French comics, amirite?

Jordi Lefebre and illustrator Clemence Sapin published Always Never in 2020 before Dark Horse Books published in in the States in 2022. It ended up on my radar as an Eisner nominee for best US edition of international material and I discovered Hoopla had it in their collection.

It’s a story told in rewind– the graphic novel starts on chapter 20 and works its way back to 1 as it unfurls a lifetime of connection between Ana and Zeno, now grey-haired linked arm and arm talking about a bridge with flirtation in their eyes and light teasing in their words. The story of these two begin with the end which is an enticing place to start as it sets up a slight mystery that can only truly be unraveled by getting to the beginning.

What took my breath away first was the style of the art from the layout of the panels on each page including the movement whether scene to scene or moment to moment. Selfishly, I also want Ana’s wardrobe, so any scene that included her in it, I was ogling her clothes and how she wore them in attitude and style.

Second, the emotional edge that Lefebre plays with is as universal as it is individual. Ana and Zeno will be judged but with they be sympathized with too?

Third, the secondary characters whether it be the three sisters that sit outside the bookstore to Giuseppe have a three-dimensionality as vivid as the two protagonists Ana and Zeno.

I could gush more, but it’s best just to savor it yourself. I’ll be sitting here drinking my tea, planning a trip to a botanical garden looking for a bridge to cross and setting aside time to set sail on the high seas in a power skirt suit complete with a scarf wrapped around my neck.