Euro Comics You Need To Know About

During my time at the Annecy Animated Film Festival, I was exposed not only to European cartoons but comics as well. In my next series of articles, I’m highlighting which comics stood out.

Ekho by Christophe Arleston and Alessandro Barbucci (Sky Doll) is a beautifully drawn series about a heroine who explores a parallel reality that uses magic instead of tech. Each volume is set in a fantasy version of real locations like New York, Paris, and London. For fans of Barbucci’s lavishly drawn women, creatures, and environments, Ekho is a world you’ll definitely want to explore.

SOLO by Oscar Martin is not a Star Wars story. Solo looks like a Mad Max-style post-apocalyptic world combined with the aesthetics of Disney’s Robin Hood. Serious anthropomorphic stories appear to be more common in Europe than in the States. I’m always in favor of seeing the art of hand drawn animation to tell more mature stories.

Last Man by Bastien Vivès and Michaël Sanlaville looked at first like an unremarkable boxing comic. However, there is much more depth than meets the eye. Last Man is about a mysterious stranger who walks into a medieval town wearing modern clothes. In a world where everyone else is using magic and competing in gladiatorial combat, the stranger is able to win fights by using martial arts. Last Man‘s fast-paced action scenes, solid character writing, and suspenseful cliffhanger earned it an animated adaptation streaming now on VRV.

In Okko writer/artist, Hub combines samurai, exaggerated character designs, and fantasy adventure to create an epic for the ages. The title character, Okko, is a demon-slayer accompanied by a fisherman, a mask-wearing giant, and a monk who imbibes spirits to communicate with them.