them. There are some great landscapes and imaginative worlds in these caves beneath the Earth, but there's also some really gross sexualisation of the main character. I kept wanting the story to say something profound, but it remained a golden age-esque speculative tale that added little to the genre than pretty art.

[~:The N:~ · Rating 1 out of 5]

What the hell did I just read? Weird, plotless, and didn’t make any sense.

1½ ⭐ for the illustration.

[Dev · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I did not realize this was the same person that did Beautiful Darkness, but now that I know that it definitely makes more sense ...in a way. I mean, I'm still not entirely sure what the point of the entire thing was but in the same way that I wasn't entirely sure what the point was in Beautiful Darkness so I guess at least it's consistent.

The plot was kind of confusing and weird to me, or maybe it just wasn't what I was looking for. At first it seemed like it was going to be a Journey to the Center of the Earth kind of thing but then it got all existentialist and completely lost me or else just had me rolling my eyes. Also I don't really like the way the people are drawn because I feel it just looks childish and reminds me of comics in the Sunday newspaper, but the landscapes and backgrounds were absolutely gorgeous once they got really far underground.

There were some good parts I guess, but overall I could have definitely skipped it.

[Steve Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kerascoët’s art is always above-average, but I prefer it tight like in Beauté. Here, it feels sommaire and, even with nice touches of organic inventiveness, a bit disappointing.

The story is fresh and unpredictable, but the message is nihilistic: we must have hopes and dreams in order to get us through hard times, but don’t kid yourself thinking they’ll come true. And if they do, they’ll be undermined in some horrific or depressing way. Anti-hollywoodienne for sure, but a bit bleak. Maybe it’s a non-striving, life-is-suffering sort of Buddhist message, but where is the transcendence?

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

An unsuccessful but interesting attempt to mash up evolution and theology, spelunking and a tour of hell, Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Dante's Inferno. I gave this a go because I was fascinated by the creators' previous work, Beautiful Darkness, one of the creepiest fairy tales I've ever read. But this phantasmagorical tour of an underworld that supposedly evolved over thousands of years and then inspired our vision of hell is just too odd, weird, perverse and pointless for me.

[CG.]

To be completely transparent— I don’t know what to say about such a crazy and disturbing graphic novel.



So I’ll just give you the quick tour instead:


In this tour through Hell, we will be visiting these stops:

Our first destination: Dread.

Then we’ll move onto: Discovery.

That will then lead to: Actual WTF-ERY.

…And our final stop will be: Madness.


Are you down for the ride?

[Alex Sarll]

A fabulous, grotesque and lurid vision of subterranean life, recalling A Voyage To Arcturus or Veins Of The Earth in its determined strangeness. Alas, there are people here too, many drawn in a caricature style which would be fine for an editorial cartoon but gets trying at length. Nor are their stories anything new, with the rivalry of science and religion, religion and desire all following well-worn paths (and desire in particular is present in that distinctly French fashion which may give even non-religious readers pause). Still, well worth a look just for its caverns and creatures.

(Netgalley ARC)

[Bogdan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice & colorful artwork, but the story it`s missing something.

[Dávid Novotný · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shock and surprise from Beautiful Darkness didn't repeated this time. Satania is strange subterranean adventure, which have some interesting ideas, but somehow is missing main idea. It was OK to read, but it didn't get me hooked up with excitement, and ending felt kind of a dull or empty. It was longer, and more chatty, and that didn't served it purpose very well.

[Mr. Cody · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haunting, just like I like em!

[Ed Erwin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this last year but forgot to rate it. Probably because I couldn't decide whether I like it a little or not at all. That seems to be a theme for me with Vehlmann's work.

[Molly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure I fully understood the plot of this particular graphic novel, but it was definitely interesting. A small party of adventurers works their way below the earth in an attempt to find a long-lost brother. Many strange inhabitants of the underworld - Satania - cause problems for our intrepid explorers. The ending provides an interesting twist, which I enjoyed, but I came away overall befuddled at the purpose of this story.

[Oneirosophos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Crazy plot, insane but astonishing art, goes nowhere, but fills you with many exciting and horrifying moments.

