Let's go back 13 years in 2009 to when streaming was still in its infancy. A small web-series arrives on dailymotion, The Visitor of the Future. Built around short episodes (2 minutes 13 for the first), it quickly became known. Followed by more and more Internet users, its format is evolving. Season after season, what some took for a joke becomes an ambitious series mixing uchrony, post-apocalyptic narrative. Since then, it has been available in different media, which in 2022 became a feature film acclaimed by fans and critics. To celebrate this release, Ankama editions have decided to publish in a beautiful complete edition the volumes of L a Btemporal rigade, a delightful spin-off of The Visitor of the Future.
Once upon a time in the future
Louise has character, perhaps too much especially when her last job is being a bartender. After yet another incident, she loses her job and almost her life when a truck hits her car. When she wakes up, she finds herself in the premises of a strange organization, the Time Brigade. Lacking staff, this agency recruits dead people in the past and whose corpses are easy to make-up. Its mission: to fight against individuals trying to change history. An exciting job and an incredible second chance presents itself to Louise. This is without counting the character of the young woman. Authority, she does not like. Neither do follow orders. However, within an iconoclastic team led by a leader as cynical as she is effective, Louise will try to find her place to dive into the heart of history. And she won't be disappointed with the trip. Between the French Revolution, the First World War, its own past and an unlikely future, the missions will put the nerves of the brigade to the test. 
The Visitor of the Future in City Hall style
In the pure transmedia tradition that animates him, François Descraques has chosen for this new development of his universe a new medium: manga. This medium fits perfectly with the soap opera spirit of the series allowing long stories. The Time Brigade is therefore an extension of the original universe. Published since 2018, the work takes advantage of the recent theatrical release of the film The Visitor of the Future to offer a complete edition of 500 pages gathering the three original volumes. A beautiful object that allows you to enter into a fascinating history. Which is superbly put into images by Guillaume Lapeyre. For those who do not know this author, he is one of the standard bearers of French manga and creator of the excellent series City Hall , tribute to steampunkt, literature and imaginary worlds. His magnificent line, his sense of rhythm and staging, his iconization of the characters transcend the universe of the Visitor of the Future and The Time Brigade playing, on the close-up, the unbridled action and the sense of detail. His connection with François Descraques makes sparks and gives birth to a visually sublime work. 
The Visitor of the Future: La Btemporal rigade. The art of playing with time
The original series built its success on mastering a fetish but demanding theme of the S.F: time travel. There are countless works that have ventured on these lands and have caught their feet in the carpet. The Visitor of the Future, whether the series or here the manga adaptation avoid these pitfalls thanks to the perfect writing of its author. Indeed, he constantly plays with paradoxes, loops and rules of the genre. The Time Brigade poses a universe, constantly sticks to it, allowing itself all the audacity (the booby-trapped suitcase), all the surprises without ever losing coherence. The Time Brigade therefore succeeds in offering a triple narrative. The first, in the vein of the first season of the series focuses on Louise and Jessica and their personal uchrony.Their resurrection offers them redemption and the opportunity to break with the weight of their past. But do they still have to want to? The second story focuses on the big story and the butterfly effect. Time travel is good, but if it becomes democratized, the entire continuum is threatened. From the Revolution to the Call of June 18, our heroes roam the corridors of time trying to mend the torn web of time. The third story is part of a tribute/development of literary reflection on time travel. The Time Brigade is brilliantly inspired by classic novels of the genre: Jesus Video by Andreas Eschbach, La Brèche by Christophe Lambert or La Patrouille du temps by Poul Anderson. The story is also nourished by movies, series, comics that have exploited this theme. All his references are then integrated into a specific universe that constantly plays with these models, creates others and multiplies false tracks. François' writing quality nevertheless keeps the story in a perfect balance between winks to connoisseurs and accessibility for neophytes. 
Between humor and sadness
TheTime Brigade despite its 500 pages is devoured in one go. If the drawing and the scenario are admirable, the tone is also a marvel of measure. In the pure spirit of the series, this manga is funny and often irreverent. One example among many: the young king of a France who did not know the Revolution, a terrifying and funny cross between a YouTuber, Prince Harry and a reality TV star. Our heroes are also incorrigible hotheads, charmers, jokesters spending their time repairing their mistakes. Finally, their adventures lead them to unlikely encounters, especially in the very last scene… But this humor is at the service of a much darker story. First, the resurrection poses real moral problems: what if the chosen one did not want to survive? Then, this second chance leads the two "miraculous" to look back on their past. When did their choices lead them to stumble? What is their share of responsibility for their failure? Similarly, the mission of the time brigade places an enormous responsibility on a handful of individuals: to restore temporal continuity, maintain a status quo, accept not to repair the crimes of the past. And if they were wrong all along the line. This reissue of The Time Brigade is a great opportunity to immerse yourself in the world of the Visitor of the Future and discover characters that will be found in the film. This independent story is for everyone, starting with neophytes. Brilliantly written, wonderfully drawn, it is a favorite of this fall 2022. To discover the richness of Ankama publications, we invite you to discover our article on the manga Radiant.
