Fabien Vehlmann – författare

Five children wake up in a mysteriously deserted city. They must learn to survive-alone. Ivan, Leila, Camille, Terry, Dodzi. Five children who have never met each other, who live very different lives in a small city. Then, one day, they all wake up in their empty homes, walk out into empty streets and wander through the empty city...No adults, no other children; just the five of them eventually finding each other, and forced to band together to face the inevitable questions - and the dangers of a modern city suddenly emptied of its inhabitants.

Newly homeless, a group of fairies find themselves trying to adapt to their new life in the forest. As they dodge dangers from both without and within, optimistic Aurora steps forward to organize and help build a new community. Slowly, the world around them becomes more treacherous as petty rivalries and factions form. Beautiful Darkness became a bestseller and an instant classic when it was released in 2014. This paperback edition of the modern horror classic contains added material, preparatory sketches, and unused art. While Kerascoet mix gorgeous watercolors and spritely cartoon characters, Fabien Vehlmann takes the story into bleaker territory as the seasons change and the darkness descends. As with any great horror, there are moments of calm and jarring shocks while a looming dread hangs over the forest.

In the abandoned town, the children have established a new home and organised a life for themselves. As they prepare for a trip to other cities in an attempt to determine the extent of the phenomenon that saw everyone else vanish, they encounter and learn to deal with the problems of an existence without adults. Until one day a tall, knife-wielding figure appears, and their dream of finding someone else suddenly turns into a nightmare -

The five Campton children are travelling to neighbouring cities by bus, desperately looking for other living humans. All they find are deserted settlements, burned forests and packs of feral dogs...Until one day they discover an amusement park filled with kids, all found and gathered by Saul, the owner's son. A strange, authoritarian child who worships the park's great white shark, and whose arbitrary rules are not at all to the taste of the newcomers -

Over time, Zorglub has become a friend of Champignac, and is no longer the enemy of old. Yet when he comes to see the Count one morning, he uses his deadly Zorglwave on him - the infamous brain-scrambling ray. Two weeks later, Spirou and Fantasio receive a call for help from their old friend: apparently, there are monsters in Champignac! And when our two fearless adventurers reach the outskirts of the village, they are stopped by an Army blockade...

The time has come for war councils, as the elders of the First Families prepare the coming campaign against their enemies of the Last Families. They're still unsure about the leader they've chosen, though - Saul. In response, the latter continues to slide deeper into authoritarianism, and orders that the trials for switching families now be fought to the death. A cruel move that will only stoke the growing rebellion in Neosalem's population - one that Leila will spearhead...

Even as his friends seem finally on the verge of being reunited after all their adventures, the time has come for Dodzi to regain his freedom. He must first pass the test prepared by his kidnapper, the Mad Master: an obstacle course with, perhaps, at the end, his release. Except the young boy doesn't trust that deal, and plans to escape his own way. But nothing has prepared him for the extraordinary discoveries he's about to make...

The legendary adventures of reporters Spirou and Fantasio, their squirrel Spip, and Franquin's Marsupilami - 75 years of the finest comics tradition! The 20th title of a series as fundamental as Tintin. Sometime after their adventures in Attack of the Zordolts, Spirou, Fantasio and the Count of Champignac have nearly finished repairing the damage done by Zorglub's ridiculous plans. Until that morning when they wake up in what appears to be their bedrooms, except... on the moon! The moon, yes, where Zorglub - again - has built a massive laboratory. Unfortunately, the cost of such a construction is colossal, and the somewhat-reformed evil mastermind had to find financial backers...

Back from their adventures on Zorglub's lunar base, Spirou and Fantasio find themselves in a new pickle. Spirou Magazine is being sued for immorality and irresponsibility. The punitive damages bleed the coffers dry, and the two reporters have no choice but to sign a contract with an American corporation, the Viper, to bail the magazine out. But Spirou soon discovers that they've been tricked, and that in one stroke of the pen, he may have signed away his whole life!

Jean-Baptiste Poulain has been hired by the Baron of Brac to tutor his son. When the young teacher arrives on the island off the coast of Brittany, he's immediately struck by how much the population seems to both hate and fear their lord. Which doesn't stop the locals from going after the aristocrat's people. Jean-Baptiste is brutally attacked - just after Nolwenn, the baron's son, is found beaten to death...

The five children, now accompanied by several dissidents from the Clan of the Shark, have returned to Campton, where Ivan found some clues about the night of the Vanishing. One evening, as they are discussing the organisation of their new camp, the Master of Knives comes to ask for their help ...and collapses, gravely injured. Searching the city for what attacked him, the children are stunned to discover huge piles of objects covered in red paint -

Jean-Baptiste Poulain comes to Auvergne in central France to investigate the deaths of two young women. Both were killed one year apart in the same barbaric, ritual way, their bodies left near the Black Virgin Chapel ...and the day approaches when another victim could turn up. Unfortunately, he's going to have to struggle against the locals' superstitions, the hostility of the authorities, and the hatred all seem to direct at the neighbouring gypsies.

Sailors are known to see the devil in everything. Is that what haunts the decks of the Providence? Jean-Baptiste Poulain is back in Paris when the Countess of Almedia invites him to join her salon in Andalusia. Her offer is too good to refuse, and they're soon on their way to San Fernando by sea. During a storm, they narrowly avoid a collision with a drifting ship, the Providence. When they go aboard the derelict, all they find are corpses - and yet Jean-Baptiste is convinced he'd seen a survivor...