[Václav · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christoper wrote a book about evolution, how Homo neanderthalensis disappeared, hid underground, got evolved and created an advanced civilisation which visually resembles devils and hell. So he went to prove his thesis, believed this cave system Merlac Abyss called Hell's hole is the passage to "Hell". Two months later, Charlie joins the expedition to a vast cave system in searching for her lost brother. The unexpected flooding pushes them further underground, to an adventure full of surprising discoveries, action and thrill.
I really like exploration genre, space, undersea, forgotten civilisations and underground. everything. So Satania satisfies this in a perfect manner. An top of that, we have a mix of insanity, questioning human character, evolution, order (the idea about civilisation can't get evolved and organized without repetitive cycles is beautiful), morality and human subconsciousness. There is too much to explore - Christoper's motives, Charlie's confidence, the sanity of other party members and the wast underground - are Satanians real? And the discoveries are stunning. And kind of psychedelic too. The continuity of things - that they first discover the Thule, which is a major discovery and you realize that there is something beyond it. And then you discover the world underground, the huge organism, constantly in motion, crazy and so interesting.
Vehlmann and Kerascoët are a great combination, the story is catching, the world is splendid and there is extra philosophical touch to it. And the art - it's great. It looks kind of "for kids", but with added complexity and as the book progresses it became more and more complex, dark, psychedelic, fascinating. The principles in Satania are very similar like in The Beautiful Darkness and the art fits it perfectly. it gives you a feeling of "innocent", which is in distinct contrast with the story. I enjoyed this book very much and I can't think how it could be better, so it full score here.

[n · Rating 4 out of 5]

has much the same feel of beautiful darkness, somehow, and is, of course, gorgeous.

[Dylan Zucati · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful epic through hell itself. Just enough lore and mythos to hold interest without losing the driving force that takes you to the end. Escalation is the name of the game here and it continues on until the very last page.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am not a prude. Really I am not. I love the female body in all forms. But, what is it with European male cartoonist that they feel it is perfectly normal for women to shed their clothes and run around for half or more of the story almost completely naked? It throws me out of the story, as I wonder how they could be walking or running around barefoot, and bare chested.

Having gotten that off my chest (no pun intended), the story is ok. Charlie is trying to find her brother who has gone into the underworld to prove it exists. The first half of the story is her journey to find him, and all the people she takes with her, and meets along the way. The first half of the story she manages to keep her clothes on.

The story itself is ok. It just didn't draw me in, because although I cared about Charlie, I did not care about her brother, or any of the other people along the way, and then the story went off the rails and Charlie is in her undies, and the story went down hill from there.

Obviously not written for me. YMMV.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

[E J · Rating 3 out of 5]

A stilted, flimsy story that flopped HARD towards the end. There was no real drive to it, and little tension. The dialogue was clumsy and there was minimal exposition. At times it felt as though I'd accidentally skipped chunks even though I hadn't. Other times, the story DID skip chunks on purpose. I didn't care about a single one of the characters. They were all so two dimensional it hurt.
That being said, the art was gorgeous. I loved the creatures and the concept of the world was quite interesting. I'm not sure I needed Charlie- a very poorly established main character - to hook up with one of the beasts (were they actually beasts of hell? Who knows!). That was weird and the story could have done without it. But again, the art was really truly beautiful and I'll definitely thumb through it again. I enjoyed looking through it despite the story.

[Derek Royal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another intriguing journey with Vehlmann and Kerascoët. Their previous collaboration, Beautiful Darkness, was a wild and even a disturbing narrative. This one is even more so. It’s more dreamlike and psychological, with its underground journey metaphor. I’d even say the story is like a fervor dream in places, the turns are just that fantastical. It’s interesting how Vehlmann’s storytelling style with Kerascoët is so markedly different from his collaborations with other artists.

[Erik B.K.K. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like with Beautiful Darkness, Vehlmann and Kerascoët have created a beautiful and intriguing dark world, but Vehlmann fails to piece it all together in a good, satisfactory way. The drawings are awesome, but the story is lacking and too conceptual. And by now, Vehlmann's way of abruptly killing off characters has become same old same old. Satania entices the reader but fails to deliver. Too bad.

[Loz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful weird and never what you expect. Stunning art. Equal parts thought-provoking, gross, enlightening, and baffling.

[Alex E · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a sense of creepiness that purveys throughout this book that contrasts directly to the art. So while the characters look a bit cutesy and cartoony, the trials and adventures they go through are downright horrifying at times.

What starts as a "voyage to the center of the earth" type story - evolves into a walk through a subterranean environment that resembles what we know as hell. And while some members of the party take the literal approach, some take the scientific approach to explaining these strange places and weird beings. The book never exactly gives an answer one way or the other, but ultimately its more about adventure and the creepiness. Definitely the creepiness.

The art is really cool and a great juxtaposition to some of the things that occur in the book. In fact at times it heightens the terror as the characters keep their cartoon look, but start spiraling or succumbing to the effects of the cave/Hell. The high level of detail in the environment also adds to the tone of the book as the backgrounds are surreal and strange all at once.

I recommend this to anyone who like creepy but cutesy books. Its one of the better books of this type that I've read.

[Holly Blevins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bumped this up from 'okay' to 'liked it' because I enjoyed the plot, as well as the musings on evolution and the Satanians. However, I did find myself confused about the characters and their relationships with one another several times, and don't get me started on the fallacies (okay, okay, it's a graphic novel...but still.). It is definitely a page turner, and I certainly could not predict what would happen, but I'm not sure I would describe it as fun. It is unique and it passed the time in an entertaining way. Meh, maybe I should change my rating back to 'okay'...