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Le Sommeil du monstre #1-3
The Beast Trilogy
From the writter/director of the upcoming film "Immortal,"THE BEAST TRILOGY is a haunting and captivating tale that explores the dark side of human nature. In the year 2023, the man called Nike is a memory expert who remembers his every experience with perfect clarity. For Nike, this is more of a curse than it is a blessing, because the pain of his past never fades. Follow Nike as he uses his gift to try to understand his link to two children, orphaned beside him in war-torn Yugoslavia, as well as his violent and chaotic present, where manipulation of the truth remains a powerful tool for governments worldwide. In this world, a man who can remember everything is invaluable to whoever controls him.
128 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2004
About the author
Enki Bilal
240 books322 followersEnki Bilal (born Enes Bilal) is a French comic book creator and film director.
Bilal was born in Belgrade, then the capital of Yugoslavia, to a Czech mother, Ana, who came to Belgrade as child from Karlovy Vary, and a Bosnian Muslim father, Muhamed Hamo Bilal who had been Josip Broz Tito's tailor. When he was five years old, his father managed to take a trip and stay in Paris as a political émigré. Enki and the rest of the family followed him, four years later.
Enki Bilal has no sense of belonging to any ethnic group and religion, nor is he obsessed with soil and roots. He said in one interview: "I also feel Bosnian by my father's origin, a Serb by my place of birth and a Croat by my relationship with a certain friends, not to mention my other Czech half, who I am inherited from mother".
At age 14, he met René Goscinny and with his encouragement applied his talent to comics. He produced work for Goscinny's Franco-Belgian comics magazine Pilote in the 1970s, publishing his first story, Le Bol Maudit, in 1972.
In 1975, Bilal began working with script writer Pierre Christin on a series of dark and surreal tales, resulting in the body of work titled Légendes d'Aujourd'hui.
He is best known for the Nikopol trilogy (La Foire aux immortels, La Femme piège and Froid Équateur), which took more than a decade to complete. Bilal wrote the script and did the artwork. The final chapter, Froid Équateur, was chosen book of the year by the magazine Lire and is acknowledged by the inventor of chess boxing as the inspiration for the sport.
Quatre? (2007), the last book in the Hatzfeld tetralogy, deals with the breakup of Yugoslavia from a future viewpoint. The first installment came in 1998 in the shape of Le Sommeil du Monstre opening with the main character, Nike, remembering the war in a series of traumatic flashbacks.
In 2012, Bilal was featured in a solo exhibition at The Louvre. The exhibition, titled "The Ghosts of the Louvre", ran from 20 December 2012 to 18 March 2013. The exhibition was organized by Fabrice Douar, and featured a series of paintings of "Ghosts", done atop photographs that Bilal took of the Louvre's collection.
Bilal was born in Belgrade, then the capital of Yugoslavia, to a Czech mother, Ana, who came to Belgrade as child from Karlovy Vary, and a Bosnian Muslim father, Muhamed Hamo Bilal who had been Josip Broz Tito's tailor. When he was five years old, his father managed to take a trip and stay in Paris as a political émigré. Enki and the rest of the family followed him, four years later.
Enki Bilal has no sense of belonging to any ethnic group and religion, nor is he obsessed with soil and roots. He said in one interview: "I also feel Bosnian by my father's origin, a Serb by my place of birth and a Croat by my relationship with a certain friends, not to mention my other Czech half, who I am inherited from mother".
At age 14, he met René Goscinny and with his encouragement applied his talent to comics. He produced work for Goscinny's Franco-Belgian comics magazine Pilote in the 1970s, publishing his first story, Le Bol Maudit, in 1972.
In 1975, Bilal began working with script writer Pierre Christin on a series of dark and surreal tales, resulting in the body of work titled Légendes d'Aujourd'hui.
He is best known for the Nikopol trilogy (La Foire aux immortels, La Femme piège and Froid Équateur), which took more than a decade to complete. Bilal wrote the script and did the artwork. The final chapter, Froid Équateur, was chosen book of the year by the magazine Lire and is acknowledged by the inventor of chess boxing as the inspiration for the sport.
Quatre? (2007), the last book in the Hatzfeld tetralogy, deals with the breakup of Yugoslavia from a future viewpoint. The first installment came in 1998 in the shape of Le Sommeil du Monstre opening with the main character, Nike, remembering the war in a series of traumatic flashbacks.
