On the condition and identity of modern man – review of the comic book “Days we do not know”

In the trap of the plot

The plot presented by Timothé Le Boucher in the comic book Ces Tours qou di disparaissent is extraordinary. The main character – Lubin Maréchal – lives life to the full. Despite the fact that he is not overly neat and resourceful, he remains in a promising male-female relationship, he realizes himself as an acrobat in a circus troupe, he has wonderful friends. We can perceive Lubin as a (extremely!) Happy man. Only sudden loss of consciousness change the protagonist’s life – he does not have to earn money or clean up (his alter ego does it for him ), but the acceptance of the other personality is difficult for him. The plot of the story is briefly summarized on the comic book cover divided into two parts – the graphic presents the characters who are on both sides of the world.

Change is inevitable

The comic was published by the comic book publishing house Non Stop Comics (founded by Sonia Draga), and its translator is Jakub Syty. This information is so important that the authors of the album deserve a round of applause! While reading, we observe that The Days We Don’t Know is not only a comic book, but a fictional story combining psychological, social and fantastic elements. It is a compilation of drama, soap opera and thriller. Something that the comic book world (I think) has not yet offered us.

Particularly noteworthy is the fact that the author constantly argues with the reader. It is true that the threads that intertwine in the comic are not revealing, and just like the emotions of the characters, they will not surprise the reader (the characters love, make friends, miss, regret, leave), but do not be confused by the apparent simplicity of the story, because the implementation of the idea Le Boucher is a real masterpiece! A well-written script draws you from the first pages of the comic, you can look at the illustrations (despite the noticeable simplicity) endlessly, and the ending? You will never forget it. Despite the fact that an attentive reader will surely notice a few graphic mishaps (the comic has almost two hundred pages!) And will probably deepen the translation of selected issues, he will most likely also succumb to the story being told. And he will drown without memory, keeping his fingers crossed for a happy ending.

What’s on the other side?

Reading a comic book will help the reader to answer questions that are somewhere in the subconscious – what if ?, and if I ?, for what ?. The created literary world is a fight, first of all, for oneself, extended for fifty years. During this time – and importantly – we look at the world only through the eyes of our protagonist, we do not know what the alter ego is doing if he does not tell us about it himself. We experience love with Lubin (attention! Comic book for 15+ readers) and we miss the old – maybe a bit monotonous, but our own – life of an acrobat. Comic book fans will surely be pleased that at the end of the album there are character designs with their detailed descriptions as well as unused graphics in a non-standard format. To sum up, the album Days that we do not knowit is a great gift idea, even though reading it may be overwhelming.