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Carthago: Origins #1-5
Carthago: Origins (Carthago Single Issues #6-10)
In the insatiable quest for natural resources, humans are searching further and deeper into the earth, threatening to unleash monsters thought to be long gone.
Twelve years have passed since Lou Melville and her mother discovered the ruins of an ancient underwater city with billionaire Feiersinger. Now the heiress to his fortune, Lou is leading a scientific expedition researching the megalodon. It’s clear the young woman has not lost her taste for exploration…but she is still unaware of her origins.
Twelve years have passed since Lou Melville and her mother discovered the ruins of an ancient underwater city with billionaire Feiersinger. Now the heiress to his fortune, Lou is leading a scientific expedition researching the megalodon. It’s clear the young woman has not lost her taste for exploration…but she is still unaware of her origins.
292 pages, Paperback
Published April 14, 2020
About the author
Christophe Bec
293 books51 followersChristophe Bec is the writer of over fifty graphic novels. His flagship series as a writer, Shrine, has sold several hundred thousand copies worldwide. He is also the author of the comics Prometheus, Carthago, Darkness, Bunker, and Aéropostale.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 31, 2023
[5/10]
The idiom "jumping the shark" is pejorative and is used to argue that a creative work or outlet appears to be making a stunt in a seemingly exhaustive attempt to generate elevated attention or publicity to something that was once perceived as popular, but is no longer. [source wikipedia]
I liked the original albums in the Carthago series, enough to continue with this second collection titled ‘Origins’, that nevertheless takes places a decade or so after the timeline of the first five issues.
Yet my return to the adventures of giant sharks, world cataclysms and deep sea explorations prompted me to look up that ‘jump the shark’ reference: this is one of the fastest ‘deep diving’ into disappointment in a comic series for me.
There are actually scenes here of giant sharks attacking submarines and helicopters, before we delve into yetis in Himalayas and submerged Atlantean metropolises, with the wisdom of the ages to be found only among Aboriginal tribes in Australia.
The issue is not with the graphic presentation, which maintains very high production values despite several changes in the artistic department. Most of my troubles come from the writing of Christopher Bec, who appears to have used all his best ideas in the first five issues, and is now retreading the same ground hoping some gratuitous nudity will mask his lack of inspiration and his increasingly chaotic plots.
So I will not do a synopsis of events in ‘Origins’ because I do not recommend starting the journey here, but with the first five books. There’s a lot of revisiting the setting of these initial issues, trying to explain events there but further confusing this reader with the whole randomness of the presentation.
The one important aspect of the ‘Origins’ run is the change of focus from the projects of the centenarian billionaire Feiersinger, sponsoring research into cryptozoology, to the perspective of the ‘shark whisperer’ Lou Melville, the grown-up little girl from the first issues that is now running the show, and the bigger role reserved for the secret sanctuary of the Atlanteans.
For what it’s worth, here are the titles of the albums included in the collection:
Heiress of the Carpathians
The Kamchatka Trench
Leviathan
The Centenarian’s Pact
The Infinite Abyss
The Carthago series is ongoing, but it has overstayed its welcome for me, especially after I tried the spinoff series ‘Carthago Adventures’ [2/10 stars], which I’m debating if it’s even worth mentioning as a cheap cash grab on the part of the authors.
The idiom "jumping the shark" is pejorative and is used to argue that a creative work or outlet appears to be making a stunt in a seemingly exhaustive attempt to generate elevated attention or publicity to something that was once perceived as popular, but is no longer. [source wikipedia]
I liked the original albums in the Carthago series, enough to continue with this second collection titled ‘Origins’, that nevertheless takes places a decade or so after the timeline of the first five issues.
Yet my return to the adventures of giant sharks, world cataclysms and deep sea explorations prompted me to look up that ‘jump the shark’ reference: this is one of the fastest ‘deep diving’ into disappointment in a comic series for me.
There are actually scenes here of giant sharks attacking submarines and helicopters, before we delve into yetis in Himalayas and submerged Atlantean metropolises, with the wisdom of the ages to be found only among Aboriginal tribes in Australia.