In 2012, Bilal was featured in a solo exhibition at The Louvre. The exhibition, titled "The Ghosts of the Louvre", ran from 20 December 2012 to 18 March 2013. The exhibition was organized by Fabrice Douar, and featured a series of paintings of "Ghosts", done atop photographs that Bilal took of the Louvre's collection.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 1, 2023
Not nearly as good artistically or storywise as Nikopol. The premise is intruiging but the main plot is not. All 4 parts revieved here.
October 15, 2021
This is an edition of TWO BOOKS- not three
->The third book does not exist in English- why call it a "Trilogy"?
Bilal's writing sucks. It's desperately confusing and overreaching in it's attempts to sicken you to the the bitter taste of the war that went on in Serbia.
His art can be stellar- but only in segments. He cannot fill an entire book without oversketching his boundaries.
->The third book does not exist in English- why call it a "Trilogy"?
Bilal's writing sucks. It's desperately confusing and overreaching in it's attempts to sicken you to the the bitter taste of the war that went on in Serbia.
His art can be stellar- but only in segments. He cannot fill an entire book without oversketching his boundaries.
April 13, 2026
Bilal počinje Monstruma odličnim Sidranovim stihovima i time nam objašnjava šta nas čeka na ovim stranicama:
Isplovim, ujutru, iz snova: sami sretni anđeo!
Uveče legnem: svinja doslovna.
Šta sam to činio između?
S ljudima sam se družio, ljudska prebiro govna. (Abdulah Sidran)
Troje dece (Najk, Amir i Lejla) je 1993. rođeno u Sarajevu, i kao mnoga druga, odmah po rođenju postaju siročići usred rata u Jugoslaviji. Prve dane provode u bolnici bez plafona, gledajući noću zvezdano prelepo nebo dok oko njih padaju bombe i životi na sve strane se nepovratno gube. Troje malih anđela se vrlo brzo po dolasku na svet susreće s prljavštinom, krvlju, ljudskim izmetima i svinjcem. I o tome je, u suštini, ovaj Monstrum - o troje ljudi rođenih u krvi koje je rat razbacao na različite strane, koji nikoga svog nemaju do jedni druge i čije živote pratimo nakon trideset godina (koliko su uprljani, uspešni, propali i da li i koliko žude da ponovo zagrle jedni druge).
Deluje mi i da Bilal pored njihove priče govori i o propadanju umetnosti i umetnika, manjku inspiracije, usiljenoj, lošoj i veštačkoj umetnosti koja nema više šta da pruži. Ali je toliko toga nabacao, da se od polovine čovek teško probija kroz ovaj njegov bućkuriš. Previše nekih likova koji, imam utisak, uopšte nisu bitni. Glavni negativac je izvesni Vorhol koji će pratiti ove naše siročiće, pa i doslovno upravljati njihovim životima kao da su zamorčići, ne bi li do kraja Monstruma iznedrio svoje vrhunsko delo - svoju živu umetničku instalaciju. Tako nekako. Nisam sigurna da sam uopšte sve dobro razumela. Bilo mi je ovo čitanje ponekad teško i mučno.
Tu je i Obscurantis Order - neki fundamentalisti/fanatici koji teže da iskorene sve što je povezano s mišlju, naukom, znanjem, kulturom i pamćenjem. Zanimljivo i kontradiktorno mi je kako su fanatični u iskorenjivanju svega navedenog korišćenjem upravo SVEGA navedenog.
Crtež mi se delimično svideo. Nekako je statičan, ali mi je kolor bio odličan. Boje su zagasite, skoro da sve umrtvljuju i zamrzavaju, prikazuju tišinu i prazninu - bela, siva, jeziva i hladna plava. Činilo mi se da je svaki kadar težak sto tona. Bukvalno gust, maglovit, ali užasno težak... kao da se može seći nožem. Sve mi odiše nekom hladnoćom, prljavštinom i otuđenošću, možda čak i vlagom. Od drugog dela se pojavljuje zelena, koja možda malo ublažava težinu dotadašnjeg kolora i ukazuje nam na upliv nečeg živog i organskog usred tog smeća, betona i sveopšte hladnoće?!
