Les Otages #[nn]

Set against the sweeping curve of a busy airport terminal, this Futuropolis album from 2012 opens with two travelers — a young fair-haired man and an older, shaven-headed companion — standing side by side with backpacks, a plane silhouetted in the sky above them. The easy camaraderie between the two figures, framed by the hum of fellow passengers and rolling luggage, immediately suggests a journey that carries far more weight than an ordinary departure. Created by Arnaud Floc'h and Christiane Germain from a story by Claude K. Dubois, Les Otages promises the kind of grounded, human-scaled tension that French-language bande dessinée does so well.