Azimut

Azimut #1-5

by Wilfrid Lupano, Jean-Baptiste Andreae (Illustrator), Tony Šercer (Translator)

Negdje u beskrajnom mnoštvu mogućih svjetova nalazi se jedan na kojem se više nego igdje drugdje zazire od starenja i njegova tragičnog ishoda: smrti.

No postoji li način da joj se umakne? Drugdje možda i ne, ali na ovom svijetu ta mogućnost nije posve isključena. Tako barem tvrdi stari profesor Aristid Uromil, koji na Času, svom brodu laboratoriju, proučava hirove vremena. Njegovo mišljenje dijeli lijepa Mania Ganza, koja je uvjerena da je vrijeme novac. Točnije, kovani novac! „Tlapnje!“ reći će neki. „Gluposti!“ reći će drugi.

U društvu pregršt fantastičnih likova, zakoračite na čudesno putovanje koje će vas povesti u eterna prostranstva mašte i u samo srce ljudskih egzistencijalnih briga...

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

256 pages, Hardcover

Published June 1, 2021

About the author

Wilfrid Lupano is a French comics writer. Born in Nantes, he spent most of his childhood in Pau. Growing up, he buried himself in his parents’ comics-book collection, and his wild imagination and interest in writing stems from a love of role-playing games.

As a young adult Lupano worked as a server to finance his studies in philosophy and English. With his friends and creative partners, Roland Pignault and Fred Campoy, he created the humorous western Little Big Joe, among other works.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine if Terry Gilliam made a movie of Alice in Wonderland. The book exhibits an odd quirkiness having to do with the passage of time in this bizarre world. The art is stunning, fully enveloping you in this screwball world.

[Labla · Rating 4 out of 5]

predivni crteži, ali pomalo zbrčkana, luckasta priča

[Ed Erwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is totally up my alley. Whimsical but dark. Like Alice in Wonderland, or the films of Terry Gilliam. A little steam-punk and a little circus clowns. The art is beautiful and works perfectly with the story.

I read this in individual volumes over the years, in the original French. I'm pleased that it finally made it into English and that my library has it on Hoopla.

(I purchased each of the original 5 volumes on the Comixology app, which is now defunct, as they first came out. I can read them via the Kindle app, but the experience is far inferior. Kindle will probably fix that someday, but for now, my original purchases are available only in a format inferior to what I originally bought.

Despite the current Comixology hiccup, I love digital comics. And many European comics are now quietly being translated in digital versions, due to the lower cost compared to making physical versions. This one also got a nice hardback, but that is rare for translations of older books.)

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bizarre French fantasy graphic novels are usually a thing I try to avoid, but I dared to take the risk here because I enjoyed Wilfrid Lupano's The Old Geezers. But once again I got burned.

There's sort of a story here about a beautiful con artist and thief seeking immortality in a world where the magnetic north pole has recently decided to go wandering off its fixed point. She attracts a retinue of helpers and besotted men as well as several people who wish to stop her. The story constantly meanders into nonsense that the back cover generously wants to compare to Lewis Carroll, but it falls well short of that mark. There are some nice pictures, many featuring buxom and/or leggy women, but not enough to make this anything but another reminder to stay well clear of French fantasy garbage.

[Zdravko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah, kakav divan mess. Predivan crtež, predivno i ludo zamišljen svijet i naravno, tipično francuski, zbrkana, nepovezana radnja. Da malo parafraziram Lupana: Ako vam se čini da vaši dani prolaze prebrzo i da ništa ne stignete obaviti, u vašem se vremenskom tkivu nalazi ovaj strip. Riječ je o istinski divnom davežu. U slučaju da izgubite pristup vlastitoj vremenskoj niti u kojoj imate dovoljno novca za kupovinu- i ona se nađe onkraj tanahne koprene koja obavija zbilju - u načelu je potrebno potražiti knjižnicu koja će vas kroz ovaj strip, u zamršenom obredu čitanja, presvući opnom vremena te će se vaš život vratiti u normalu.

[Life Couch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ovo bi lako mogao biti moj novi omiljeni strip! Prvi put da mi priča debelo nadmašuje crtež (koji je i dalje predivan) ❤️.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cool. But not good. Sure other people like this. But I'm not sure what they are thinking. Some of the art is good. But none of the characters are worth knowing and being in the same head space. And the arbitrariness of the plot was not a positive attribute. It was easy not to care about any of this.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well I was expecting something with over -the-top, European absurdiste sensibilities and this certainly fit the bill.

