Cossé:Metax

The technological and economic success of the city-state of Ronin is based on Metax. However, for some time now, none can be found, and the reserves are running low. The stability of the kingdom is faltering. The police are investigating the mysterious killings of royal horses and suspect terrorist motives behind the act. Sabrina, the daughter of Ronin's chief engineer, is a member of a resistance group made up of children. Meanwhile, the king's right-hand man unleashes a power struggle from which no one can escape. What is Metax? A panacea, a commodity, a drug? Antoine Cossé keeps his readers guessing about what exactly this consumable is that dictates all transactions in his universe. His graphic novel is also delightfully unpredictable and remains wonderfully vague: a dark dystopia, a classic tragedy, a contemporary eco-parable, and a study of movement, architecture, color, and texture. Some pages invite readers to linger for minutes, thriving on contrasts, while in other sections, Cossé accelerates the reading pace to the limit. Metax remains surprising until the very last page.