3oneseven

Enki Bilal’s stories are set in a magically orientated but realistic future after the Yugoslavian civil wars, giving Bilal the perfect setting against which to illustrate his fears. He further reinforces his views by his dark and shadowy style of drawing, in which color features largely for evoking emotions. The result of Enki Bilal’s efforts is a growing catalog of intense and atmospheric graphic novels.
An article from the New York Times reveals his storylines as a decadent dystopia, overwhelming and baroque, inspired by directors like Andrei Tarkovsky of Solaris. His plotting is dense, unpredictable, and really repays close attention. There is also a dark, absurdist humour, from the freakish make-up of politicians and the stripped alien cat Gogol to the world chess-boxing championships.