The first French superheroes of La Brigade Chimérique

Do you think superheroes were born between the buildings of Manhattan? Change your mind in The Chimeric Brigade with the true roots of superheroes.

Superheroes, the next Made in France?

The Chimeric Brigade was in 2009 precursor of another vision of the superhero and a series with crazy ambition. It takes place in Europe before the Second World War. Screenwriters Serge Lehman and Fabrice Colin showed that, from the smoke of deadly gases from the trenches, supermen had appeared to fight against by Dr. Mabuse and his allies. The Chimeric Brigade thus tells the story of the rise of Nazism and the perils leading up to the Second World War. But it is also a tribute to the popular culture of that time: the Nyctalope, Dr. Mabuse and Gog come from popular novels, the Blue Angel is from a film with Marlene Dietrich… A great success. But how can a dense series with such a fair ending have a sequel?

A revival today

Taking place nowadays in the Paris metro, the first pages disorient the regular reader. It doesn't matter for the new reader, captivated by the action when he sees a monstrous mutant coming out of a tunnel on the Quai des Arts et Métiers. This event, totally unprecedented at the time, led investigators into the archives. They called on Charles Dex, a specialist in scientific aberrations. Indeed, the paranormal is taught at the university under the name of the "hyperworld". Despised by university executives, Dex demonstrates that robots and creatures acted in secret during the Spanish Civil War and in Soviet Russia. However, everyone has forgotten about them. The forgetfulness of supermen is a metaphor for the current ignorance of ancient popular narratives. Caught up in the plot, it is only then that the reader sees these references. In The Chimerical Brigade, Lehman takes out a myth of Germanic folklore and then pays a touching tribute to Marvel comics. By opening the archives to the fall of the USSR, we find the link between facts hidden from the X-Files and the true evolutions of the world. A comic book fan thinks of Mike Mignola's masterful work of Hellboy. This passion for history would be totally disembodied without the strength of the characters. Charles Dex, a closet-up teacher and tender lover, is very aptly drawn. Hints of humor enrich the story like this waiter so Parisian in his arrogance.

A change of designer and publisher

In comparison with the original series of La Brigade chimérique, the cartoonist Stephane de Caneva succeeds Gess. Less influenced by Mignola, from Caneva is just as exciting. Removing the gutter, it plunges the reader into the action, made even more fluid by a varied layout. If a rat attack impresses, de Caneva is as accurate in human expressions as in the creation of a half-rat half-man creation. The large format does total justice to his talent. Colorist Lou brings a beautiful finishing touch to this volume. Started with Atalante editions, Ultime Renaissance is published by Delcourt who releases the big game. A very beautiful canvas cover taking up the design of the first volumes is covered by an equally successful flap. The volume is completed by an afterword by Serge Lehman. He explains how this sequel came about and then offers us a guide to the many references scattered throughout the story. Rather than offering several volumes, the publisher gathers the complete story into a single volume. The Chimeric Brigade showed through an action narrative that superheroes were born in Europe. This sequel is also successful in a different setting. We move on to today's world where investigators go back in time. If we find the organization by chapter and some characters, Ultimate Renaissance is totally accessible to new readers. So dive into the sources of heroes. You can find a chronicle of Tales of the Octopus also proposing to mix history and occultism on this link and an article on Dungeon, another series in full renaissance.