Zbunjujuće su mi bile one silne ribe, tj. tune u vazduhu. To me na momenat podsetilo na Arizonu Dream. Nisam sigurna šta one predstavljaju, možda neki bag u Najkovom sećanju, s obzirom da ih samo on vidi (baš u jednom kadru Najk spominje kako lebde u vazduhu, čime potpuno zbunjuje svog sagovornika). Valja se vratiti i obratiti pažnju u kojim trenucima se one pojavljuju. A tu su i muve, koje su mi smislenije od ovih letećih riba. One su vrlo proste - samo prate smrad truleži i govana.
Najk, Lejla i Amir su me u neku ruku podsetili na Uta, koji iako okružen prljavštinom, kanibalima, ubicama i psihopatama, pokušava da očuva ono jedino čisto što ima - ljubav (ka svom mačku). Tako nekako i ovih troje, pa na koncu možemo reći i da je ovo priča o tome.
Ko nebo nije ugledao u vodi, taj nema pojma šta su ribe na drveću. (kineska poslovica)
Možda su mi one Najkove lebdeće tune nakon ove poslovice ipak malo jasnije.
Isplovim, ujutru, iz snova: sami sretni anđeo!
Uveče legnem: svinja doslovna.
Šta sam to činio između?
S ljudima sam se družio, ljudska prebiro govna. (Abdulah Sidran)
Troje dece (Najk, Amir i Lejla) je 1993. rođeno u Sarajevu, i kao mnoga druga, odmah po rođenju postaju siročići usred rata u Jugoslaviji. Prve dane provode u bolnici bez plafona, gledajući noću zvezdano prelepo nebo dok oko njih padaju bombe i životi na sve strane se nepovratno gube. Troje malih anđela se vrlo brzo po dolasku na svet susreće s prljavštinom, krvlju, ljudskim izmetima i svinjcem. I o tome je, u suštini, ovaj Monstrum - o troje ljudi rođenih u krvi koje je rat razbacao na različite strane, koji nikoga svog nemaju do jedni druge i čije živote pratimo nakon trideset godina (koliko su uprljani, uspešni, propali i da li i koliko žude da ponovo zagrle jedni druge).
Deluje mi i da Bilal pored njihove priče govori i o propadanju umetnosti i umetnika, manjku inspiracije, usiljenoj, lošoj i veštačkoj umetnosti koja nema više šta da pruži. Ali je toliko toga nabacao, da se od polovine čovek teško probija kroz ovaj njegov bućkuriš. Previše nekih likova koji, imam utisak, uopšte nisu bitni. Glavni negativac je izvesni Vorhol koji će pratiti ove naše siročiće, pa i doslovno upravljati njihovim životima kao da su zamorčići, ne bi li do kraja Monstruma iznedrio svoje vrhunsko delo - svoju živu umetničku instalaciju. Tako nekako. Nisam sigurna da sam uopšte sve dobro razumela. Bilo mi je ovo čitanje ponekad teško i mučno.
Tu je i Obscurantis Order - neki fundamentalisti/fanatici koji teže da iskorene sve što je povezano s mišlju, naukom, znanjem, kulturom i pamćenjem. Zanimljivo i kontradiktorno mi je kako su fanatični u iskorenjivanju svega navedenog korišćenjem upravo SVEGA navedenog.
Crtež mi se delimično svideo. Nekako je statičan, ali mi je kolor bio odličan. Boje su zagasite, skoro da sve umrtvljuju i zamrzavaju, prikazuju tišinu i prazninu - bela, siva, jeziva i hladna plava. Činilo mi se da je svaki kadar težak sto tona. Bukvalno gust, maglovit, ali užasno težak... kao da se može seći nožem. Sve mi odiše nekom hladnoćom, prljavštinom i otuđenošću, možda čak i vlagom. Od drugog dela se pojavljuje zelena, koja možda malo ublažava težinu dotadašnjeg kolora i ukazuje nam na upliv nečeg živog i organskog usred tog smeća, betona i sveopšte hladnoće?!
Zbunjujuće su mi bile one silne ribe, tj. tune u vazduhu. To me na momenat podsetilo na Arizonu Dream. Nisam sigurna šta one predstavljaju, možda neki bag u Najkovom sećanju, s obzirom da ih samo on vidi (baš u jednom kadru Najk spominje kako lebde u vazduhu, čime potpuno zbunjuje svog sagovornika). Valja se vratiti i obratiti pažnju u kojim trenucima se one pojavljuju. A tu su i muve, koje su mi smislenije od ovih letećih riba. One su vrlo proste - samo prate smrad truleži i govana.
