Review by Frank Plowright

Paris in the not too distant future is plagued by what are referred to as anomalies, self-assembling and evolving robot AI creatures somehow primed to attack humans. Additionally, a giant hologram of Fantoma in top hat and mask is projected looming above the city. His serial killing spree of the 1920s was infamous.

While the anomalies haven’t been stopped, progress has been made in locating the vanished Fantoma’s hideout, although someone found it decades ago and occupied it until the 1940s. Throughout Masked: Anomalies, army vet Frank Braffort discovered a world he never knew about before a final scene of him being transformed into a super being.

Under Serge Lehman and Stéphane Créty, Masked is a French take on the superhero concept. For all the greater density of the background, there are similarities to the American approach, not least slimy politicians and a super villain turning up almost immediately after a superhero. He’s the Rocket of the title, already introduced as another former vet, known to Braffort and unpleasantly crude. It’s the differences, though, that engage. Fantoma is a nod to legendary French pulp hero Fantomas, and both he and the superhero Braffort now is are part of something much bigger. An extremely effective scene is Braffort cottoning on to that.

Créty’s art greatly impressed in Anomalies, but there were places where enthusiasm and work ethic compensated for shaky figures even within his pared down way of drawing people. There’s less evidence of that here, and even greater dynamism, showing an artist who’s going to become better and better.

Sadly, that’s something readers in English are unlikely to see. Despite the nice hardcover album packaging by Titan presenting the art at A4 size, sales obviously didn’t match expectation, and Masked cuts off at the midway point. You’ll have to work with another language to read the concluding two volumes. What there is, though supplies more or less a complete origin, entertains and features an artist worth looking at, so dive in.