The issue is not with the graphic presentation, which maintains very high production values despite several changes in the artistic department. Most of my troubles come from the writing of Christopher Bec, who appears to have used all his best ideas in the first five issues, and is now retreading the same ground hoping some gratuitous nudity will mask his lack of inspiration and his increasingly chaotic plots.
So I will not do a synopsis of events in ‘Origins’ because I do not recommend starting the journey here, but with the first five books. There’s a lot of revisiting the setting of these initial issues, trying to explain events there but further confusing this reader with the whole randomness of the presentation.
The one important aspect of the ‘Origins’ run is the change of focus from the projects of the centenarian billionaire Feiersinger, sponsoring research into cryptozoology, to the perspective of the ‘shark whisperer’ Lou Melville, the grown-up little girl from the first issues that is now running the show, and the bigger role reserved for the secret sanctuary of the Atlanteans.
For what it’s worth, here are the titles of the albums included in the collection:
Heiress of the Carpathians
The Kamchatka Trench
Leviathan
The Centenarian’s Pact
The Infinite Abyss
The Carthago series is ongoing, but it has overstayed its welcome for me, especially after I tried the spinoff series ‘Carthago Adventures’ [2/10 stars], which I’m debating if it’s even worth mentioning as a cheap cash grab on the part of the authors.
October 12, 2020
A very dense and at times fascinating long-form addition to the Carthago series by Christophe Bec (author) and collaborators. It covers a very long arc from the mid-2000s to the current year and beyond, and panels show events traversing back and forth in time and taking many different characters’ viewpoints. Not for those who want to get into the Carthago universe for the first time - some prior knowledge is preferred. The collected volume contains Books 6-10, and explores the abyssal secrets from the first five books more thoroughly and provides some back stories for characters not fully fleshed out before. The issues at the bottom of the ocean finally come to light, and you may or may not like how they are explored. The ending doesn’t necessarily play out as I thought it would. Bec doesn’t stop himself from some very radical prognostications on where we are heading, either. Overall, a deep read-worthy tome, and fit for being in any Humanoids collector’s library.
March 4, 2023
Back in 2019, I read the first five album cycle of Carthago by writer Christophe Bec and artists Eric Henninot and Milan Jovanic, as well as the collected five album spin off series,
Carthago Adventures
, by Bec and two other writers, assisted by five different artists. And I enjoyed both volumes and the fictional world they create a lot, so I was very happy when I learned that the collected second cycle was out in English.
This time Bec is joined by artist Ennio Bufi, who fits nicely into the overall aesthetics of the series. The narrative is set quite a while after the first cycle, with assorted glimpses of past events (as previously in the series), and we find Lou Melville grown up and somewhat estranged from her mother, while still working with the megalodons on which the first cycle centred. But what really sets the narrative in motion is the "funeral" of Wolfgang Feiersinger, the Centenarian of the Capathians, who due to near death conditions has had himself cryogenically frozen, and Lou becoming his heiress.
Meanwhile, the megalodons, now out in the open, are showing changes in their behaviour, and Bec weaves narrative strands of the past into the present events, raising questions concerning aquatic civilisations, which were already strongly hinted at in the first cycle.
As a follow up to the first cycle (and the spin off series), I think the five albums collected in this volume do a very fine job. The ending felt like it at least partially let me down a little, and the coda – while undeniably interesting – perhaps stretching things a bit too much. But on the whole, I think Bec has crafted an impressive series throughout the ten albums of the main series and the five albums of the spin off series (two of which obviously were not crafted by Bec), and also built a world that is well worth visiting.
This time Bec is joined by artist Ennio Bufi, who fits nicely into the overall aesthetics of the series. The narrative is set quite a while after the first cycle, with assorted glimpses of past events (as previously in the series), and we find Lou Melville grown up and somewhat estranged from her mother, while still working with the megalodons on which the first cycle centred. But what really sets the narrative in motion is the "funeral" of Wolfgang Feiersinger, the Centenarian of the Capathians, who due to near death conditions has had himself cryogenically frozen, and Lou becoming his heiress.
