(W/A/CA) Olivier Schrauwen In 1947, the author's grandfather, Arsène Schrauwen, traveled across the ocean to a mysterious, dangerous jungle colony at the behest of his cousin. Together they would build something deemed impossible: a modern utopia in the wilderness — but not before Arsène falls in love with his cousin's wife, Marieke. Whether delirious from love or a fever-inducing jungle virus, Arsène's loosening grip on reality is mirrored by the graphic novel reader's uncertainty of what is imagined or real by Arsène. This first full-length graphic novel from the critically acclaimed Olivier Schrauwen is an engrossing, sometimes funny, slightly surreal and often beautiful narrative. Originally released in 2014, Arsène Schrauwen heralded the then largely-unknown-to-English readers Olivier Schrauwen as a major voice in international comics — a reputation that has only gained momentum over the ensuing decade with releases like 2024’s Sunday.

(W/A/CA) Olivier Schrauwen Sunday follows, over the course of one day, the stream of consciousness of a fictionalized version of the author?s cousin, Thibault. On the day of his girlfriend?s return from an extended trip, Thibault wakes up, does nothing, gets James Brown stuck in his head, drinks and smokes, grows paranoid about his relationship, struggles to compose text messages, and watches The Da Vinci Code, all the while avoiding anyone and everyone, descending deeper into his own thoughts and fears. Meanwhile, a former crush and another cousin of Thibault?s plan a surprise birthday for him, sending the external and internal on a collision course.Schrauwen?s brilliant comic timing and formal mastery transcends the quotidian nature of the plot. Through use of color, flashback and the dissonance between text and image, the ways in which Schrauwen layers a depiction of human consciousness as lines on paper are infused heavily with slapstick and white-knuckle tension and make for an exhilarating read and breathtaking use of the comics medium.