Najk, Lejla i Amir su me u neku ruku podsetili na Uta, koji iako okružen prljavštinom, kanibalima, ubicama i psihopatama, pokušava da očuva ono jedino čisto što ima - ljubav (ka svom mačku). Tako nekako i ovih troje, pa na koncu možemo reći i da je ovo priča o tome.
Ko nebo nije ugledao u vodi, taj nema pojma šta su ribe na drveću. (kineska poslovica)
Možda su mi one Najkove lebdeće tune nakon ove poslovice ipak malo jasnije.
Want to Read
December 10, 2020on my TO READ because im interested in Enki Bilal's work
January 31, 2018
Inventive and deeply disturbing, while highly disjointed. This is a world where clones can be created, and people can be controlled by implanted electronic flies. Our protagonist along with two others has survived being born in the Bosnia war, and is now living in this futuristic world, with flying cars and the like.
My main criticism is that we are given little of who the characters are, personality wise. Nearly any character could have been replaced with any character (except for the main baddy) and the story would hardly have changed.
The art style well fits the dystopic plot lines, and lends itself to the uneasy horrific feeling. There is some gratuitous nudity. Violence is occasional, but quick and not drawn out. Will definitely have to re-read this one. Would not recommend to most people because they would not enjoy this type of plot with confusing purpose.
I don't understand why they would be willing to kill Nike, when they clearly want to use him later. Why not simply go to the specified coordinates?
My main criticism is that we are given little of who the characters are, personality wise. Nearly any character could have been replaced with any character (except for the main baddy) and the story would hardly have changed.
The art style well fits the dystopic plot lines, and lends itself to the uneasy horrific feeling. There is some gratuitous nudity. Violence is occasional, but quick and not drawn out. Will definitely have to re-read this one. Would not recommend to most people because they would not enjoy this type of plot with confusing purpose.
I don't understand why they would be willing to kill Nike, when they clearly want to use him later. Why not simply go to the specified coordinates?
January 16, 2016
I bought this thinking I had the three books not realising the third was to follow.
This cyber-punk rush type story and art are exceedingly imaginative. The story revolves around 3 primary characters Nike Hatzfeld, Layla Mirkovic-Zohary, and Amir Fazlagic, who were all born in Sarajevo 19s Kosovo Hospital, The reverse chronology (Nike is aware from day 1 with complete recall) is fascinating and the world is so Bladerunner/Fifth Element but with out the latter's humour
Regarding the rest of the trilogy: Bilal has completed the final volume, Rendez-vous a Paris, and it 19s available in Europe in french but not yet in English
This cyber-punk rush type story and art are exceedingly imaginative. The story revolves around 3 primary characters Nike Hatzfeld, Layla Mirkovic-Zohary, and Amir Fazlagic, who were all born in Sarajevo 19s Kosovo Hospital, The reverse chronology (Nike is aware from day 1 with complete recall) is fascinating and the world is so Bladerunner/Fifth Element but with out the latter's humour
Regarding the rest of the trilogy: Bilal has completed the final volume, Rendez-vous a Paris, and it 19s available in Europe in french but not yet in English
July 15, 2025
While I generally do not read this kind of comics due to explicit violence which searches to specifically emphasize the visual gore, I did kinda enjoy the story and the visuals (except the excess of blood). At times, the art might remind of Bill Sienkiewicz's, which in itself tells a lot. Basically, this is action-filled story with lot's of violence and even some sexual elements, and while it aims to explore the dark side of human nature, I think the book has a little too much focus on an entertainment perspective and less on a philosophical one - and still, this is more than your average comic book.
July 17, 2009
Good art. Typical hedonistic apocalyptic paranoid sub-culture conspiracy-theoristic shallow-grave crap. Its a real shame to see teens subjected to this kind of material. The Christian based Matrix is the way to do this sort of thing.
November 10, 2010
I was assistant editor on this edition, did a lot of proofing and text placement.
March 22, 2011
amazing artwork, the story-line is a little bit beyond me, or rather 'what's the point' ... not sure yet... will have to re-read again
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews