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La part merveilleuse #1
The Extraordinary Part: Book One: Orsay's Hands
This first book in a two-volume graphic novel series is set in a near-dystopian present, where mysterious creatures called “whols” coexist with humans since their sudden appearance a few years earlier. At first, they aroused curiosity and wonder, then their seemingly harmless presence became commonplace. Nineteen-year-old Orsay leads an uneventful life in the French countryside, until the day he gains extraordinary powers in his hands after an atypically aggressive encounter with a whol. On a trip to Paris in search of a cure, he meets and falls for Basma, a passionate activist for whols’ rights. But Orsay isn’t convinced that whols should be granted the same status as humans. Especially once Melek, another human with similar powers, embarks on a murderous rampage to avenge those she sees as her kin.
156 pages, Hardcover
Published February 7, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews
September 18, 2021
The world is filled with whols. A whol being a new kind of creature, that basically looks like a large to huge molecule model. They sort of slowly move around, don't really interact with humans, at worst are a nuisance by settling down on a road or something.
Except they do sort of interact with humans - Orsay, a young man, touches a whol and finds that his hands and arms become all weird and stretchy. He goes to Paris to find a cure and meets Basma, a girl who fights for whols' rights.
And then it gets quite strange, and I was quite enjoying the story, until the last third of the book, when people get killed in gruesome and gory ways, and two characters who previously disliked eachother suddenly, out of nowhere, decide to have sex, just because lolol.
Big turn off, for me.
(Picked up a review copy through NetGalley)
Except they do sort of interact with humans - Orsay, a young man, touches a whol and finds that his hands and arms become all weird and stretchy. He goes to Paris to find a cure and meets Basma, a girl who fights for whols' rights.
And then it gets quite strange, and I was quite enjoying the story, until the last third of the book, when people get killed in gruesome and gory ways, and two characters who previously disliked eachother suddenly, out of nowhere, decide to have sex, just because lolol.
Big turn off, for me.
(Picked up a review copy through NetGalley)
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May 4, 2023https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/fran...
Pourquoi je suis pas étonnée ????? Ugh, j’ai supprimé ma note du coup et je laisse juste ma review en dessous mais du coup berk
___________________
Ce roman graphique de SF est vraiment original ! Des "toutes", choses étranges et variées tant dans leurs formes que leurs couleurs ou tailles, sont posées sur terre et existent paisiblement, les humains s'y étant habitués. Cependant face aux agressions certaines attaquent les humains et les parties du corps humain touchées vont se retrouver changées...
J'ai bien aimé le personnage principal, un jeune garçon de 19 ans au grand cœur. Mon seul problème était qu'on a encore un titre où les personnages féminins sont toutes sexuellement intéressées par le héros, que ce soit une jeune ado, une lycéenne ou une adulte. Un peu saoulé mais heureusement le niveau du reste me rend quelque peu indulgente 🙄
Pourquoi je suis pas étonnée ????? Ugh, j’ai supprimé ma note du coup et je laisse juste ma review en dessous mais du coup berk
___________________
Ce roman graphique de SF est vraiment original ! Des "toutes", choses étranges et variées tant dans leurs formes que leurs couleurs ou tailles, sont posées sur terre et existent paisiblement, les humains s'y étant habitués. Cependant face aux agressions certaines attaquent les humains et les parties du corps humain touchées vont se retrouver changées...
J'ai bien aimé le personnage principal, un jeune garçon de 19 ans au grand cœur. Mon seul problème était qu'on a encore un titre où les personnages féminins sont toutes sexuellement intéressées par le héros, que ce soit une jeune ado, une lycéenne ou une adulte. Un peu saoulé mais heureusement le niveau du reste me rend quelque peu indulgente 🙄
August 28, 2021
Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.
First of all, I really wanted to like this graphic novel, but after finishing it, I realized I wasn’t the ideal audience for it, or maybe, I’m just a little too picky with the stuff I read. The story was interesting and had a pretty solid ground. Orsay, the main characters, lives in France’s countryside, and from page one, we’re introduced to a set of characters who also share the main narrative of this graphic novel, the Whol. These are “alien” creatures that appeared out of nowhere on various part of Earth. Apparently, they’re very friend, unless you make them angry. The Whol are very beautiful, their shapes are asymmetrical, and they’re very colorful. It reminded me a bit of the parasite aliens from the manga/anime Parasyte, although these aliens are a little more grotesque in appearance.
Orsay is unfortunately attacked by a Whol and his hands are transformed because of this. He goes to Paris searching for a cure and that’s kinda it. That’s the basic plot. I’m not gonna tell more because I don’t wanna spoil the story or ending for other readers. But, like I said before, I really wanted to like this story, but unfortunately, it didn’t happen. I love sci-fi, so I felt a connection with the story and really liked the Whol. Also, the art style is very gorgeous and reminded me a bit of Tillie Walden’s style.
But, despite it all, I couldn’t get past some of the stuff the characters do during the narrative. Orsay appears to be a caring character, but the stuff he does once he gets to Paris really pissed me off. The female characters presented during the narrative are so shallow, I couldn’t like any of them. One of them killed innocent people without feeling any sense of guilt by it. And Orsay, despite being nineteen years old, has sex with an underage high school student (I don’t remember if she said her age, but she said she’s in high school, so I’m presuming she’s underage), kiss a thirteen-year-old on the mouth and was sex with a woman he openly said he hated a few pages before. This is kinda of a mess, in my opinion. So yeah, if it wasn’t for all of that, maybe I’d have liked the story, but I really couldn’t shove that down my throat.
The plot could've been better, and if this every has a sequel, I hope the author takes some of these opinions in consideration. And please, learn how to write a woman without making her the standing ground for the male character. This really sucks, and I can’t believe I’m still reading stuff like this in 2021.
First of all, I really wanted to like this graphic novel, but after finishing it, I realized I wasn’t the ideal audience for it, or maybe, I’m just a little too picky with the stuff I read. The story was interesting and had a pretty solid ground. Orsay, the main characters, lives in France’s countryside, and from page one, we’re introduced to a set of characters who also share the main narrative of this graphic novel, the Whol. These are “alien” creatures that appeared out of nowhere on various part of Earth. Apparently, they’re very friend, unless you make them angry. The Whol are very beautiful, their shapes are asymmetrical, and they’re very colorful. It reminded me a bit of the parasite aliens from the manga/anime Parasyte, although these aliens are a little more grotesque in appearance.
Orsay is unfortunately attacked by a Whol and his hands are transformed because of this. He goes to Paris searching for a cure and that’s kinda it. That’s the basic plot. I’m not gonna tell more because I don’t wanna spoil the story or ending for other readers. But, like I said before, I really wanted to like this story, but unfortunately, it didn’t happen. I love sci-fi, so I felt a connection with the story and really liked the Whol. Also, the art style is very gorgeous and reminded me a bit of Tillie Walden’s style.
But, despite it all, I couldn’t get past some of the stuff the characters do during the narrative. Orsay appears to be a caring character, but the stuff he does once he gets to Paris really pissed me off. The female characters presented during the narrative are so shallow, I couldn’t like any of them. One of them killed innocent people without feeling any sense of guilt by it. And Orsay, despite being nineteen years old, has sex with an underage high school student (I don’t remember if she said her age, but she said she’s in high school, so I’m presuming she’s underage), kiss a thirteen-year-old on the mouth and was sex with a woman he openly said he hated a few pages before. This is kinda of a mess, in my opinion. So yeah, if it wasn’t for all of that, maybe I’d have liked the story, but I really couldn’t shove that down my throat.
The plot could've been better, and if this every has a sequel, I hope the author takes some of these opinions in consideration. And please, learn how to write a woman without making her the standing ground for the male character. This really sucks, and I can’t believe I’m still reading stuff like this in 2021.
December 6, 2024
franchement y’avait du potentiel pour que j’aime, le côté sf et tout le lore autour des toute semblait assez intéressant mais purée
- pourquoi tous les personnages féminins sont aussi creuses en dehors de leur relation au héros, qu’elles veulent toutes baiser ? (oui même celle de 13 ans qu’il embrasse)
- héros qui est absolument insupportable omg, soit disant c’est le style des auteurs d’écrire les persos toujours en distance avec l’histoire, mais jsp peut-être que quand tu veux écrire une série de bd t’as intérêt à ce qu’on s’attache un minimum aux persos pour qu’on ait envie de savoir ce qu’il leur arrive ensuite non ? orsay a vraiment la nuance d’un blanc de poulet cuit à l’eau
- le fait de toujours mettre sur le même plan la violence des oppresseurs et la violence de celleux qui s’en défendent, juste pour produire un discours de "nuances" (dont orsay est le porte parole, évidemment, parmi un groupe de meufs hystériques qui ne savent pas raisonner) vraiment le degré zéro de la réflexion sur la violence et la lutte
bref ça commençait déjà pas super bien mais pour une série de 3 tomes je me suis dit que je ferais l’effort vu que tous les tomes sont à ma médiathèque (spoiler alert: ça n’en valait pas l’effort)
- pourquoi tous les personnages féminins sont aussi creuses en dehors de leur relation au héros, qu’elles veulent toutes baiser ? (oui même celle de 13 ans qu’il embrasse)
- héros qui est absolument insupportable omg, soit disant c’est le style des auteurs d’écrire les persos toujours en distance avec l’histoire, mais jsp peut-être que quand tu veux écrire une série de bd t’as intérêt à ce qu’on s’attache un minimum aux persos pour qu’on ait envie de savoir ce qu’il leur arrive ensuite non ? orsay a vraiment la nuance d’un blanc de poulet cuit à l’eau
- le fait de toujours mettre sur le même plan la violence des oppresseurs et la violence de celleux qui s’en défendent, juste pour produire un discours de "nuances" (dont orsay est le porte parole, évidemment, parmi un groupe de meufs hystériques qui ne savent pas raisonner) vraiment le degré zéro de la réflexion sur la violence et la lutte
bref ça commençait déjà pas super bien mais pour une série de 3 tomes je me suis dit que je ferais l’effort vu que tous les tomes sont à ma médiathèque (spoiler alert: ça n’en valait pas l’effort)
August 19, 2021
OK, so in this modern-day France there are lots of weird alien things, that look like floating, shifting modern art pieces, ranging in size from large pets to large buildings. They might be godly or otherworldly, but nobody sees them as devilish, we're told. However when our hero witnesses one seemingly chasing after some teenagers, he pumps it to bursting with garden hose water, only to gain some of its shape-changing element in his hands and fore-arms. Seeking medical help in Paris, he soon realises he might not be half as alone in that as he thinks...
There are some elements of this that are inherently wrong, including but not limited to giving a randy nineteen year old lad the abilities of Mister Fantastic. In fact all the superheroic skills the main characters have look really quite ugly, even if some are definitely on the cooler side than being Reed Richards with the horn. However there are also some things that are done well, even if we've seen them thousands of times before (the small group of 'the other' against the police, the powers that be and everybody else), or that are too oddball to initially fit (the communing with the whols, as the lifeforms are called).
On the whole the balance here is to the positive – this is a finely done world, and the open ending of this part one suggests a wide range of possible future stories. But that's where I find it awkward to recommend this, because I just cannot tell from this where we're going, or for how long the ride will last. This comes to us in the English-speaking market the same year its native French audience first saw it, so this is nothing like complete. And I've always felt awkward suggesting people latch on to a sci-fi or fantasy series before enough evidence of its worth is out there. I mean, who'd have liked to recommend Shannara books based on the first three if they knew to what unreadable depths they'd plumb six million pages later?!
This is certainly worth three and a half stars, because some of its missteps are a bit too clumsy. There might be potential for the series to earn four stars, but I don't think I saw enough evidence to merit saying that. I'd be cautious about demanding anyone fork out for it, but I would not wish to put anyone off giving this a good glance.
There are some elements of this that are inherently wrong, including but not limited to giving a randy nineteen year old lad the abilities of Mister Fantastic. In fact all the superheroic skills the main characters have look really quite ugly, even if some are definitely on the cooler side than being Reed Richards with the horn. However there are also some things that are done well, even if we've seen them thousands of times before (the small group of 'the other' against the police, the powers that be and everybody else), or that are too oddball to initially fit (the communing with the whols, as the lifeforms are called).
On the whole the balance here is to the positive – this is a finely done world, and the open ending of this part one suggests a wide range of possible future stories. But that's where I find it awkward to recommend this, because I just cannot tell from this where we're going, or for how long the ride will last. This comes to us in the English-speaking market the same year its native French audience first saw it, so this is nothing like complete. And I've always felt awkward suggesting people latch on to a sci-fi or fantasy series before enough evidence of its worth is out there. I mean, who'd have liked to recommend Shannara books based on the first three if they knew to what unreadable depths they'd plumb six million pages later?!
This is certainly worth three and a half stars, because some of its missteps are a bit too clumsy. There might be potential for the series to earn four stars, but I don't think I saw enough evidence to merit saying that. I'd be cautious about demanding anyone fork out for it, but I would not wish to put anyone off giving this a good glance.
June 1, 2026
Monstre, extraterrese, croque-mitaine, animal fabuleux, chimère, fantôme, dragon, lémure, esprit, divinité, autant de dénominations qui n'ont pas pu réussir à expliquer l'apparition des Toutes il y a quelques années.
TW: violence, décapitations
J'ai emprunté cette BD à ma coloc sans trop s'avoir à quoi m'attendre et j'ai été agréablement surprise par le style graphique ainsi que le concept de l'histoire. On suit Orsay, dix-ans qui est jardinier dans sa petite ville d'enfance. Son quotidien semble assez banal jusqu'au jour où il se fait attaquer par un Toute, ce qui comme conséquence de changer l'apparence de ses mains. Orsay décide donc de monter à Paris pour espérer inverser ce phénomène, mais ce qui l'attend là-bas est bien plus complexe que ce à quoi il s'attendait...
Je trouve que le thème d'apparition d'immenses "objets" dans notre société est un thème intéressant. Je pense notament à Lou et au film Premier Contact qui aborde des événements similaires de façons différentes. [Au fond people yearn for the mystery of the monoliths from 2020 (i'll never forget).] Ici, cela va encore plus loin avec des manifestations, des mouvements pro-Toutes de la part de différents membres de la société. J'ai bien aimé voir que les personnages n'étaient pas passifs face à cette situation, et que la cohabitation entre eux et les Toutes n'étaient pas non plus neutre.
Pour autant, j'ai moins apprécié la place que la "romance" entre les personnages prennent autant de place. J'ai l'impression qu'on restait trop en surface alors qu'ils étaient tous intéressants. Cela ne m'empêchera pas de lire la suite à l'occasion
May 12, 2022
Début d'une série de BD SF sur le vivre ensemble avec des immigrants...sauf que les immigrants sont des extraterrestres d'une autre dimension et qu'ils fusionnent avec les humains quand ils entrent en contact avec eux et de l'eau en même temps
September 18, 2021
What the actual fuck!
This is absolutely disgraceful!
At first, my only issue was that the dialogue was really hard to read as it looked like I had been written in pencil and then badly scanned.
But then we met Basma, a woman who has no understanding of boundaries and repeatedly violates peoples bodily autonomy.
Then it gets even worse as we met Vincento, Melek, and Juliette, who are violent psychopathic serial killers, for a very small amount of time Orsay doesn’t like them but quickly becomes friends with them. Basma as well justifies their actions and thinks it’s perfectly ok to kill people.
At one point Orsay kisses Juliette (who is 13!) and she shows him her boobs, so we can add pedophila to the list of fucked up things this book promotes.
Towards the end Basma sexually assaults Melek and everyone is perfectly fine with it!?
It’s one thing for a book to portray violent crimes but this book advocates and promotes them, saying that the actions of the characters are completely justified.
This book is vile, who the hell agreed to publish this!
This is absolutely disgraceful!
At first, my only issue was that the dialogue was really hard to read as it looked like I had been written in pencil and then badly scanned.
But then we met Basma, a woman who has no understanding of boundaries and repeatedly violates peoples bodily autonomy.
Then it gets even worse as we met Vincento, Melek, and Juliette, who are violent psychopathic serial killers, for a very small amount of time Orsay doesn’t like them but quickly becomes friends with them. Basma as well justifies their actions and thinks it’s perfectly ok to kill people.
At one point Orsay kisses Juliette (who is 13!) and she shows him her boobs, so we can add pedophila to the list of fucked up things this book promotes.
Towards the end Basma sexually assaults Melek and everyone is perfectly fine with it!?
It’s one thing for a book to portray violent crimes but this book advocates and promotes them, saying that the actions of the characters are completely justified.
This book is vile, who the hell agreed to publish this!
August 29, 2021
Thank you netgalley for providing me a free ARC in exchange of an honest review.
i'm not sure what to say about this book.
okay first let's start with the things i liked_
i really liked the artworks. They were Vibrant and catchy. I liked the plot enough and the our main character orsay. I liked his helpful nature.
and the things i didn't like_
Also our character orsay' for some reason. His sudden behaviour changes in paris and more. You'll get to know when you'll read the book.
i didn't find anyone in a postive role. Orsay was a protagonist but he was slowly getting into negative things which made me kinda pissed off.
Although the whols were showed as piece of art but Those who have trypophobia like me will be disturbed enough.
i'm not sure what to say about this book.
okay first let's start with the things i liked_
i really liked the artworks. They were Vibrant and catchy. I liked the plot enough and the our main character orsay. I liked his helpful nature.
and the things i didn't like_
Also our character orsay' for some reason. His sudden behaviour changes in paris and more. You'll get to know when you'll read the book.
i didn't find anyone in a postive role. Orsay was a protagonist but he was slowly getting into negative things which made me kinda pissed off.
Although the whols were showed as piece of art but Those who have trypophobia like me will be disturbed enough.
February 11, 2024
Meandering plot and inconsistent character motives, interrupted by random sudden violence and even more abrupt inexplicable trysts amidst peril. But the art is eerily captivating at times, with surreally beautiful alien forms against flatly mundane surroundings.
January 31, 2024
I get that this is allegory, but I don't understand if it's supposed to be fantastically exploring climate change, civil rights, or police brutality. As such, I found this to be slow and confusing
December 18, 2025
I have no idea what happened behind the scenes, but I feel like it was something...
This graphic novel is tonally all over the place. The first part takes place in a picturesque small town and it has this bizarre slice of life-feel to it. It's cozy, it's a nice slow pace about the small things in life. We see our main character, Orsay, taking care of his sick mother, being bullied by the town bullies and driving to work while getting a huge alien creature out of the way. It has this wonderful lull to it, an almost dream-like quality that feels familiar and strange at the same time. It's quaint in every sense of the word. Had the story remained this way I might have loved this. But for some reason, Ruppert decided to take this in a strange direction, one which I can't really follow.
Orsay is attacked by one of the creatures, the whols, as they're called. His hands starts acting strangely, he can shape-shift them into a lot of different shapes. He goes to see a doctor who tells him to go to Paris in order to see a specialist that might cure him. So far so good.
But in Paris he gets caught up in a whols rights demo, the cops show up and he saves some random girl who has a whol-fetish and wants to sleep with him, a total stranger, because of his whol hands. He's not grossed out by this and sure, whatever he's nineteen and horny. But she's really poorly written as this manic pixie dream girl and it feels kind of random and after this the plot goes awry.
We're introduced to a cast of other characters who have also been inected by whols, and although this story is meant to be about the horrors of discrimination, it seems to say that discrimination is actually justified.
You see, the others who have been infected are all psychopaths. One of them kills an innocent nurse and a security guard because they asked them to leave. And one of the other infected characters we see sexually assaults an innocent woman on the subway by cutting off her clothes by using her whol powers.
Maybe I'm not woke enough for this book, but everything about the "Whols are discriminated against" feels tagged on, which is strange because that is the whole plot of the book. In the beginning, whols aren't even discriminated against, the story tells us that the humans coexist peacefully with them. But then all of a sudden they're victims of discrimination? Like, please make up your mind before writing, or at least rewrite the beginning.
How was this published? Why was this published? Is the author surrounded by yes-men? If so, why? I almost feel like this was supposed to be a different story that was rewritten to have more action. The whole thing feels Lemire-esque, but Lemire can get away with these bizarre stories like Gideon falls and family tree because his stories feel well-planned and have consistens characters. Lemire understands setup and payoff and Ruppert just doesn't seem to do that. Everything that happens is random. Like the characters are just going through the motions in order to get to where the plot wants them. Every single thing happens because of plot convenience. Orsay becomes some sort of whol-hybrid? Well, guess what, the Whols are now discriminated against even though we clearly stated in the beginning that they aren't. He saves some random girl and shows her his Whol-powers? Well, that's okay because she just happened to have a whol-fetish. Two strangers break into a hospital and a nurse catches them and calls security to get them out of there? Hmmm... you know, they could come back another time, but no, we have to drag this out so have them kill the nurse and the guard to make them fugitives. Nothing happens organically. It's a mess.
The art is really pretty though.
This graphic novel is tonally all over the place. The first part takes place in a picturesque small town and it has this bizarre slice of life-feel to it. It's cozy, it's a nice slow pace about the small things in life. We see our main character, Orsay, taking care of his sick mother, being bullied by the town bullies and driving to work while getting a huge alien creature out of the way. It has this wonderful lull to it, an almost dream-like quality that feels familiar and strange at the same time. It's quaint in every sense of the word. Had the story remained this way I might have loved this. But for some reason, Ruppert decided to take this in a strange direction, one which I can't really follow.
Orsay is attacked by one of the creatures, the whols, as they're called. His hands starts acting strangely, he can shape-shift them into a lot of different shapes. He goes to see a doctor who tells him to go to Paris in order to see a specialist that might cure him. So far so good.
But in Paris he gets caught up in a whols rights demo, the cops show up and he saves some random girl who has a whol-fetish and wants to sleep with him, a total stranger, because of his whol hands. He's not grossed out by this and sure, whatever he's nineteen and horny. But she's really poorly written as this manic pixie dream girl and it feels kind of random and after this the plot goes awry.
We're introduced to a cast of other characters who have also been inected by whols, and although this story is meant to be about the horrors of discrimination, it seems to say that discrimination is actually justified.
You see, the others who have been infected are all psychopaths. One of them kills an innocent nurse and a security guard because they asked them to leave. And one of the other infected characters we see sexually assaults an innocent woman on the subway by cutting off her clothes by using her whol powers.
Maybe I'm not woke enough for this book, but everything about the "Whols are discriminated against" feels tagged on, which is strange because that is the whole plot of the book. In the beginning, whols aren't even discriminated against, the story tells us that the humans coexist peacefully with them. But then all of a sudden they're victims of discrimination? Like, please make up your mind before writing, or at least rewrite the beginning.
How was this published? Why was this published? Is the author surrounded by yes-men? If so, why? I almost feel like this was supposed to be a different story that was rewritten to have more action. The whole thing feels Lemire-esque, but Lemire can get away with these bizarre stories like Gideon falls and family tree because his stories feel well-planned and have consistens characters. Lemire understands setup and payoff and Ruppert just doesn't seem to do that. Everything that happens is random. Like the characters are just going through the motions in order to get to where the plot wants them. Every single thing happens because of plot convenience. Orsay becomes some sort of whol-hybrid? Well, guess what, the Whols are now discriminated against even though we clearly stated in the beginning that they aren't. He saves some random girl and shows her his Whol-powers? Well, that's okay because she just happened to have a whol-fetish. Two strangers break into a hospital and a nurse catches them and calls security to get them out of there? Hmmm... you know, they could come back another time, but no, we have to drag this out so have them kill the nurse and the guard to make them fugitives. Nothing happens organically. It's a mess.
The art is really pretty though.
December 11, 2024
This was unexpectedly strong. I stumbled upon this book and picked it up without knowing anything about it, hoping it would capture my interest, and it was very fun.
“The Extraordinary Part” follows Orsay, a teen living in the outskirts of Paris and taking care of his mother alongside his father. In this world, strange, alien-like creatures called Whols exist among humans without posing any harm, aside from their inconvenient and annoying appearances. After a scary interaction with a Whol that leaves Orsay’s hands in a mutated state, the young man travels to Paris to figure out what has happened to him, and that’s where he meets others just like him.
Honestly, this was quite the creative and trippy story. The Whols are quite interesting and I want to learn more about them. It’s cool to see how their presence is perceived and how humans find a way to discriminate against them somehow. Those being physically affected by them reminded me of X-Men or something of that sort, which wasn’t terrible but it pushed the narrative to a superhero-like one which was a bit jarring to me.
The story itself is also a bit all over the place. We spend a lot of time sort of oscillating between Orsay’s issues and the general societal issues involving the Whols. He meets a peculiar cast of characters, but, in my opinion, they all shift and evolve too quickly.
The scenes where Orsay is in that strange, space-like state of mind/being were a bit confusing but served the purpose of making me feel immensely connected to the Whols as beings rather than monsters. The social commentary did feel a bit too on the nose, and I wish it had been less obvious and more implied what was truly being discussed in terms of police brutality and inequality. The ending was abrupt and felt too convenient, which is why I wasn’t really sure how to feel when I finished reading the book.
Ultimately, I felt that the book lacked a sense of clear direction after the mid-point, and it wrapped everything up very quickly where I wish we had spent more time in the climax of the story and the tension that was building up. It was still super fun and engaging and, like I said, the premise is unique, making the book hard to forget.
“The Extraordinary Part” follows Orsay, a teen living in the outskirts of Paris and taking care of his mother alongside his father. In this world, strange, alien-like creatures called Whols exist among humans without posing any harm, aside from their inconvenient and annoying appearances. After a scary interaction with a Whol that leaves Orsay’s hands in a mutated state, the young man travels to Paris to figure out what has happened to him, and that’s where he meets others just like him.
Honestly, this was quite the creative and trippy story. The Whols are quite interesting and I want to learn more about them. It’s cool to see how their presence is perceived and how humans find a way to discriminate against them somehow. Those being physically affected by them reminded me of X-Men or something of that sort, which wasn’t terrible but it pushed the narrative to a superhero-like one which was a bit jarring to me.
The story itself is also a bit all over the place. We spend a lot of time sort of oscillating between Orsay’s issues and the general societal issues involving the Whols. He meets a peculiar cast of characters, but, in my opinion, they all shift and evolve too quickly.
The scenes where Orsay is in that strange, space-like state of mind/being were a bit confusing but served the purpose of making me feel immensely connected to the Whols as beings rather than monsters. The social commentary did feel a bit too on the nose, and I wish it had been less obvious and more implied what was truly being discussed in terms of police brutality and inequality. The ending was abrupt and felt too convenient, which is why I wasn’t really sure how to feel when I finished reading the book.
Ultimately, I felt that the book lacked a sense of clear direction after the mid-point, and it wrapped everything up very quickly where I wish we had spent more time in the climax of the story and the tension that was building up. It was still super fun and engaging and, like I said, the premise is unique, making the book hard to forget.
January 30, 2024
This is a bizarrely anomalous work in the œuvre of Florent Ruppert and Jérôme Mulot. These guys made a name for themselves with unabashedly formalist but often hilarious work at the alt-comic publisher L'Association (e.g. “Sol Carrelus”, “Safari Monseigneur” and “Le Tricheur”), and more recently they've done some high-profile collaborations that ingeniously play with pulpy genres in a thoroughly tongue-in-cheek way (see “Portrait d’un buveur”, featuring Olivier Schrauwen, and “La Grande Odalisque”, featuring Bastien Vivès). In comparison, “La Part merveilleuse” (released as “The Extraordinary Part” in English) is startlingly conventional: the setting, premise and basic plot would all be perfectly suited to a Netflix series or an Image comic, and the whole thing is played completely straight.
The main commonality with Ruppert and Mulot’s previous work is the sense of distance from the characters, who all seem somewhat detached, acting with the duo’s trademark nonchalance in the face of outlandish events. This approach works brilliantly when they’re making comedy, but here – in an otherwise serious, dramatic comic – it feels a bit strange, serving as an obstacle to emotional connection and leaving the action sequences feel a bit unnatural.
Despite that criticism, I still enjoyed this first volume a lot. The story and characters are engaging in a very straightforward way; this is essentially a page-turner; I breezed through it in a couple of sittings and immediately picked up the next volume. What’s more, the artwork here sees Ruppert and Mulot at the top of their game – the comic’s replete with beautiful depictions of Gallic countryside and Parisian streets, all with colouring that’s simply perfect.
The main commonality with Ruppert and Mulot’s previous work is the sense of distance from the characters, who all seem somewhat detached, acting with the duo’s trademark nonchalance in the face of outlandish events. This approach works brilliantly when they’re making comedy, but here – in an otherwise serious, dramatic comic – it feels a bit strange, serving as an obstacle to emotional connection and leaving the action sequences feel a bit unnatural.
Despite that criticism, I still enjoyed this first volume a lot. The story and characters are engaging in a very straightforward way; this is essentially a page-turner; I breezed through it in a couple of sittings and immediately picked up the next volume. What’s more, the artwork here sees Ruppert and Mulot at the top of their game – the comic’s replete with beautiful depictions of Gallic countryside and Parisian streets, all with colouring that’s simply perfect.
March 24, 2023
The first volume of a science-fiction/fantasy/horror series set in a near future dystopia that is gorgeously drawn, colorful and inviting, and then turns dark and gruesome. So we're in France, where a young sort of passive man makes his way to Paris.
The world we encounter here is recognizably present except for the addition of "whols," sort of weird-looking colorful creatures in inventive shapes. People seem generally to live peacefully with whols, though gradually we see men who just want them gone, get violent, and the violence in general gets pretty disturbing and feels (early on, at least) disturbing. Our main guy likes to garden, grows up bullied, but when he gets to The City he meets a woman he cares for, and others he seems to develop bonds with, some are pro-whol activists. Conflicts and increasingly wild whol-istic illustrations proliferate. Fascinating, but there's blood, sometimes a lot of it.
Reminiscent of other sci-fi stories such as Jeff Lemire's Sweet Tooth, hybridity happens, which is to say human begin to develop "whol-"ness (which is not to necessarily say wholeness). The main guy has sort of plastic hands, Captain Marvel-ish elasticity, sort of superpowers that could be used for good but also for ill. I was startled by the turn to ultra-violence, given the sweet watercolor opening, but I think I will read on and see what kind of war is being fought here.
The world we encounter here is recognizably present except for the addition of "whols," sort of weird-looking colorful creatures in inventive shapes. People seem generally to live peacefully with whols, though gradually we see men who just want them gone, get violent, and the violence in general gets pretty disturbing and feels (early on, at least) disturbing. Our main guy likes to garden, grows up bullied, but when he gets to The City he meets a woman he cares for, and others he seems to develop bonds with, some are pro-whol activists. Conflicts and increasingly wild whol-istic illustrations proliferate. Fascinating, but there's blood, sometimes a lot of it.
Reminiscent of other sci-fi stories such as Jeff Lemire's Sweet Tooth, hybridity happens, which is to say human begin to develop "whol-"ness (which is not to necessarily say wholeness). The main guy has sort of plastic hands, Captain Marvel-ish elasticity, sort of superpowers that could be used for good but also for ill. I was startled by the turn to ultra-violence, given the sweet watercolor opening, but I think I will read on and see what kind of war is being fought here.
February 25, 2023
Orsay lives in the French countryside with his father and taking care of his sick mother. However, in the world of The Extraordinary Part, the world is occupied by mysterious alien enitities known as whols, who just float around silently. They don't really interact with people, and instead spend most of their time acting as modern art backdrops for the story. That is until one whol accidently merges with Orsay's hands, causing him to have some pretty freaky body morphing powers. Orsay decides to go to Paris to find a doctor to help him, only to find himself embroiled in the political tensions between anti-whol humans and those who are sympathetic to them.
I thought the story itself was pretty captivating for the first two-thirds or so, and then kind of gets a bit repititive by the end. It's imaginative and the writing is pretty funny at times, but I do feel the story ends up being a bit shallow by the end since very little is resolved outside of some action set pieces. Orsay himself is a pretty uninteresting protagonist who does take time away from the more lively characters who make up this story. I do think Ruppert and Mulot had a ton of fun making this comic since they get to draw some pretty awesome shit. I'm still going to check out the next volume since it does seem like it will focus on the much more fun character that was Juliette.
I thought the story itself was pretty captivating for the first two-thirds or so, and then kind of gets a bit repititive by the end. It's imaginative and the writing is pretty funny at times, but I do feel the story ends up being a bit shallow by the end since very little is resolved outside of some action set pieces. Orsay himself is a pretty uninteresting protagonist who does take time away from the more lively characters who make up this story. I do think Ruppert and Mulot had a ton of fun making this comic since they get to draw some pretty awesome shit. I'm still going to check out the next volume since it does seem like it will focus on the much more fun character that was Juliette.
September 6, 2023
I really like the concept of this and the artwork sells it perfectly. It's a sci-fi story where alien-like things just show up. Similar to Arrival or Warren Ellis's Trees. They just sit there peacefully. But here humanity has just accepted the presence of Whorls. Large floating amoeba like peaceful creatures who can be killed with water.
Our character Orsay (19 year old) gets attacked by one. He kills it with a garden hose, but gets his hand stuck in it. Now he has Whorl-like hands that shapeshift at will.
He goes to Paris by himself to go to a hospital seemingly just not letting any media or authorities know about his condition. He gets involved in a Whorl rights protest and rescues a young woman getting trampled, using his new found ability in his hands to lit up a barricade crushing her. Later they meet more people like Orsay. Then the story turns into something more like an X-men comic with super powers.
I was thinking a 4-star wouldn't be unreasonable. It's a pretty unique concept. The artwork is gorgeous. I just didn't really like the irresponsible young characters, it didn't feel real.
Our character Orsay (19 year old) gets attacked by one. He kills it with a garden hose, but gets his hand stuck in it. Now he has Whorl-like hands that shapeshift at will.
He goes to Paris by himself to go to a hospital seemingly just not letting any media or authorities know about his condition. He gets involved in a Whorl rights protest and rescues a young woman getting trampled, using his new found ability in his hands to lit up a barricade crushing her. Later they meet more people like Orsay. Then the story turns into something more like an X-men comic with super powers.
I was thinking a 4-star wouldn't be unreasonable. It's a pretty unique concept. The artwork is gorgeous. I just didn't really like the irresponsible young characters, it didn't feel real.
September 29, 2021
La part merveilleuse reprend le principe du manga parasite, avec le postulat que ces "parasites" (qui ici n'en sont pas) sont globalement pacifiques.
Le message sous-jacent est très bon, plein de bonnes intentions et qui essaye de réveiller un peu les consciences... Mais. Car il y a un mais. Je trouve les personnages aussi expressifs que dans une BD de Léo, donc absolument pas expressifs, les dessins ne me font pas vibrer, et les situations parfois complètement dingues ne semblent susciter aucune réaction de la part des gens autour des protagonistes. Ils sont souvent au milieu de la foule, mais cette foule disparaît toujours pour laisser la place à la scène, alors qu elle devrait agir, s'indigner, hurler, paniquer... Selon les situations. Mais non, rien. On dirait que des éléments sont placés pour faire joli, mais qu'ils ne font pas partie de la vie de la BD. Et ça la rend bien moins crédible, dommage... J'aurais vraiment aimé apprécier cette histoire.
Le message sous-jacent est très bon, plein de bonnes intentions et qui essaye de réveiller un peu les consciences... Mais. Car il y a un mais. Je trouve les personnages aussi expressifs que dans une BD de Léo, donc absolument pas expressifs, les dessins ne me font pas vibrer, et les situations parfois complètement dingues ne semblent susciter aucune réaction de la part des gens autour des protagonistes. Ils sont souvent au milieu de la foule, mais cette foule disparaît toujours pour laisser la place à la scène, alors qu elle devrait agir, s'indigner, hurler, paniquer... Selon les situations. Mais non, rien. On dirait que des éléments sont placés pour faire joli, mais qu'ils ne font pas partie de la vie de la BD. Et ça la rend bien moins crédible, dommage... J'aurais vraiment aimé apprécier cette histoire.
January 2, 2025
Ero molto indecisa sulla valutazione da dare, perché in tutta sincerità non sono affatto tre stelle piene, ma mi dispiaceva bocciare l'opera già dal primo volume, dato il suo alto potenziale. Mi sono piaciute le illustrazioni (soprattutto quelle dei ttut e quelle ambientate all'interno dei ttut) e le premesse della storia, oltre alle varie implicazioni etiche sollevate dalla trama, ho invece trovato odiosi i personaggi dal primo fino all'ultimo. La cosa che più mi ha infastidito sono però le scene di sesso e le allusioni sessuali buttate totalmente a casaccio giusto per farci vedere qualche tetta ogni tanto. Non hanno la minima rilevanza narrativa né si inseriscono in maniera armonica nel racconto, sono soltanto fastidiose e insensate. Cosa siamo, ragazzini arrapati che per mantenere l'attenzione sulla storia hanno bisogno del contentino ogni dieci pagine?! Mah...
May 11, 2024
Whols are beautiful alien creatures that appeared in earth without any prior explanation. They are kind of like the Evangelion angels, only they don't attack without any reason but only as a self defense mechanism.
Our anemic protagonist one day saves a kid from a sudden attack of a whol and in the process makes his hand "wholish".
The art is absolutely gorgeous and it feels like the battles are heavily influenced from manga such as Parasyte (which have almost same story), which is a good thing.
The story is just ok, it is not very innovative and doesn't introduce anything new to the genre. I believe that this series has potential to be something good, but I will have to judge by the next entries in the series.
Our anemic protagonist one day saves a kid from a sudden attack of a whol and in the process makes his hand "wholish".
The art is absolutely gorgeous and it feels like the battles are heavily influenced from manga such as Parasyte (which have almost same story), which is a good thing.
The story is just ok, it is not very innovative and doesn't introduce anything new to the genre. I believe that this series has potential to be something good, but I will have to judge by the next entries in the series.
August 5, 2023
Loved the art work for sure and a couple of the characters were engaging. The setting is contemporaneous to 2023 and was not a challenge. This is a story about "others" and outsiders, fairly bog standard and not particularly challenging but an interesting take because of some science fictional elements that are present. There are fair number of moral quandaries but they have not been fully explored, yet. The characters that I struggled with were too violent. I get why they were being that way within the context of the story but the violence was cheap and with no repercussions in this Part 1 of 2. So, waiting.
March 9, 2023
A stunning sight to behold, this thrilling comic ushers in a pairing of surreal colorful aesthetics not unlike those of Doctor Seuss, and the body horror motifs of Parasyte: the maxim. A visual treat for any graphic novel or comic enjoyer.
Une vue étonnante a voir, cette BD excitante s'acueille une paire des aesthetiques vibrantes pas dissembable à les paysages ou environments de Dr. Seuss, et les motifs de horreur corporelle de Parasyte: the maxim. Une cadeau visuelle pour n'importe quoi qui aime les romans graphiques ou bien les BDs.
Une vue étonnante a voir, cette BD excitante s'acueille une paire des aesthetiques vibrantes pas dissembable à les paysages ou environments de Dr. Seuss, et les motifs de horreur corporelle de Parasyte: the maxim. Une cadeau visuelle pour n'importe quoi qui aime les romans graphiques ou bien les BDs.
May 28, 2024
‘The Extraordinary Part: Vol. 1 - Orsay's Hands’ by Florent Ruppert and Jérôme Mulot is a graphic novel about a strange invasion and the people living through it.
Strange fibrous creatures, known as whol, have shown up in France. Appearing as colorful abstract statues, they seem innocuous enough. When a young man named Orsay has an encounter with one, it changes his hands. This leads him to an underground group of people who have also been changed by the whol.
I liked the weird concept and worldbuilding. The art is great. I enjoyed reading this one.
Strange fibrous creatures, known as whol, have shown up in France. Appearing as colorful abstract statues, they seem innocuous enough. When a young man named Orsay has an encounter with one, it changes his hands. This leads him to an underground group of people who have also been changed by the whol.
I liked the weird concept and worldbuilding. The art is great. I enjoyed reading this one.
March 10, 2023
French graphic novelist team Mulot and Ruppert approach the alien invasion sub-genre with an unusually delicate and thoughtfully subtle approach. The extraterrestrial beings here are like a giant cross between a fungus and a jellyfish, and their effect on humanity is heartbreaking and illuminating. A must for lovers of sociological Scifi a la Ted Chiang's Story of Your Life (or the movie version, Arrival), and gorgeous visuals in the Moebius tradition. 8/10
September 5, 2022
4.0
Świat przechodzi przemianę, ale reakcje ludzi nie są adekwatne i wiarygodne. Część scen wygląda jak cut-scene w grach lub spotkania z enpecami. Pełno tu dziur logicznych, problemów z funkcjonowaniem świata (co usprawiedliwiane jest kilkoma zdaniami) i zachowaniami głównych bohaterów. Polepione na ślinę. Szkoda tylko pomysłu na wohle, okazja chyba została zmarnowana.
Świat przechodzi przemianę, ale reakcje ludzi nie są adekwatne i wiarygodne. Część scen wygląda jak cut-scene w grach lub spotkania z enpecami. Pełno tu dziur logicznych, problemów z funkcjonowaniem świata (co usprawiedliwiane jest kilkoma zdaniami) i zachowaniami głównych bohaterów. Polepione na ślinę. Szkoda tylko pomysłu na wohle, okazja chyba została zmarnowana.
March 14, 2023
It’s rare when a book gets me to audibly react to its contents and this one made me audibly gasp and yell multiple times! The beautiful artwork and soft color palette lulls you into a false sense of security so when the gory action happens it was quite the emotional whirlwind! Can’t wait to read Vol 2!
February 21, 2024
honestly i'm kind of surprised at the low-ish goodreads rating (i say as i also give it a 3 star rating lol). the comic didn't blow me away but i definitely would read the next volume to see what happens next.
July 18, 2025
Les dessins sont jolie, mais l'histoire va beaucoup trop vite, l'histoire aurait du ce passer sur des semaine pourtant ce n'est pas le cas. Dommage du coup puisque au delà de rester sur sa fin, on est surtout brusqué dans notre lecture.
April 17, 2022
Original et brillant à tout point de vue !
Read
August 3, 2022Pretty mad, like your not sure what’s going on most of it I guess. Writing too small. Did go on to read the next one anyway as wanted to find out what happened next.
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