A last minute gift to find? Here are eight comics to give at Christmas

“Impenetrable”, sexuality differently

Let’s start with this year’s favorite 2024: Impenetrableby Alix Garin. In this thick autobiographical comic, the young author reveals her difficulties with sexuality and the medical wanderings she experienced so that a diagnosis could finally be made of her illness: vaginismus.

But don’t be fooled by appearances, Impenetrable is not the immodest story of a young millennial obsessed with sex. It is an intimate reflection around the injunctions to sexuality, and the initiatory journey of a young woman to make peace with her own body. Told with virtuosity, both in line and in narrative construction, Impenetrable is among the official selection of the Angoulême 2025 festival. No doubt: Alix Garin is one of the future big names in comics.

“Big Little Man,” a modern tale of masculinity

Standing at 1.57 (and a half) meters tall, Stanislas, a shoe salesman with fetishistic tendencies, is intimidated by women. He endures their indifference or their mockery, until the day he makes a wish over his favorite pair of shoes: to become a great man. The magic boots will grant his wish, but not quite in the way he hopes…

Shrunken to 11 centimeters, Stanislas will have to change his outlook on the world and on women to become a great man, a real one. Once again, Zanzim (already author of the magnificent Men’s skinFauve of high school students in 2021) reinvents the form of the tale to question the identity of a character who is more endearing than he seems. An initiatory story that is at once poetic, political and sensual, to be offered to all adults (and only to adults, certain scenes of voyeurism being equivocal to say the least).

“The price to pay”, love not phew

Take an essay, certainly fascinating, but not exactly sexy on the gender dynamics at work in the financial management of straight couples. Make it your own with Tiffany Cooper’s pop graphic style and a Barbie pink cover. Finally add a hefty dose of strong punchlines and characters that everyone can identify with. You will get The price to pay BD version, brilliant adaptation of the eponymous essay by Lucile Quillet.

Divided into three chapters (before, during and after the couple), the comic strip by Lucile Quillet and Tiffany Cooper dissects with great humor the hidden inequalities of the straight couple. A true financial education manual that doesn’t say its name, this book should slip into everyone’s hands, from your 20-year-old cousin who is moving in with her boyfriend to your great-uncle who has been married for fifty years.

“Battlefields”, the new investigation by Inès Léraud

If you liked Green algae, the forbidden storybest-selling comic strip adapted for cinema in 2023, you will definitely like Battlefieldsthe new comic book by Inès Léraud. The journalist specializing in investigations into the agricultural environment is this time looking at the consolidation of agricultural plots to the detriment of farmers, with her adopted Brittany as a starting point.

Started under the Vichy regime and accelerated after the war to modernize French agriculture, the destruction of bocages to form large plots suitable for tractors literally shaped the country’s landscape, leaving many farmers (and millions of horses taken to the slaughterhouse). “The number of farmers and agricultural workers increased from 7 million in 1946 to 3.8 million in 1962. It is the largest social plan that France has known”we learn in this comic strip illustrated by Pierre Van Hove.

Enriched with around forty pages of archives, this ultra-documented investigation reveals a part of our recent – ​​and yet little-known – history, the human and ecological consequences of which are still alive today.

“I, Fadi, the stolen brother”, the other “Arab of the future”

After six volumes of The Arab of the futureRiad Sattouf is launching a spin-off dedicated to the life of the youngest of his brothers. In this “autobiography of others” – which should consist of at least three volumes – we therefore discover one of the blind spots of the original series: the fate of the youngest of the siblings, Fadi, raised far from the rest of the family.

Kidnapped by his father at the age of 4 or 5, the little boy finds himself in Syria, where he must learn to speak the language, but also to master the customs, encouraged by an increasingly toxic father. With the great sensitivity that characterizes his work, Riad Sattouf once again delivers a comic book by a child author, which can be devoured in a few hours.

“Never give up – The Vendée Globe that defied all odds”, thriller on the high seas

If you have a loved one who is passionate about the current Vendée Globe, don’t hesitate for a second: give them Never give up – The Vendée Globe which defied all predictions by Alexandre Chenet and Renaud Garreta. Written from the radio exchanges of the 2020-2021 edition, which can be described as very eventful because of the sinking of Kevin Escoffier’s boat, this short comic book seduces with its narrative construction.

Almost hour by hour, we discover behind the scenes of this legendary solo race, following the strategies of different skippers. A sign of this narrative success, we are captivated by reading this thriller on the high seas, even when we know the outcome. As an epilogue, we discover a chapter devoted to the history of the Vendée Globe, another which introduces the participants of the 2024 edition, as well as the history of their respective boats. Not useless for following the current race.

Alexandre Chenet and Renaud Garreta

Dargaud

72 pages

16,50 euros

Published on October 18, 2024

“The unprecedented revolt”, animals in commando operation

Tired of being hunted, killed or abandoned by humans, animals decide to form the MEUTE, the Radical Action Committee for Animal Liberation (Jean-Louis the fox missed the acronym). Make videos on social networks, spray a work of art with ink, infiltrate a nuclear power plant to cut off the electricity… The MEUTE uses the means of action of environmental activists, with more or less success ( often less than more).

Cut into sketches, the comic strip by Guillaume Meurice and Sandrine Deloffre makes fun of the anxieties of reactionaries of all stripes, with hilarious punchlines and references to current events.

“Last meeting before the apocalypse”, the vitriolic world of work

President Macron announced it on TV: the apocalypse is coming tomorrow, 7 p.m. There is therefore one day left to honor the value of work, a pillar of our society. Head to the office, then, in Last meeting before the apocalypsea scathing comic strip by Karibou.

Between the employee who realizes his dream of parking in a space for the disabled, the suicidal person who postpones his project so as not to delay the metro (and therefore, the workers) and the employee who asks to bring forward the 5 p.m. meeting in order to be able to be on time for the immolation by fire planned with his family at 6:30 p.m., the characters sketched by Thierry Chavant are all more mediocre than the others. It’s impossible not to guess, in this acid and hilarious comic book, a critique of the capitalist world which does not question itself in the face of the climate crisis. The perfect gift for a Secret Santa at the office or for a fan of dark humor.