Meanwhile, the megalodons, now out in the open, are showing changes in their behaviour, and Bec weaves narrative strands of the past into the present events, raising questions concerning aquatic civilisations, which were already strongly hinted at in the first cycle.
As a follow up to the first cycle (and the spin off series), I think the five albums collected in this volume do a very fine job. The ending felt like it at least partially let me down a little, and the coda – while undeniably interesting – perhaps stretching things a bit too much. But on the whole, I think Bec has crafted an impressive series throughout the ten albums of the main series and the five albums of the spin off series (two of which obviously were not crafted by Bec), and also built a world that is well worth visiting.
July 15, 2022
This is a review for Carthago 1-10. I am yet to read Carthago Short Stories hence my review is solely on Carthago Origins 1-10.
Carthago 1-5 issues were blast to read. The story managed me to hook me quite well and the characters were interesting as well as intriguing. I wanted to know more about them. The only thing I did not like was jumping between multiple places without it having a chance to develop and introduction of too many characters. I am told that is the way generally comics are written but I did not enjoy it. It felt as though there were multiple lose ends.
Carthago 6-10 issues were the most disappointing issues to read. The litany of complaints I have can go on and on. The format followed that of 1-5 but somehow it did not feel like it fit in these issues since characters were already established. There was no reason or rhyme to jump to 18th C colonial times when main plot was already underway. And this is just one example. Jumping from place to place did not stop until the very end.
The relationship between the characters which felt promising in the beginning just started to break at the seams. The main character of Kim all of a sudden felt to be the most irrational person ever when in fact throughout 1-5 she was a voice of reason. There were multiple personality changes like these for no apparent reason. Characters which had not appeared for 3-4 issues came back with full force without a solid reason, similarly certain characters vanished without any explanation.
Dialogues also felt out of place. At 1 instance, a building is on fire and police are stopping everyone approaching the building but when character says thats my house and my son is inside, police just calmly tell him "then its ok, you can go on". WHAT? The building is on fire and you let a civilian go inside? It just did not make any sense.
My biggest gripe is with how ending was handled. During life and death situations, characters are discussing relationships and other mundane stuff which felt jarring to read. Since early issue, Lou was established as an important character but the way her character arc played out was utterly disappointing.
All in all, according to me, the whole series needed strong editing. It had immense potential, the art, the illustrations are mind blowing. I can take each cover and make a poster of it. It is just that beautiful but handling of the story ruined it all.
Carthago 1-5 issues were blast to read. The story managed me to hook me quite well and the characters were interesting as well as intriguing. I wanted to know more about them. The only thing I did not like was jumping between multiple places without it having a chance to develop and introduction of too many characters. I am told that is the way generally comics are written but I did not enjoy it. It felt as though there were multiple lose ends.
Carthago 6-10 issues were the most disappointing issues to read. The litany of complaints I have can go on and on. The format followed that of 1-5 but somehow it did not feel like it fit in these issues since characters were already established. There was no reason or rhyme to jump to 18th C colonial times when main plot was already underway. And this is just one example. Jumping from place to place did not stop until the very end.
The relationship between the characters which felt promising in the beginning just started to break at the seams. The main character of Kim all of a sudden felt to be the most irrational person ever when in fact throughout 1-5 she was a voice of reason. There were multiple personality changes like these for no apparent reason. Characters which had not appeared for 3-4 issues came back with full force without a solid reason, similarly certain characters vanished without any explanation.
Dialogues also felt out of place. At 1 instance, a building is on fire and police are stopping everyone approaching the building but when character says thats my house and my son is inside, police just calmly tell him "then its ok, you can go on". WHAT? The building is on fire and you let a civilian go inside? It just did not make any sense.
My biggest gripe is with how ending was handled. During life and death situations, characters are discussing relationships and other mundane stuff which felt jarring to read. Since early issue, Lou was established as an important character but the way her character arc played out was utterly disappointing.
