French graphic novelist Ludovic Debeurme returns with the devastating sequel to his prize-winning graphic novel Lucille. While Lucille moves back in with her mother and Arthur serves time in prison for murder, directionless young Renée becomes obsessed with a married jazz musician twice her age. Balancing the grotesque and the graceful, Debeurme’s haunting border-less panels follow these three lost souls between dreams and reality, twining their stories together into a poignant and universal search for redemption.
renée Ludovic
Debeurme
“Do you love to be unsettled and shaken up by a book? Then you’ll love Renée… the artist’s sleek line wells up into the middle of the pure white page, unbound by boxes or balloons, and leaves no one— neither character nor reader—unstained.” —Le Monde “With tremendous graphic freedom, Debeurme depicts people who are trapped…wrapped up in the mystery of their internal drama.” —Livres Hebdo “Renée’s triple-voiced narrative is beautifully constructed, and proves Debeurme’s enduring talent for breaking the traditional boundaries of comics. Simply excellent.” —Citrouille “A very dark book that brilliantly depicts human misery. Many will not hesitate to rank it beside the American masters Charles Burns and Daniel Clowes.” —La République
Ludovic
Debeurme
LUDOVIC DEBEURME is a French graphic novelist and illustrator who was born in 1971. After studying fine art at the Sorbonne, he was first published in the anthology Comix 2000, followed by the acclaimed graphic novels Céfalus (2002) and Mes ailes d’homme (2003), the autobiographical story collection Ludologie (2003), and youth-oriented illustrated editions of the classics Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (2001), The Chancellor (2004), and Gargantua (2004). His breakthrough came in 2006 with the release of Lucille, which won the René Goscinny Prize and was named one of the 5 “Essential” graphic novels of the Angoulême International Comics Festival. He followed that success with Le grand autre (2007), Le lac aux Vélies (2009), Terra maxima (2010), Renée (2011), and Trois fils (2013). He continues to write, draw, and play guitar in Paris.
renée
“It’s been over a decade since the comic book was liberated to become the graphic novel, and Lucille is one of the most gorgeous examples … A simple and sensitive love story between two kids abandoned by life.” — Eric Libiot, L’Express
Named one of the year’s Essential Graphic Novels by ACBD (the French Association of Comics Critics).
$29 95
Renée by Ludovic Debeurme © 2011 Futuropolis (Paris, France) First English-language edition published by Top Shelf Productions PO Box 1282 Marietta, GA 30061-1282 USA Editor-in-Chief: Chris Staros Top Shelf Productions is an imprint of IDW Publishing, a division of Idea and Design Works, LLC. Offices: 2765 Truxtun Road, San Diego, CA 92106. Top Shelf Productions®, the Top Shelf logo, Idea and Design Works®, and the IDW logo are registered trademarks of Idea and Design Works, LLC. All Rights Reserved. With the exception of small excerpts of artwork used for review purposes, none of the contents of this publication may be reprinted without the permission of IDW Publishing. IDW Publishing does not read or accept unsolicited submissions of ideas, stories, or artwork. Visit our online catalog at www.topshelfcomix.com. Printed in Korea. 18
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Also available from Ludovic Debeurme and Top Shelf is the prequel to this book, Lucille.