Comic fans know Europe is a hotbed of comics creation, and a lot of titles never make it to translation into English. Surely Metropolia, by Fred Duval and Star Wars artist Ingo Römling has to have a stronger chance than most?
Launched last year, published simultaneously in French by Dargaud and in German by Splitter Verlag, Metropolia is Duval and Römling’s first project together. Metropolia Volume 1 – Berlin 2099 was followed by Volume Two, Les Bordures extérieures, in March this year.
downthetubes readers will likely recognise Fred Duval as the author of the M.O.R.I.A.R.T.Y. series, the first volume in that saga published in English by Titan back in 2023.
“I’m very proud to be working with him,” Römling said of the Metropolia project last year. “I’m stepping into new ground with him.
“I’ve already drawn sci-fi a bit with the The Universe Chronicles and Star Wars, but with Metropolia, Fred is developing a mix of hard sci-fi, political thriller, dystopia, social criticism and a film-noir detective story.
“The future that awaits us here may not be the one we expect. But isn’t it always like that?”
Berlin, 2099. The German capital has grown to be the largest metropolis in Europe, and millions of people live between centuries-old landmarks and ultra-modern skyscrapers, sharing green streets and the highways of cyberspace with androids and KIs. Most will never leave Berlin, because transport has become a luxury commodity, and man has become a pedestrian again.
In this future, the creation of writer Frédéric Duval and artist Ingo Römling, Sasha is doing well as a private investigator, and his latest investigation is a lucrative one, commissioned by the powerful Metropolia group to hunt down the killer of Max Bruder, a genius engineer with many enemies, who was shot dead at a high-profile auction.
The killer is on the loose – and on a bare foot, because she lost a shoe during the escape. “Cinderella” last lived in a building in Metropolia, and Sasha is supposed to find out if she was part of a criminal organisation, before the police do. But the smart investigator quickly realises that the solution to this case is anything but a fairy tale…
in the second story, The Outskirts, published this year, a massive construction machine belonging to the Metropolia corporation has gone up in flames. Are environmental activists, who are trying to block the construction project, responsible? Sasha is sent by the corporation’s management to investigate the sabotage. Disguised as a welder, he infiltrates the underworld of the city’s outer districts an area populated by labourers and outcasts, but also migrants desperately trying to reach the city. During the investigation, Sasha meets Lucian, a young metapsy addict who opens his eyes to new perspectives. Sasha realises that the matter is more complex than it seems… and, perhaps, reaches back to the roots of his own childhood as an immigrant child.
French science fiction genius Fed Duval, aka Frédéric Duval (Reset) and the exceptional German artist Ingo Römling (Malcolm Max) deliver a vision of Berlin in the near future in their first joint graphic novel project, full of fascinating ideas, carefully narrated and grandly illustrated.
• Metropolia – Tome 1 – Berlin 2099 is available here in French from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link) | ISBN: 978-2205208672
• Metropolia 1 – Berlin 2099 is available here in German from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link) | ISBN: 978-3689500719
• Metropolia – Tome 2 – Les Bordures extérieures is available here in French from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link) | ISBN: 978-2205214024
• Metropolia 2: Die Außenbezirke is available here in German from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link) | ISBN: 978-3689500733
Meet the Creators of Metropolia
Born in 1965 in Rouen, France, Frédéric Duval first studied history. He completed his master’s degree by studying the caricatures of a newspaper during the Dreyfus Affair. He published his first book, 500 fusils, in 1995. The science fiction series, Meteors, illustrated by Philippe Ogaki, followed in 2008, before tackling an old dream with illustrator Zanzim: to adapt Tartuffe as a graphic novel. In 2010, he then published the first volume of the speculative fiction series Nico (Dargaud), alongside Philippe Berthet. In 2016, he wrote the tenth volume of XIII Mystery (Dargaud), under the direction of Jean Van Hamme.
2018 marked the release of the science fiction series, Renaissance (published in French by Dargaud; and in English by Europe Comics), working with Emem and Fred Blanchard. The three volume M.O.R.I.A.R.T.Y. series followed from Delcourt.
His literary adaptation of Nymphéas Noirs, published by Dupuis (and most recently in English as Black Water Lilies by Magnetic Press), illustrated by Didier Cassegrain, was nominated in the 2020 Eisner Awards for Best Digital Comic, with another nomination for Didier Cassegrain for Best Painter/Digital Artist.
In 2023, he signed with Dargaud for two new series: Neoforest with Philippe Scoffoni, and S.Tan, in collaboration with Anthony Mazza Da Silva. With Ingo Römling, he launched Métropolia (Dargaud) last year, also published by Dargaud.
Ingo Römling was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1969. Even before starting school, he learned to read on his father’s lap with the comic book Asterix. When he first saw the magazine Heavy Metal as a teenager, he began to dream of one day being a comic book artist. But it would take a few years before that.
He first worked as an illustrator, graphic designer and art director for various advertising agencies and record companies. Around 2008, he rethought his goals and joined a German team of zombie apocalypse illustrators and authors called “Die Toten” (The Dead). In 2013, in collaboration with author Peter Mennigen, he published the first volume of the successful series Malcolm Max, about a friendly ghost hunter in Victorian London.
In 2014, he joined up with the Star Wars saga as an official Disney illustrator, participating in the comic book adaptation of the TV series Star Wars Rebels and Star Wars Resistance, published by Panini. He also illustrated the comic version of the Han Solo adventure, Smuggler’s Run by Greg Rucka.
In 2018, he met Richard Marazano and, the following year, began illustrating the three volume series Chroniques de l’univers (Chronicles of the Universe, published in French by Dargaud and by Europe Comics in English), completed in 2024.
• Metropolia – Tome 1 – Berlin 2099 is available here in French from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link) | ISBN: 978-2205208672
• Metropolia 1 – Berlin 2099 is available here in German from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link) | ISBN: 978-3689500719
• Metropolia – Tome 2 – Les Bordures extérieures is available here in French from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link) | ISBN: 978-2205214024
• Metropolia 2: Die Außenbezirke is available here in German from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link) | ISBN: 978-3689500733
- About the Author
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
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