If the country where the action is located T’zée is imaginary, the resemblances with Mobutu’s Zaire are numerous. The military leader at the head of the country, T’zée in person, adopts outfits reminiscent of those of the Congolese marshal, while a wrestler dressed in the costume of a Western settler calls himself the Belgian police and the sets, the role of the river , the traditional costumes, are constantly thinking of the DRC. However, this album is anything but a key story where you have to recognize the protagonists to grasp the secret meaning of the story. On the contrary, nothing is clearer than this very dark fable, where the head of state is suddenly put out of harm’s way and those around him are condemned either to flee or to seize power.
In this climate of civil war, several protagonists will have to make major choices, at the risk of their own lives and those close to them: Hippolyte, the son of the former dictator, calm, intellectual, rational; Bobbi, the latest wife of T’zée, a model of Angolan origin, who grants immense power to witchcraft; Walid, almost Lebanese, but not quite, trafficker in everything and everything else… Then other colorful characters, like Papa Mokawenza 1er, king of the undermining and a few anthology wrestlers.
Caste struggle
Combining in its five acts and in a skilful arrangement the political terrain, black magic, popular culture and financial issues, Appollo weaves an epic tale where the supernatural and violence are the two avenues humans use to overcome their own helplessness. In this crumbling dictatorship, fear is perhaps an even more powerful engine than greed: when the chessboard is reversed, it is too late to win the game, the only strategy that pays off is to run in line straight to the nearest border. If it’s not already much too late… Because the hour of reckoning has come.
For the imagery of this colossal project (provided that the corrector does not change to…colonial) Brüno deploys the graphic treasures he has amassed during his career as a cartoonist. Never have the black flat tints that he cherishes more than anything been so effective in making the atmosphere heavy and the tension moist at the same time. The night scenes are numerous, the faces are filled with shadows and the dreams happen at the bottom of the water. As much surface of boxes as the black comes to invade without the slightest nuance. The coloring of Laurence Croix further sublimates the rounded designs, which often recall the alternation of black lines and spots on light leopard fur and zebra skin.
In the same way that the figures are intoxicated by their extraordinary stature, so close to power that they can burst into flames at any moment, readers are captivated by the purity of these magnificent and striking images, which tell of the violence, the rout and carnage. A very, very good album.
