Books : Alexandre Franc & Laurent Alexandre

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In Macula Brocoli, science meets fiction. One of the lead characters, Edmond, refuses access to his genome, preferring to remain ignorant of any illnesses that could be foreseen by delving into his gene pool. His brother Edgar, on the other hand, accepts. But Edmond and Edgar are twins and therefore share the same genome. Whatever information is revealed in his genetic sequencing will bring with it a heavy burden since for each of us our fate is already written : we are, literally, “prisoners of our own genes”.
With an ironic detachment, Alexandre Franc - who brought us Isolés (Ed. Paquet) and Mai ‘68, Histoire d’un printemps (Éditions Berg International) - delivers a graphic novel which demonstrates both his graphic prowess and narrative skill.
In the aesthetic lineage of artists like Chris Ware and Joost Swarte, Franc’s Ligne Claire preserves both distance and humanity while weaving a tale whose disconcerting subject is further magnified by its inexorable logic.
His co-writer, Laurent Alexandre, an acclaimed doctor of medecine, is well known for his visionary ideas on mankind’s genetic destiny. “ The spiralling decrease in the cost of DNA sequencing - from 100 million dollars in 2002 to 50 dollars in 2020 - will revolutionise medical science and have grave etihcal, political, industrial, social and geopolitical consequences.” It may all seem abstract, but it’s quite the contrary: we are entering a genomic age where even immortality may be within man’s reach. Now, we must ask ourselves: how will we deal with this?