Isere, on the marchesof France.A regiment of dragoons enters a seemingly deserted village to find severalbadly mangled bodies and evidence of an attack by a wild animal. Survivorsspeak of a massive beast with almost human eyes, of a werewolf...The thing'strail leads over the border with the Duchy of Savoy, and the commander of thedragoons takes a small detachment, in civilian clothes, after it. With them is hiscousin: Jean-Baptiste Poulain...

Umberto Leone, a wealthy eccentric, dies in Egypt. In his will, he bequeaths enormous amounts of money to several perfect strangers-including Jean-Baptiste! Intrigued by such a curious inheritance, the young man decides to follow Leone's tracks and sails to Cairo, last destination of the late explorer. There, in the shadow of the pyramids, he will meet French expatriates with dubious motives, gold-crazed janissaries, mysterious holy men ...and above all the beautiful Dieneba...

It's a sad day for the Campton kids: they've just discovered Dodzi's lifeless body at the foot of a building, shot once in the chest. Convinced that whoever killed him must have come from the red zone - the no man's land marked out by the monkeys' cairns - Leila and Ivan decide to send an expedition there. But none of the children could possibly imagine what awaits them inside the zone, no more than what will happen back at the camp.

After the terrifying discovery of the monolith in thered zone, the children must now adapt to having Dodzi back among them -something they never expected. Problem is, Saul, too, is back, and the Clan ofthe Shark has relocated to Campton. While Ivan begins investigating the 15families that his father once mentioned, a territorial struggle begins betweenthe two groups - one that soon turns to open war. And Saul will stop at nothingto assert his authority.

The cold war between the Campton group and Saul's clan has finally erupted into open warfare, but the increasingly strange events that affect the abandoned city eventually silence even the most bellicose instincts: the red zone is sinking into the ground, and all of the children, regardless of their allegiance, are now trapped inside the 'lowlands'. Their only chance to get out is to work together - if it isn't already too late...

In the near future, a prototype of artificial intelligence-controlled robot joins an elite military Search & Rescue team. To prove himself, he'll have to demonstrate his skills and abilities... and his humanity. Intelligent Artificial Neuromechanoid... Ian. It's the name of the newest recruit in Team 21 of the SRS - the 'Special Rescue Section'. Ian is an android, impossible to tell from a human being with the naked eye, and his creators claim that he's controlled by a true artificial intelligence - capable of learning, adapting, and even of experiencing emotions. Not every member of the team is happy about their new partner, but their higher-ups aren t giving them a choice - and the mission comes first...

While the members of team 21 are enjoying a night off together in Los Angeles, a terrorist group manipulated by a nihilist billionaire triggers a bloody riot downtown. Ian and the other SRS agents are ordered to secure a highly exclusive mall and its wealthy customers - ignoring any danger to the rest of the population. A decision that is not at all to Ian's taste, as his programming is quite clear: help others.

Horrified at the memory of what he'd done during the Los Angeles riots, Ian tries to commit suicide. But his body turns out to be simply too durable. Injured but alive, he's taken in by the inhabitants of the city's slums. Meanwhile, the rest of team 21, along with Ian's creators, are summoned to the Pentagon where a rather unusual general orders them to help the American government locate the android... and destroy him!

A year has passed since the Los Angeles riots, but Ian is still being hunted by the Pentagon. Extremely hostile treatment by the media has also made him a favoured target of a majority of American citizens. Tracked down by an ambitious reporter, the android gets in touch with an eccentric billionaire who promises to tell him what the Nome is - that super-powerful artificial entity with whom he seems to have a mysterious bond... A merciless cascade of new revelations follows.

Captured by a mysterious army just as they escaped a Campton overrun with `zombie’ children, Dodzi’s group, along with what’s left of the Clan of the Shark, discover an entire civilisation, ruled over by children who have been in the In-Between-World for a long, long time. Strict rules, a caste system, bizarre superstitions... All new obstacles for the group to overcome – although Saul is being treated like a messiah. And over it all hangs the threat of the sinister Midnight Child...

In the arenas, the Campton kids have won their citizenship' of the In-Between-World's strange society. Now free to come and go as they please, they've left town for the mountains, following Dodzi without really knowing why. When the young boy explains to them that he is in fact trying to discover whether he is the herald of Evil - the Midnight Child - a violent dispute ensues. Meanwhile, hidden nearby, the soldiers of the First Families await an opportunity to attack...

Murdered by the First Families' war leader, Camille has finally shown her true nature: she is the Midnight-Child, the envoy of Evil! Her friends, however, don't know it yet, as they've all been scattered by accident or treachery. Leila, imprisoned by Neosalem's authorities. Dodzi, captured by their enemies of the Last Families. Ivan, presumed dead... Only Terry, the brat, has managed to escape along with the Master of Knives. Not the most conventional of teams!

While trying to escape an avalanche triggered by the killers of the First Families, Ivan drowned. Though this is a less permanent problem that it used to be for the children, Ivan 'returned' far from his friends, in a small village in Brittany where he used to holiday with his parents. There he lives alone, preparing for the long trip back to Neo-Salem. Until the day Camille, now revealed as the Midnight Child, pays him a terrifying visit, and the nightmare begins...