Les Innommables

"Les Innommables"
Cover of Aventure en jaune, showing (from left to right): Tony, Alix, Mac and Tim.
Story	Yann le Pennetier
Ink	Didier Conrad
Date	1980–2004

Les Innommables ("The Unnameables") is a Franco-Belgian comic series written by Yann le Pennetier and drawn by Didier Conrad. It began publication in serialized form in 1980 in Spirou magazine and was eventually published in album form by Dargaud.^[1]

The series recounts the adventures of three U.S. Army deserters – Mac, Tony and Tim – in 1949, as they trek across Asia and search for Alix, who is Mac's lover and a Chinese communist spy. Les Innommables is characterized by its black humor as well as frequent displays of nudity and violence – which eventually ended the series' run in Spirou.

The first edition of the album Alix-Noni-Tengu contained two alternative endings. In re-editions, only the second ending was retained. The character of Alix was made the subject of a six-volume spin-off series, Tigresse blanche.^[2]

Les Innommables has been translated into German (Helden ohne Skrupel) and Dutch (De onnoembaren). The album Pas-de-mâchoire was nominated for the 2001 Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for Scenario.

Albums

The initial volumes Aventure en jaune and Shukumeï were published in 1983 by Temps Futurs and in 1987 by Bédéscope, respectively. The entire series was published by Dargaud from 1996 to 2004:

1. Shukumeï, 2002

   Le Cycle du Hong Kong

2. Aventure en jaune, 1996
3. Le Crâne du Père Zé, 1994

   Le Cycle du Lotus Pourpre

4. Ching Soao, 1995
5. Au Lotus Pourpre, 1995
6. Alix-Noni-Tengu, 1996

   Le Cycle de Corée

7. Cloaques, 1997
8. Poupée de bronze, 1998
9. Pas-de-Mâchoire, 2000

   Le Cycle U.S.A.

10. À l'est de Roswell, 2002
11. Au nord de White Sands, 2003
12. Au sud-ouest de Moscou, 2004

A black-and-white magazine supplement, Matricule triple zéro (1996), takes place prior to the events of the albums, and recounts the desertion of the three protagonists.

References