Comics / European Comics

Sillage Tome 12: Zone franche

By Hervé St-Louis
December 21, 2009 - 22:29

Nävis is the last human and accused of murder by the galaxy spanning sillage (wake), a convoy exploring space. As a human, she is the only intelligent organism whose mind cannot be read by any other sentient being or a mind scanner. Looking to interrogate Soimitt, the assassin responsible for tricking Nävis into committing murder, the heroine lands on planet that compels it inhabitants to tell the truth and to create a balanced ecosystem. Nävis attempts to gather important information from Soimitt, but the planet sensing that it cannot read her mind counter attacks.

I’ve only read volume (tome in French) six and seven which have been translated in English by NBM Publishing a few years ago, as well as other volumes. Yet even with the large gap, I still found myself enjoying this story with an over the top lady kick ass character. Reading this comic book just before watching Avatar, the film reminds me of how much some themes are universal and how it’s usually fun to portray humans as the odd men out. Here the planet has a group mind that’s similar to Avatar’s, but the locals are not 100% innocent, pure and good as in Avatar. There are layers of absurdity in the fact that they are compelled to tell the truth. Although living like monks, they still tell one another when they are annoyed with each other, which I found refreshing and a way to break clichés. Sillage is over the top and full of action, similar to Rick Remender’s Fear Agent, but with artwork!

Yes, Philippe Buchet is a great artist capable of drawing foreign creatures easily. He also inks and colour everything too, which adds more dimension to the whole project. I like how Nävis really looks like a feminine tom boy that could never be mistaken for a guy. All characters have cool mannerism and expressions which add to the over the top nature of the series. This series is a lot of fun and if you can find the earlier volumes in English by NBM, it will be a blast. Following later adventures may be more difficult, but this is the type of series where a strong universe of characters and situations are created and no need to have read everything before is needed to be hooked.

Rating: 9.5 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12