Tell me a story... about the teens of the apocalypse
U4 - Jules by Pierre-Paul Renders
Publication date: January 7, 2022 (originally published in French)
Date read: April 26, 2022
A virus has wiped out almost everyone on Earth, leaving only teenagers left. No one knows why. Jules is left alone, except for a drug-addicted brother who he never sees anyway. That, and a message he got before the internet went down, to meet someone named Khronos and try to save the world.
There are four volumes of this comic - Jules, Koridwen, Stephane, and Yannis - that can be read in any order. The conclusion - supposedly called Khronos - should be read only after reading the first four. *I say “supposedly”, because it looks like it was called Contagion in the French release…
…Which brings us to the only issue with this series: only Jules is currently available in English. Hopefully if this issue is a success, the publisher will release the others soon. Fingers crossed.
This is an excellent post-apocalyptic comic. I liked seeing a mostly teen world, just for the sake of seeing what would happen. Had a very Lord of the Flies vibe - not because of the outcome (no spoilers here), but just the general tone.
Jules was a wonderful character to start with. He’s incredibly likable and also relatable. I see a lot of people acting just like he does in this type of hypothetical scenario. I thought a lot of the other characters that we meet along the way are also pretty well-developed and - important in the case of a comic - easily distinguishable.
Which also brings me to the artwork, which I thought was great. My initial impression was that it was a little simple, but as it went on, I came to absolutely love it. The details were there just where they needed to be. All of the characters were easy to tell apart, and I thought that the characters were really expressive. I don’t know if the same artist drew the French editions, but I really like the artwork done here.
As long as the whole set of comics are eventually released in English, then I highly recommend this one. I add this stipulation, because if this ends up being a standalone comic, it will not work and be incredibly frustrating, since it does end on a cliffhanger. Also, while I obviously haven’t read the others, I think that Jules seems like a great starting point, just due to his character. Really enjoyed this one, and I will definitely pick up the other issues when they are released in English.
Rating: 4/5 stars
Trigger warning: mass death, pandemic, images of corpses, kidnapping, murder, threatening a child, rape (mentioned), suicide (mentioned), death of a family member, drug use (mentioned)
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.
