nezchan (![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} nezchan) wrote in ![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} scans_daily,@ 2009-09-27 17:39:00 |
 |
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
So someone was asking in another thread for more Euro comics love, and it just happens I have something to share. So without any more hesitation, here's 15 scans out of 47 from Morvan & Munuera's wonderful series, Nävis!
Scans are not mine, but I did the translation. Translated the whole volume, although I doubt I'll end up distributing it to more than a few friends.
NSFW for very young jungle girl running around in a loincloth, but she's not sexualized at all despite the topic of the volume. Also some exo-boobs here and there and a little blood.
Aside from his work on Spirou, Jean-David Morvan turned his writing skills to a series named Sillage, translated by NBM Publishing under the name Wake. The story involves a girl who'd grown up alone, the sole survivor of a shipwreck on a jungle world, who becomes a secret agent in an alien flotilla. It's a fantastic series, and well worth reading. But following their collaboration on Spirou, Morvan teamed up with the artist Jose-Luis Munuera to tell a somewhat different story. This time much more lighthearted, about her childhood.
So in short, Nävis' ship crashed, killing everyone but her. She grew up in an alien jungle with animals as playmates, taught by her robot guardian, Nsob. She befriended a tigror cub named Houyo, who lives with them as a sort of makeshift family. And somehow, along the way, she learned how to speak the animals' language, although Nsob still has a bit of trouble with it.
So our story starts with Nävis trying on a series of new hairstyles, much to the amusement of Houyo.
The two of them tussle like kids always do, until Nsob comes and breaks it up, with the classic words, “ Nävis, stop biting tigrors!" This only stops them for a moment, before they're back to roughhousing again. At dinner that night, Nävis comments that girls are always good, it's boys who are all idiots. Nsob admonishes her not to be sexist, not knowing what he's getting himself into.
The next day, Nävis and Houyo decide to do a little field study, watching a couple of male birds fight over a mate. Needless to day, this doesn't improve her opinion of males much. To underscore her point, she points at a creature sitting alone, saying that only a female could be so graceful.
Houyo comes to the rescue, and a GREAT chase scene ensues that I wish I could post here. Fact is, every single page of this thing is gold, and it was torture taking even a single one out for this post. The things I go through for you people, seriously!
Where was I?
Oh yes, Nävis and Houyo are cornered and, starting death in the face they are interrupted by the fighting birds like before. The creature, which Houyo calls a nhondin, kills them instantly and begins to feast. But midway through it changes back and Nävis senses something isn't right.
Taking pity on the creature, whose name is Girodouss, she brings it back home, introducing her as "sad but super nice, except when she's hungry, then she kills anything that crosses her path". Nsob makes the only rational decision and cooks a feast, just for her. This really struck me, since so many other stories with a similar situation would have the robot discreetly asking her to leave, but here they're all concerned for Girodouss' welfare and trying to think of ways to help. It's refreshing.
In any case, Girodouss explains that when she was little, she was an inquisitive child, seeking to understand everything about the world around her. However, when she was weaned that all changed.
Now I'm not sure here, but I suspect that little group of children is a nod to Franquin's Marsupilami series, which had a family with two normally coloured children, and one little black one. Wouldn't surprise me, since Morvan & Munuera love their nostalgia, even to the point of using "GNAP!" as a frequent sound effect. In any case, it's cute as all get-out!
The big problem is, as much as Girodouss wants to stop her rages, the only way to do that is to mate. But the act of mating itself causes one last rage, ending with the bloody massacre of the male. As sensitive as Girodouss is, she can't bear the thought of only being able to give life by taking the life of the one she cares most about.
So Nävis, as sympathetic as she is adventurous, resolves to find a suitable mate that would survive Girodouss' blood-rage. This proves difficult since she doesn't actually know what a male nhondin looks like. There are some absolutely wonderful pages of Nävis and Houyo trying to track down a male and getting chased by an increasing array of pissed-off wildlife. That alone is worth double the price of the book, but page count, yadda yadda.
So after a great deal of searching, and some interesting scenes of Nsob trying to learn the mating habits of nhondin, the pair finally manage to find what they're looking for. Or so they think.
Hrra's "responsibility" is his rather crude brother Neuss, who's rather insistent that he be the one to do the mating. So since Hrra refuses, they're left with no choice but to take him back. But confidence isn't enough to woo a nhondinn whose intelligence overrides her instinct.
Neuss takes off like his head was on fire and his tail was catching, but it doesn't do him much good.
Ah, but love at first sight triumphs, causing Girodouss to revert to her original form. And...
I swear, to me that kiss rivals the one in the Princess Bride. Aren't they the most adorable couple, though? The kids on the last page are a treat, so many cute little details there. My favourites are the ones kissing, and the one imitating Houyo.
So that's Nävis Volume 2. Hopefully you all liked it. Maybe sometime I'll get ambitious and translate volume 1 and share it with you all, although it might be a while.
To the Mods There's not already tags for Title: Nävis, Char: Nävis, Char: Houyo and Publisher: Delcourt. Should I add those, or is that left up to you? Also, the name has an umlaut, should the tag have that or just be an "a"?