I don’t know how well-known the French series creator Robin Cousin is among comics aficionados here at home. For me, he is a new and interesting acquaintance. There are now two publications in Norwegian: a well-grown booklet and a book of just over 250 pages. The French originals were published in 2018 and 2019 respectively. Both go sharply into questions that for the reader almost feel more acute after reading Cousin’s stories. Thriller with goggles “Jean Melville’s profile” is a well-told thriller about Gary, employed in a reasonably successful detective agency. CABLE TAMPERING: …which our man Gary will look into. One day, the agency gets a new and very surprising client in the door: Jimini, the huge consulting company in the internet boom. They want Gary and his colleagues to investigate a sabotage that threatens the internet and its stability – including against cables that are laid from Europe across the Atlantic. Jimini has developed an app which, together with some revolutionary goggles, should be able to coach users to better lives as well as top performance in working life. Technology as a threat The reader quickly realizes that behind everything lurks threats of the totalitarian kind, against the integrity and free will of individuals – not least that lead-heavy financial interests are behind it. Jimini is happy to take over. GLASSES THAT CAN BE USED EVERYWHERE: Also in the entertainment industry. However, our detective Gary does not find it so easy to see these points, he is no longer interested in technology and thinks that work is work. It is different with the old friend and childhood friend, precisely Jean (Melville) from the booklet’s title. Where Gary is not aware of the dangers of technology, the clever programmer Jean is full of knowledge about the problem. He tries to get Gary to realize where he and everything is going, at first in vain, so the nice, old friendship cracks. OLD FRIENDS: But the investigation puts the friendship to the test. Simple and detailed Robin Cousins’ style in this booklet is simple. Thick, uncomplicated lines and almost banal facial expressions in the characters. But only almost. In stark contrast, we see the hologram-like messages that users receive in their online glasses, modern and stylishly drawn. So the reader understands the drawing – literally. Impeccably exciting, with dense and dramatic action, added to intersections where research ethics, greedy hi-tech capital and pure crime meet. But also good people and real friends. Like Jean and Gary. INFO DIRECTLY ON THE RETINA: The glasses provide ongoing information about everything happening around you. Nature loss and climate The second publication, “Billions of mirrors” takes the reader to a relatively near future where the world really stands on the edge of the cliff we are constantly warned against. Humans have used up most of the natural resources the earth had to offer. It is simply empty. The food shortage threatens – also in the prosperous parts of Europe. With the hope of saving the last specimens of extinct animal species (the vast majority), a kind of Noah’s park has been built. “NOAS PARK”: All fauna and flora in a giant greenhouse. A huge facility consumes enormous amounts of energy to simulate various biotopes under glass domes. Both desert and tundra, temperate forests and everything in between. But the energy is also used up. ESA, the European Space Agency, is sending up a billion small mirrors, which with the help of lasers will form a hypertelescope that can see large parts of space. CLOSE TO THE UNIVERSE: Billions of mirrors will reveal the possibility of small, green men. The hope is to find a habitable planet or several that can give hope for new places to be. Before it’s too late. Friends or Foes A small group, some call them a sect, believes in contact with people who left our planet a very long time ago. What if they are on track, what if the images from the hypertelescope of light phenomenon mean they are right? Or are hostile civilizations discovered? POSSIBLE HUMANS IN EXILE: On the huge gas planet Gamma Cephei, 45 light years away. Again, I have read an interesting and compelling narrative that, without moralism, touches on important issues with enormous potential for harm. Cousin’s simple drawing style in “Billions of mirrors” is recognizable from the first booklet. Perhaps it still seems more elaborate in the interaction between the people, in mimicry and movement. DISCOVERIES: The hypertelescope keeps finding habitable planets, but not everyone thinks it’s good news. Message over art? If there is anything to object to these two publications, both supported by Fritt ord and the Culture Council, it must be that the author’s message and idea have gained the upper hand to a slightly too great extent. Cousin’s first two series in Norwegian justify themselves by their political content, not by their artistic execution. Then it is liberating that Cousin has at the same time managed to steer clear of grandeur and moralism in his depiction of deep and threatening seriousness. news reviews Title: “Jean Melville’s profile” / “Billions of mirrors” Author: Robin Cousin Genre: Comics Publisher: Epic.no Translator: Trine Haaland Number of pages: 216 / 256 Date: October 2022 / December 2022 More about cartoons:
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“Jean Melville’s profile” and “Billions of mirrors” by Robin Cousin – news Culture and entertainment
