You are a fan of Dune, Lord of the Rings, Stargate… How about making history? This is what Mundus offers, the first release of 404 graphics.
Get lost in the collective imagination
The first pages of Mundus deliberately confuse the reader. We enter a room by a gradual zoom towards the cover of a book. Without transition, we follow Henry Burnett and Mélanie Matheson entering a laboratory. Matheson discovers a door to another dimension. Burnett erases the data and Matheson sets off an electromagnetic bomb to destroy the hardware.
Again without transition (we think), we arrive four hours earlier in France: Ben and Matt two teenagers get ready for the holidays and are invited by Anaïs to a party at a high school friend's house. During the evening, the current jumps. A ray of light appears and Ben, Matt and Anaïs walk through a door. Propelled into a desert, Anaïs recognizes elements of a trilogy of books she has just finished. Ben tries to rationalize while Matt attributes it all to alcohol.
Gradually, these different characters meet again and Mundus proposes a confrontation between these two groups: a duo of adults aware of the situation but uncompromising and three teenagers totally lost but open to adventure.
Find the meaning of the story
Mundus is a labyrinthine narrative, including a story within the story like the movie Inception. Each chapter corresponds to a journey into a different narrative universe. Mundus becomes an interactive book involving the reader. Using well-known heroic figures, the book breaks down the barrier between the creature, the creator and the reader. However, the book also raises many questions. What is the reality and where is fiction born? What is the reader's responsibility in this adventure? Is he a spectator or an actor in the story? These different issues reflect the passions of screenwriter Laurent Queyssi, a specialist in the work of Philip K. Dick and Alan Moore.
The multiple trips in Mundus are a challenge for the designer. Oriol Roig starts with a raw style with vivid lines around the rather gray colors. Its very fine inking reinforces the stylization of the characters. The action scenes are very readable but explode the page because the reader's gaze navigates in all directions. The drawing gives hints of additional depth because it seems that someone is leaving traces on the squares…
Mundus takes place in 1991 and takes up the artistic creations of the time. Each crossing of a portal is also a journey inside the characters who find a loved reading or game. It is a tribute to the childhood worlds of the authors who express themselves through the characters. In addition, through posters, poorly stored books and CDs, the teens' rooms are reflections of everyone's personality: a poster of Dirty Dancing in a girl's room, REM and Dances with Wolves for a rocker. Mundus' style is also hybrid. The narrative is done by chapter like a comic just like the layout with a great diversity of structures. However, the dialogues are the length of a comic.
Find the quality of editing
Mundus was released in a new branch of 404 Comics devoted to French-language creations but retains the quality of its works. It can be seen from the superb cover with a complex graphics reinforced by different effects. The drawing in the title page highlights the references of the authors: Hellboy, Invincible, Spider-Man, Akira, Batman, Rick & Morty but also a book on hyperbole. At the end of the book, the very complete graphic notebook shows the research on the characters, the different stages of the scenario on the completed page.
Mundus is a confusing trip at first with multiple characters and different journeys. However, over the pages, the reader finds the keys and becomes passionate about the multiple themes. But not everything is given. We can hope that the sequel provides answers although the last pages raise new questions.