The story is basically just a delivery platform for the beautiful watercolour art, so I’ll overlook all the silliness and just say for the record it was an enjoyable journey.

[Mana · Rating 3 out of 5]

sakeaa kamaa. todella komee kuvitus, tosin vähän väsytti se että naiset on kaikki miessilmälle sopivasti kurvikkaita ja vähäpukeisia. tarina meni vahvasti yli hilseen.

[Travis · Rating 2 out of 5]

A disappointing mess with some nice artwork, a few interesting ideas, and plenty of casual sexism. There are all sorts of criticisms that I could write about it, why it doesn't work, but it isn't really worth the time and effort. The one consistent problem I would note is that all of the ins and outs of the story are only revealed to the reader; the characters in the story see only a small slice of what is going on, yet often act as though they have a more complete view of things.

[Ville-Markus Nevalainen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Azimut is a weird, weird, weird comic book. It's definitely not for everyone, at some point I wondered if it was even for me, but gosh darned if it isn't charming.

First things first: the art is breathtaking. Even if you did not enjoy the story, you could read the book for the art alone. It's evocative, beautiful and regularly breathtaking. It's one of the strongest aspects of the entire package, and it's made even more powerful by the fact that there are so many different things displayed here as the story keeps getting more and more... well, more.

In short, Azimut takes every peculiar, twisted, mindbending idea anyone's ever had and combines them all in one story. It's not only that it sound absolutely bonkers if you even try to summarize it, it's weird if you think even a bit about what you are reading. Ideas that would usually be their own novel are just minor details here: the north pole is gone and everyone is lost, mechanical birds bring eggs that give birth to freaks which are weird humanlike creatures but not really humans, there's a timesnatcher that eats the years you had and miniature people and god-like beings and mechanical gods and creatures that live off of other people suffering and this is all just scratching the surface.

Is this too much? Yeah. It usually is. There are stories that do this and fail miserably, the Batman story, The Last Knight on Earth, comes to mind just tries to be everything and ends up being nothing and it's hot garbage as nothing is explained and new elements are introduced faster than the previous ones are explained.

So I totally understand that for some, perhaps even for many, this is just bad. I thought so too at one point, but I'd be lying if I said that the story did not win me over. At one point, I begun to embrace the madness and accept that nothing would be explained too thoroughly and introducing new cuckoo ideas is the point of the story. Once I had learned this, I begun to love Azimut.

Even still, the last chapter does feel too abrupt and as such could've used even a few more pages to make the conclusion a bit more grandiose rather than just being an abrupt ending to all this madness.

[ツツ]

I liked the creatures and the world-building. The art was beautiful too, though can be male-gaze-y from time to time. I enjoyed reading it, especially piecing together how this world works from events and dialogues.
The ending was lousy and hasted. Everything was turned around in the protagonists’ favour in the last 7 pages, which probably wasn’t the biggest problem since the plot was flat throughout. Also, about one third into the book, one sidekick character just simply vanished.

[Mjhancock · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was weird. It reminded me a lot of the Incal, albeit with an ending that feels a little more definitive. Both are semi-cosmic, semi-fantasy, semi-science fiction stories, featuring characters that don't have much depth, and big ideas that are really cool, though maybe not explained in a straightforward way. (And both tend at least a little towards the sexually exploitative.) I was really rooting for one couple in particular, though sadly my ship did not come.

[Villain E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weird in the best way. Stunning ink and watercolor art.

In a surreal world, a scientist, an artist, an explorer, and the most beautiful woman in the world search for time and immortality. Gods, automatons, and clockwork creatures. Deserts, flying cities, the North Pole.

European sensibilities (i.e. might be mildly problematic for some folks). Most of the women are beautiful. Most of the men are hideous. The ending felt a little weak.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The artwork alone is worth the price of admission. The abstract Lewis Carroll landscape peppered with absurdity requires time to contemplate. Good thing it's on my bookcase awaiting another reading, where I can take my time turning pages slowly and marveling at the madness and the threads of a plot that both mocks and uplifts humanity.

[Emily R · Rating 1 out of 5]

Concept is similar to Alice in Wonderland: fantastical world with absurdities.
Giving one star because author’s sexism: females are frequently drawn in very exposing clothes while most males are ugly. Male gaze is constant as soon as the female character makes an appearance.

[Aziza Mehmoudzai · Rating 1 out of 5]

This made no
Sense

[jedioffsidetrap · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very strange & fabulous story with gorgeous art. Utterly creatively unique. The story is weird & wild, and I didn’t always follow but it was a lot of fun.

