For this 8th volume of Liu Cixin's futures, Delcourt editions take us to a near future where the Third World War is about to be triggered between the O.T.Has.N and Russia. Led by Marka Stojanovic and Maza, Brouillage intégral is a very effective action story, an interesting but incomplete uchrony.
It's time, it's the right one
On the Smolensk front, the Russian army is on the verge of losing the war. Faced with the ultra-modern armies of the O.T.Has.Coming to the aid of the rightists, a secessionist party in eastern Russia, it suffered defeat after defeat. The road to Moscow is open and nothing seems to be able to prevent the surge of troops of the O.T.Has.N. In a last-ditch strategy, General Levchenko decided to jam the communications of the O.T.Has.N. But to permanently disrupt them and restore the balance of power, he must turn to his son, Micha, on a mission around Mercury in the Russian station Vechnny Buran. He proposes to use this station to cause a colossal solar storm at the risk of losing his own life. 
Full interference: a Tom Clancy side
This new installment in the series the futures of Liu Cixin projects us into a very modern war. The age of machines is underway and the human soldier must deal with the latest advances in technology: drones, telecommunications jamming. In a narrative that resonates with modern news, we follow a titanic conflict where the mass is counterbalanced by hyper-technicality. Thus the mechanical armies find themselves powerless in the face of the force of software. And in this futuristic narrative, the authors take a very realistic point of view. Despite the courage of its men and the mass of its equipment, Russia is overwhelmed. The forces of the O.T.Has.N, indeed, sweep everything. History thus conveys a very accurate image of the Russian army. A colossus with feet of clay that finally can only rely on the strength of numbers. A hypothesis that the news continues to confirm. This gives a procession of successful action scenes on the road to Moscow. 
A family history, a history of Russia
This album offers two stories in one, two levels of reading that reinforce the scope of the struggles that are told to us. It is first and foremost a family story centered on the notions of memory, inheritance and duty. Full jamming presents two generations of Russians. The one who lived through the fall of communism and the one who grew up afterwards. Despite the 20 years that separate them, these generations still share common values. But is it out of conviction, filial piety or fatalism? The hero's last words leave doubt. In the background, the authors paint a picture of Russia's last 30 years. The story reads like a mise en abyme where the reader discovers that the ashes of the Cold War are still hot. Nostalgia is in full swing in the minds of many Russians who remember the horrors of the Yeltsin years. Similarly, uchrony allows the authors to recall several traumas that still haunt the Russian soul: the specter of the civil war of the 1920s, the fear of the coup d'état like the abortive one of 1991. 
Integral blurring, an uneven political narrative
There remains one point on which this comic can disappoint: the geopolitical dimension. This is certainly due to the original work, written by a Chinese who therefore takes a critical look at the West. While it is interesting to take Russia's point of view, it is damaging to present it as a victim of an invasion of the O.T.Has.N. Indeed, the justification for this intervention is very light and for those who know the statutes of the O.T.Has.N, almost absurd. Never the O.T.Has.N would not intervene to support a nationalist coup in Russia. This weakness of the scenario is all the more damaging as the narrative undertakes to analyze the internal divisions of the O.T.Has.N by emphasizing, for example, the special place of the France. This is, in theory, an excellent turnaround. But the clumsy transposition in Russia of a conflict worthy of the 1950 Korean War makes these stakes very tenuous. If the fighting is demanding, we always remain circumspect about the real goals of this war. Brouillage intégral offers us a very beautiful action story. It is a pity that the geopolitical dimension, uchronic, is not up to these drawings. Find here the chronicle of the 5th volume of Liu Cixin's futures series
