Aya de Yopougon #4

The fourth volume of Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie's warmly celebrated series transplants its story to a rain-soaked Paris, as the cover shows a man in a vivid red shirt clutching a green umbrella, flanked by two women in matching bold leopard-print outfits striding confidently down a glistening cobblestone street — the Eiffel Tower hazy in the grey distance behind them. Oubrerie's artwork captures that wonderful collision of West African color and Parisian atmosphere with real wit, the trio's expressions suggesting both determination and a touch of unease in unfamiliar territory. Published by Gallimard's Bayou imprint in 2008, this volume promises the same vibrant storytelling and richly observed characters that made this series such a standout of its era.