[Nix Kharon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really wasn't my cup of tea. There was not plot I found interesting enough, I really didn't like any characters.

[Joshua Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unashamed to say I have no idea what was going on for most of this book. That's just French fantasy comics

[Kim Gorman she-her · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful art and an engaging story. I'm looking forward to book #2!

[Ethan Aegon · Rating 4 out of 5]

J'ai été embarqué dès les premières pages (et même avant, dès l'encyclopédie). La proposition est ambitieuse, originale et d’une délicieuse absurdité. Le dessin est inventif et ébouriffant, les couleurs sont vives, le dépaysement total et le voyage depuis les jungles luxuriantes jusqu'aux glaces des pôles en passant par des cités dans les nuages, ennivrant. Chaque tome est un régal pour les yeux.

Sauf qu'un voyage se fait accompagné et il manque à cette série de Fantasy steam-punk des personnages auxquels croire et s'attacher. Prenons notre héroïne : que sait-on d'elle ? Quasi rien pendant deux tomes puis on découvre qu'elle a sacrifié des milliers de vies pour s'assurer une jeunesse éternelle. Elle affiche des remords mais ne cherchera jamais à abolir le pacte lié avec la banque du temps. Elle a sciemment embobiné et condamné à mort moult monarques (via la jalousie de l'arracheur de temps) mais refuse la proposition du baron pour accéder à la jeunesse éternelle. Alors que se repaitre de cri de douleur est finalement plus éthique que les provoquer ! Enfin on apprend que depuis le départ elle était amoureuse d'Eugène (ce qui a peu de sens car celui-ci est mortel). Bref, d'accord pour un monde absurde et loufoque mais il faut que les personnages aient une logique (ou alors ils sont des Chapeliers fous mais ce n'est pas le choix réalisé ici). On ne comprend pas non plus les motivations de la Maman, l'identité de l'arracheur de temps ou la conclusion de la dualité d'Aristide.

On a aussi une gestion étrange du rythme. Je n'ai aucun problème à consacrer quelques bulles au seul objectif de nous immerger dans un monde. Au contraire offrons nous ce luxe de cases inutiles scénaristiquement quand l'auteur a une telle inventivité dans les paysages et le bestiaire ! Oui sauf que les dialogues restent trop rares et l'action souvent trop détaillée. En cinq tomes on aurait aimé qu'il se passe davantage ou qu'on connaisse mieux nos personnages. Il aura si peu dit et impacté l'histoire qu'il est difficile d'éprouver de la peine lors de la mort du saugre costumier malgré l'incroyable beauté esthétique de son harakiri.

La série échoue aussi à maintenir sa cohérence scénaristique dans ce monde absurde via de petits arrangements parsemés tout au long des tomes : l'arracheur de temps ne rend visite au roi qu'après l'évasion de Manie (qui ne l'a jamais aimé) mais il ne visite Eugène qu'après que Manie lui ait avoué son amour, Manie est accusée d'avoir volé le pôle Nord alors que Polo suit l'explorateur, Polo est amoureux transis de Manie pendant 4 tomes puis devient subitement amoureux de la dame des sables, il croit alors la perdre et gèle le monde, perd la mémoire et retourne de lui-même au pôle Nord... C'est malheureusement le final qui devait tout rassembler qui est le plus abrupte et insatisfaisant tant il s'appuie sur un enchainement de Deus Ex Machina : l'albatros en sandale prend soudain parti et souffle dans les voiles de nos héros pour les sauver, l'apparition inopinée d'un anachrondada permet de se rendre où on le souhaite et le pacte avec la banque est simplement rompu en tuant l'émissaire arachnide...

Ma critique me surprend par sa négativité mais elle tient surtout de la déception de ne pas avoir assisté au chef d'œuvre que j'anticipai. Je ne regrette absolument pas ma lecture et y ai pris beaucoup de plaisir. Merci à leurs créateurs.
J'en retiens un dessin d'une rare beauté, un bestiaire inventif, un petit goût de Capes et de Crocs, de l'humour (le fenouil, nous sommes au creux de la vague, le monde qui part en cacahouète) et des idées géniales : la personnification du pôle Nord, les saugres, la blague du cannibale, les dieux créés : objet de la raison et non du hasard, les reflets prisonnier de l'eau, le peuple nain obsédé par les prothèses en porte jartelle, le baron en noir et blanc et enfin une citation : "le principal moteur de l’âme humaine, ce n’est pas le succès des uns, c’est l’échec des autres".