All in all, according to me, the whole series needed strong editing. It had immense potential, the art, the illustrations are mind blowing. I can take each cover and make a poster of it. It is just that beautiful but handling of the story ruined it all.
October 20, 2022
I requested "Carthago" from the library, and this is the book they found in the New Jersey library system - it's the second book in a series. So I haven't read the first part of Carthago, but I did enjoy this one a fair bit. It's got your basic conspiracy riff of the rich, self-centered, questionable-agenda old guy, the rugged, reliable adventurer, and the smart, determined young heroine - the characters are solid, but stock, but Bec and his collaborators do a nice job exploring the world of Carthago. It's the mysterious underwater world and the omnipresent megalodons that entice the reader. Also, three of five chapters are essentially an underwater rescue sequence, so there is a lot of room given to the challenges faced and the personal cost of survival. It's not an essential book, but it's a solid one. Oh, and the art's quite nice.
November 14, 2024
Complete and utter BS. This book jumps around more than a Tarantino movie. Time jumps happen constantly, but only half of them tell you what year it is, so it's very confusing. The dialogue is overly dramatic and exposition heavy. Normal people don't launch into a 5 minute explanation of something the group already knows. Apparently the world is ending, because unknown reasons, and Lou is the only one who can save it, because unknown reasons. All the megs are being called to an ancient underwater city because unknown reasons. Planes are falling from the sky, because unknown reasons. Kim gets stuck in a minisub and apparently dies. So much for having a heroic death. Lou makes it to the ancient city, meets ancient mermaids, and they somehow cancel the apocalypse, because unknown reasons. Are you detecting a trend yet? The old man cryogenicaly freezes himself, because unknown reasons. His brother who appears to be 70 years younger than him, implies there's more to their family than meets the eye, but that's never explained. London goes out into the frozen wilderness and witnesses multiple explosions but those are never explained. Lou's boyfriend is last seen getting the bends, but it's never explained if he survives. And the megs just disappear from the ocean. I cannot overstate how much I hated this book. It's like Lost, but with sharks, but still worse. Fuck this stupid book and fuck the author for wasting my time with it
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 27, 2024
The continuation of this series has a fall off in the story quality, sadly. Partly through having revealed most of the secrets very early, and also lacking the cryptozoology that was scattered more strongly throughout the previous half.
The story of Lou, the gilled little girl who can communicate with sea creatures, jumps to a quick resolution, building on the reveal of merpeople in the conclusion of the first half.
There is a lack of the suspense and mystery that drove the first half of the story, and the story spends an awfully long time resolving an undersea rescue. The writing really takes far too much from the story of ‘The Abyss’. And somehow Australian First Nations people are magical?
The art is still excellent, particularly with undersea life. The cover art is outstanding.
The story of Lou, the gilled little girl who can communicate with sea creatures, jumps to a quick resolution, building on the reveal of merpeople in the conclusion of the first half.
There is a lack of the suspense and mystery that drove the first half of the story, and the story spends an awfully long time resolving an undersea rescue. The writing really takes far too much from the story of ‘The Abyss’. And somehow Australian First Nations people are magical?
The art is still excellent, particularly with undersea life. The cover art is outstanding.
April 20, 2025
I randomly picked this up at the library without knowing anything about it or that there were actually issues #1-5 before this volume. While I'm sure the first set of issues would have provided more context, I was fully able to understand what was happening in this volume. My problems with this are more about how things felt jumpy (with respect to the timeline) and unfinished ideas. Flashbacks to earlier times are fine, but it's hard when so many happen seemingly out of nowhere. The pacing also felt odd in spots. Certain sections felt rushed with hints that we might come back to a plot point or something that a character said, but we never did. It seems like there might be side stories in this world, so maybe the goal was never for these final issues to be all encompassing.
January 22, 2024
Few loose ends (which are, perhaps, best left as they are), but that does not take away brilliance from stunning storytelling!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews