The Chaos Effect

by Pierre Christin, Enki Bilal

Writer/director of the upcoming film "Immortal," Enki Bilal is recognized as one of the world's most talented graphic artists. In The Chaos Effect he has teamed up with Pierre Christin (Townscapes) to tell two tales that shed light on the bloody side of politics and regime change: The Black Order Brigade and The Hunting Party. In The Black Order Brigade, an old terrorist group resurfaces with a series of bombings. It's up to the spies who thought they had destroyed the organization to come out of retirement and put a stop to the terrorists' bloody agenda once and for all. In The Hunting Party, a hunting accident among a gathering of Russia's key political figures leads to political turmoil, but is it really an accident or is it murder? Suggested For Mature Readers.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Fiction, Politics

168 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2005

About the author

Pierre Christin was a French comics creator and writer.

Reviews

[Duncan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jesus, I bought this for a couple of bucks at LCS at a bargain book sale. I thought what the hell, it's got Enki Bilal art in it and although it doesn't look like the sci-fi stuff he's done before it's only a couple of bucks. Well I was blown away by this powerful book about war and the ideologies of hate that fueled it during the 20th century. The art is magnificent and dramatically conveys the writing by Pierre Christin. It may come across as fairly bleak stuff but it works as a tonic on my troubled mind. There are a lot of characters involved in these two stories and it was a bit of work to keep up with who is who sometimes but it's worth it to come out the other side. I hesitate to write reviews on books like this that move me and inspire me a little bit for a little while because my words are not up to the greatness of the art and in fact as this sentence conveys so well are confusing as well. Fuck it. I would give it five stars and probably will but right now four stars will have to suffice because it's still too early to tell if it will be one of the great classics of comix reading in my life. It's certainly a hell of a lot better than most of the four star comix I read. It is definitely much more than one star better than the three star dreck that is my regular staple.

[Chris Browning · Rating 4 out of 5]

The art is phenomenal, with a real sense of weary defeatism permeating the Black Order Brigade and a sense of wild anger/ regret running through the Hunting Party, but the writing is frequently too dense and wordy to do justice to the images. It feels like a slog, constantly trying to cut through the exposition to get to the dramatic meat which is frequently just inert

[Mario Medina · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a while to finish this comic: I read the first story first, and didn't pick it up again for more than a week. It's great: story, drawings, coloring, etc. is wonderful. Highly recommended.

[Ed Dinnermonkey · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first real foray into European comics outside of the UK, aside from flicking through anthologies on the news racks in continental airports. Gripping stuff, and full of history revoltingly violent enough to remind me of my own parochial insularity. Europe in the 20th century was a dark and frightening place, but in tales like these populated by larger than life characters full of uneasy conflicts of suicidal cynicism and the joy of continued existence. Lots to chew over after reading this double bill.

[Andrés Santiago · Rating 3 out of 5]

When they first came out (in the early 80's) these comics were the best adult comics around. Now they feel dated and over-written. I much prefer the second story 'The hunting party' about the cold war and the internal struggle for power. It is poignant and beautifully drawn. The first story 'The Black Order Brigade' has not aged well at all, there is an over-use of dialogue in detriment of the action and visual narrative.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Enki Bilal's art. The dialog was a bit clunky at times, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't originally written in English. The stories are pretty good, though I'm a sucker for adventurous old folks so your mileage may vary.