La Française #1

The opening volume of Carlos Trillo and Pablo Tunica's La Française sets a quietly arresting mood from its very first page. The cover places us inside a dimly lit, red-draped restaurant where a fair-haired young woman sits alone at a table, while a mysterious figure in a wide-brimmed hat occupies a shadowy corner in the background — two solitudes sharing the same hushed space. Tunica's atmospheric artwork gives this 2011 Delcourt release an immediate sense of intrigue and melancholy that draws you straight in.