Comixology publishes a group of titles from Delcourt, a French publishing house. Each week, The Beat checks out these series and tells you about what you should be reading. This week features a pair of light military stories in the Delcourt roster that are concluding their first two-issues arcs. Without further ado, we welcome you to enter the world of international comic books:
Husk #2: Monkey Brain 2/2
Writer: Frédéric L’Homme
Translator: Stéphanie Logan
Artist: Arnaud Boudoiron
Colorists: Kness & Arnaud Boudoiron
In the near future, the Arnold company makes “Husks”, biomechanical entities five meters high that provide an anatomical continuation of the body of their pilot.
The new biomeca “M5” Husk is the result of the exceptional efforts deployed by the engineers of Arnold to satisfy all requirements; on all grounds, for military operations, maintenance of law and order, extreme rescue, or for space exploration, the new Arnold “M5” excels in all situations!
The first comic today is Husk, a tale where biotech suits are all the rage, built for both the private and public sectors of the world. Sarah, the protagonist of the story, utilizes the Husk for the police. The story is written by Frederic L’Homme and contains art from Arnaud Boudoiron. The first installment set the groundwork for L’Homme to explore the true intentions behind the parent company of the Husks, which he does in this chapter. The robot designs created by Boudoiron are unique and arresting, as is the backgrounds and color work from the creators. This title looks to be riffing on stories like Akira or Neon Genesis Evangelion, and readers can feel the heavy Japanese influence within the story. The subject matter is bleak, drawing further comparisons between Husk and the aforementioned anime.
Iron Squad #2: Red Commando 2/2
Writer: Jean-Luc Sala
Translator: Studio Charon
Artist: Ronan Toulhoat
On the Eastern front, as the last resistance of the Red Army falters, General Joukov gathers together the Red Commandos in order to save Moscow from the approaching Nazi threat.
In their mechanized armor, the greatest heroes of the Red Army participate in a last chance operation, to take hold of the greatest Nazi Mekapanzer and turn it against the German army!
But within the Red Commando members, Joukov has made an error by including Nia, a passionate and idealist pilot, and a fanatical political Komissar with a rough approach to leadership. They are going to have to learn to fight side by side or… die!
Iron Squad is a comic book that takes place in an alternate history where the Nazi’s have discovered how to make large mech suits. Does that sound distressing to you? Like Husk, this comic book re-imagines some of the elements of Japanese stories such as Akira and Evangelion. The tale is co-created and written by Jean-Luc Sala with art from Ronan Toulhoat. The art from Toulhoat is something to behold within the tale, as the visceral action of movement is perfectly captured within each page. His stylish usage of the medium will remind American comics readers of X-Men artist Chris Bachalo, as will his slapdash approach to finding the most interesting angle to tell the story from. One last thing about the story, it all takes place in 1944!
