Boca Nueva #2

The cover of Boca Nueva volume 2 — subtitled Salpètre — is an absolute feast for the eyes: a gun barrel doubles as a lens through which spills a densely imagined anthropomorphic city, crammed with neon signs, lanterns, café fronts, and a wonderfully chaotic cast of animal-people going about their nightly business. Down in the lower corner, a fox-like figure in tactical gear sprints away from a squawking green parrot, grounding the wide-world atmosphere in something delightfully personal and kinetic. Sylvain Almeida and Youness Benchaieb have crafted a visual world that feels genuinely alive, and this 2018 Casterman release makes it very clear that Boca Nueva has both the ambition and the wit to back it up.