DAVID IN FURY

Four old college friends meet up at an exhibition opening and celebrate their reunion in a bar. They remember the good old days of classes visual arts, dormitories in the university city, football games… But the Memories are not the same for everyone. If at the time, Da Wen is the leader and heartbreaker of the group, this is clearly not the case with Xiao Bao. Protruding ears, Playmobil haircut and bottle-bottom glasses, this great a shy idiot with girls and suffering from an inferiority complex, is the scapegoat of his roommates. To absorb the humiliations, he invents in a dream a strong alter-ego with the head of a rabbit-panda who, with the help of his childhood heroes (Michael Jackson, Zorro, a ninja turtle, or Maradona) revenge for all the insults suffered. But all the frustration and rage Xiao Bao's content will soon take on disproportionate proportions and summon an uncontrollable monster in the shape of Michelangelo's David! In this first 428-page comic strip that took him four years to produce, Newliu takes us into the thoughts and dreams of a tormented teenager who is the victim of bullying. The story mixes memories told by 4 friends and scenes mute ones that are the fruit of the imagination of the main character Xiao Bao. If Newliu initially lays the foundations of his story quietly, the calm leaves gives way to increasingly intense tension leading to an explosive climax worthy of a horror film and an unexpected ending. Inspired by silent cinema, the great black and white classics and the films of Takeshi Kitano, the author mixes genres and styles with surprising creative freedom. It juggles in turn with a realistic line and a drawing which sometimes veers downright cartoonish to create surprising dramatic atmospheres.