Review: Torrent

Torrent is the new release from Lagon Revue, a comic book review run by a team of four editors, Alexis Beauclair, Séverine Bascouert, Sammy Stein & Jean-philippe Bretin. Torrent is a treat for anyone with a pair of eyes, and a thrill for those who have grown weary of the 20s phenomenon that uses slick graphic design to inflate vapid concepts. We live in an age of design fatigue; everyone is a graphic designer – mirrored fonts, razor sharp tribal chakrams which double as IG filters, mineral based letterings, hoodies… While Lagon Revue operates in that world, their curatorial work breathes life back into it, serving up the latest crop of illustrators, designers, and graphic novelists. The eight different letterings for Torrent’s dust jacket is a testament to Lagon’s spirited curiosity in design. For all it’s aesthetic, Torrent does not fall flat; reading the book elicits an emotional reaction- it’s sad, scary, sweet, funny. 

Torrent itself is a celebration of the elements – stone, water, wood; Jul Quanouai’s textured log jubilantly propels through a waterfall. This act of appreciating nature feels as though it’s happening through a glowing desktop computer in a dim, litter-strewn basement. The book is as natural as it is industrial, cold and bleak. “Just follow your programming, that’s all you have to do,” Leomi Sadler’s robot remarks to another. Polarity persists through-out the 304 pages of Torrent, flipping from ancient mediums of etchings, oil paint, to futuristic graphic designs of the day. In this way Torrent is a catalogue of textures – Jonathan Castro and Delphine Lejeune’s pixelated landscapes, Marijpol’s 3D enhanced figures, Mira Carleen’s pencil crayon transformation comic. Torrent makes the case for graphic design and presents an exciting group of artists – some familiar Margot Ferrick, Paul Descamps, Acacio Ortas, Lala Albert, and many uncharted. -Claire Milbrath

Pre-orders for Torrent are now closed, but the book will be released in May online and select bookshops around the world. The final version comes with a translation booklet with English and French. Below we look at some of our favourite spreads.

Mira Carleen, Flore Chemin Martin Carolo

Marijpol

Leomi Sadler

Hélène Jeudy & Antoine-Caecke

Kevin Bray

Antoine Marchalot

Jonathan Castro & Delphine Lejeune

Jul Quanouai & Jose Quintanar