The Colony, written and illustrated by Nicolas Debon, is a graphic novel that tells the true story of Fortuné Henry and his attempts to create a utopia in the remote Ardennes Forest at the turn of the 20th century. Set against the backdrop of societal turmoil and anarchist groups seeking to return to nature, the story follows Henry as he attracts a diverse group of people to his colony, L'Essai.

The artwork in The Colony is stunning, with Debon using a range of muted and vibrant colors to capture the beauty and harshness of nature. The illustrations also effectively convey the emotions of the characters, adding depth to their experiences. The use of paneling is skillful, with Debon effectively using different panel shapes and sizes to add dynamism to the storytelling.

The narrative itself is compelling, with Debon effectively conveying the ideals and motivations of Henry and the other characters as they try to create their utopia. The story also touches upon deeper themes such as the dangers of groupthink and the difficulty of truly leaving behind the trappings of modern society. However, the ending feels somewhat abrupt and leaves the reader wanting more resolution.

Overall, The Colony is a beautifully illustrated and thought-provoking graphic novel that tells a unique and fascinating true story. While the ending may leave some readers wanting more, the overall experience is a satisfying one.

A story about a real French colony started in 1903 by libertarians as the future of man. From the beginning you know it's all a matter of time before it heads South as I've never heard of this place. Ideals like anarchy and communism always sound great as an ideal, but in practice inevitably fall apart because people in a group almost always begin to look out for themselves over the whole once things become difficult. It's just human nature.

This only goes into the barest of details at times, just showing people leaving but not explaining why. Maybe because that's been lost over the last 100 years. I can see why this comic was made but there was definitely room to improve the story as well.

t was beautifully illustrated graphic comic. I enjoyed the ebook and thought it was very well done. Graphic comics are not usually my cup of tea but occasionally I will see one that talks to me. This book captured my attention truly from the gorgeous artwork that was depicted in every page. The Colony was based on a true story back in 1903-19I4 and I also appreciated the pictures of the real people that the story was based upon.

This was a very good story that needed to be told about social power and community status and injustice.

I want to thank the publisher "Europe Comics" and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book and any thoughts and opinions expressed are unbiased and mine alone!

It was beautifully illustrated graphic comic. I enjoyed the ebook and thought it was very well done. Graphic comics are not usually my cup of tea but occasionally I will see one that talks to me. This book captured my attention truly from the gorgeous artwork that was depicted in every page. The Colony was based on a true story back in 1903-I4 and I also appreciated the pictures of the real people that the story was based upon. This was a very good story that needed to be told about social power and community status and injustice.

I want to thank the publisher "Europe Comics" and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book and any thoughts and opinions expressed are unbiased and mine alone!

I have given a rating of 4 Captivating 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Stars!!

A little lesson in French history with gorgeous illustrations, The Colony takes us to France at the turn of the 20th century. After his brother is beheaded for perpetrating a terrorist attack, Fortune takes all the money he has and buys a plot of land in the middle of the Ardennes forest with the idea of starting a self-sufficient communist colony. At first nearby villagers are horrified by this wild weirdo living like an animal in the middle of nowhere, but soon, they come to rally behind his cause and the colony starts to grow.
Based on real historical events, it's a great look at a different kind of French revolution.

An affecting and gripping graphic novel. The art is extraordinary, the plot intriguing and the storytelling sound and enjoyable.

5/5 - would definitely recommend

“All that we have done here, we have done of our own free will. We know no gods, no masters. We feel free to live the lives we might have wished for ourselves. This life has afforded us incomparable pleasures, daily satisfactions unknown in the bosom of human society. Our deeds are the fruit not of force but of reason, not for ourselves but for one and all, for our comrades around us and, more generally, for all of humankind.”

The Colony, a graphic novel by Nicolas Debon, tells the story of French anarchist Fortuné Henry who dreams of starting a commune on a plot of land at the edge of the Ardennes forest in 1903. While the local villagers initially are confused by Fortuné’s vision, soon the colony, L’Essai, attracts journalists, artists, as well as others who share his vision to provide and think for themselves.

I love a good non-fiction graphic novel. Sometimes print only non-fiction is difficult for me to read through, but the combination of visuals and text is more appealing. Debon’s sepia-colored art style is unique - I believe the linework is accented with chalk? - and I especially enjoyed the full-page panels that highlighted life in the colony. There is no bias in the writing and the foundation, as well as the dissolution of L’Essai, are presented without opinion.

It is difficult to critique a true story, but I would have loved to know more about the other people that decided to live in L’Essai. The back matter of the book was definitely interesting. I enjoyed seeing the photographs from the colony and reading about it more in-depth.

[CW: violence, abuse]

Thank you to Europe Comics, NetGalley, and Nicolas Debon for the opportunity to read and review this graphic novel.

This book is the portrait of a collective experience, an individual dream that comes true and becomes the reality of several people.
In the story, we follow the story (based on real facts) of the construction of a colony, from a meadow, until it became a village of free men and women.
In the course of history, we will see what challenges will be posed to these people and how they will deal with "the rest of the world".

The graphic image is so beautiful!
"When one man dreams alone, it is but a dream. When many dreams together, it is the beginning of a new reality"

With thanks to Netgalley and Europe comics

The colony is a good if short graphic novel/comic. The art work was rather good too,

An attractive graphic biography of the L'Essai commune, a semi-anarchist community put up in the woods near the French village of Aiglemont before WW1. The instigator of it all gets his dream, as he finds his ideas of living off-grid with no bosses and no unnecessaries the consumerist society would normally impose reaching fruition, but is that going to be enough for him? The telling of it all seemed a little dry to me – it needed a bit of a kick now and again, but the true story clearly didn't have that much drama to it, on this evidence. Needless to say, things didn't work out as idyllically as his companions would have thought, but we know that from copious stories of communist and hippie communes tried on for size since. And a good proportion of the audience for this would still be optimists who would still think this kind of thing has a chance – or that would be the case if they actually allowed themselves the possession of books. I wouldn't object to the buying of this, nor put anyone off – it looks very good, but isn't exactly earth-shattering.

A really enjoyable, short read. I enjoyed this book a lot.

Thank you NetGalley for providing this book for an honest review.

This was one that I started to read while I waiting to be picked up from work one day. I was surprised that I enjoyed this because its not something that I would usually gravitate towards

"When one man dreams alone, it is but a dream. When many dream together, it is the beginning of a new reality".

It's funny how a reading of a book can take on a whole different perspective in the light of the times we are living in, and even act as a metaphor for our own times that might be different from what the author intended. The events that take place in The Colony takes on a whole new meaning and hit home all the harder in the light of present circumstances when - over a hundred years since the time of the events that take place here - the world again very much in a state of uncertainty on a scale that no one in has seen in their lifetime.

The Colony deals with some real people and real-historical series of events in France (although repercussions were felt much wider in Europe) during an extraordinary period of upheaval following the industrial revolution. Increasingly disillusioned with how society was changing at the turn of the 20th century and how the ordinary working man was being exploited, in 1903 Fortuné Henry set out to prove that there is another way of living that doesn't rely on those with authority and money to dictate how one must live, but to determine for himself what is truly important.

But not just for himself. Having purchased a plot of land in a meadow at the edge of the Ardennes, Henry hopes to prove that by fending for himself he will eventually win others over to his way of thinking. It's not just self sufficiency or cutting himself off from a world that he has become increasingly dissatisfied with, but it's a kind of benign belief in anarchy, in the strength of the individual and collective to reconstruct society from scratch the way it ought to be. He creates a small colony of lie-minded, hard-working people, L'Essai, the Communist Colony of Aiglemont.

Whether it's coming through the present global pandemic crisis and its impact on the world economy, or whether it takes the next viral, meteorological or environmental crisis to push us, or whether it's embarking on a new trading arrangement and forging meaningful connections with the world outside, the question of social revolution is seemingly one we all may well have to reconsider in our own times as individuals as well as a nation. It's easy to apply a metaphorical quality to The Colony, but the questions it raises and the challenges that have to be met suddenly feel very real and important. Certainly now more than ever people are beginning to see that society is not built in their favour.

That point is made very clearly in Nicolas Debon's beautifully illustrated graphic novel account of the creation of the colony of L'Essai. In Paris, other dropouts from society hear about the colony, word spreads of a place where people truly know the meaning of the word freedom, a place with no state, no money, no class distinctions; "No god, no master". There's a recognition among these silent revolutionaries that "Those who speak of reducing the general suffering are treated as criminals. Those who strive to maintain it are praised as honest citizens." As well as covering the hardships and difficulties of setting up a colony, Debon's book also takes in the wider anarchist activity in the world, painting - quite literally - an important overview of the period.

And indeed Debon's painted artwork is just beautiful. It captures the period and sensibility of the subject well, using thick blocky brushstrokes, but with a remarkable amount of detail and some just stunning painterly compositions. Faces and characters look a little crude but are actually well defined and capable of showing a wide range of expression that hints at underlying character traits. There's some fascinating historical context and photographs provided in an afterword by the author.

This comic was out of my usual wheel house, which is why I don't think I appreciated it the way it should be. The lush landscapes and vast feeling of the forest is amazing and I especially loved that the colony was a real place. The story itself is a slow burn, because as the reader goes one expects the other shoe to drop. This graphic novel will be perfect for biography lovers and those interested in the history of colonies.

I really enjoyed this graphic novel because of its art style and entrenching plot. I would highly recommend this to fans of graphic novels and odd, interesting stories.

I enjoyed the book a lot!
I would like to thank the publisher for giving me a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When we think of Anarchism in the world of comics (or graphic novels, whichever you prefer), we often turn to Alan Moore’s “V for Vendetta” and tales of attempts to overthrow those in power due to corruption, however, theres actually alot more to the ideals behind anarchism than explosions, aggression and sticking ones finger up at politicians and its this other side that Nicolas Debon tries to teach us as he tells of the true story of Fortune Henry and the colony of L’Essai he founded, for a brief period of time, in the early 1900’s before the world fell into chaos as the Great War fell upon us.

The book opens with a man taking ownership of a plot of land, thought to be inhabitable and unworkable, he begins to transform it. The locals treat him with suspicion, often talking of the devil or wild man in the woods. But before long a small handful of people begin to take an interest in what he is doing and ultimately join him, as the colony grows, the workload also increases, they build settlements, work the land and sell produce at local markets.

However, its not enough for Henry, he strives for change, people believe in what they feel he is trying to do and his ideals of breaking down social constructs, promoting communism (or socialism, though its definetly the former that he says he is trying to bring to fruition, even to the extent of his first born having “no known parents” on his birth certificate as he “belongs to the colony”). He sets up a printing press, first selling flyers to promote the colony and the ideals it was founded upon, though as ever with such things he begins to take ownership, of his responsibility within the colony and also of his partner, acting jealous when she is around other men and resorting to violence when she questions his motives.

As his message spreads, his views become more damaging to the establishment and he is ultimately imprisoned, once free he finds that, without him, L’Essai has fallen apart and the colonists have moved on.

At around 80 pages, this is a short tale, covering the basics, additional information about Fortune Henry is provided at the back of the book, but you’re given a sort of one sided, almost diary like telling of the foundation and falling of L’Essai, albeit told alongside some beautiful art work that looks hand-painted, the earthy tones used give the impression of the book being hand-crafted and fit in perfectly with both the tale being told and the time period it is taken from and Debon does a wonderful job of just allowing the story to work towards its natural end, picking the exact moments to tell, be it the work and turmoil the colonists go through as the seasons and years progress, or the emotional challenges Henry faces. We’re never forced to endure anything particularly long, instead being given a snippet of the tale of L’Essai told in simple panels, though when Debon does give us a full page panel its always a wonderful piece of art work.

That said, this isn’t for every one. I can easily see people wanting some real history feeling like there’s not enough here, likewise, there’s not alot of incident or action to speak of to excite, its not that kind of tale. But if you want to read something that tells a true story that you hadn’t known of, The Colony will fit that brief absolutely perfectly.

Awe inspiring artwork by Debon. The story is about an idealistic group of people who cut ties with the modern world and in live in a colony; the characters are the sort who say stuff like:

"What effect have even the finest speeches? They ease human suffering, but fail to remedy it."

Genuinely enjoyed this comic, would buy for the art alone.

Honestly this was a really boring book and I couldn’t wait until it ended. I loved the art style though, especially the nature images

Trigger warnings:
Violence
Abuse
Riots

I would recommend it to history lovers, graphic novel lovers.

Beautiful, lush art, that really drives home the harshness and the beauty of the landscape. A fascinating (true!) story about a group of idealistic people trying to make a new life entirely their own.

The translation was a little awkward, making it slower to read, but the plot was presented without bias or editorializing. I wish there had been more details about the downfall of L'essai: everyone shifted their priorities to the printing press, and so neglected the practical matters? Who knows - Fortuné goes to prison for 2 years and comes back to a reclaimed, abandoned site.

But when it was good, it was good. I felt genuinely inspired at times, and marveled how they set their mind to a goal and really worked towards it.