# les cites obscures ![[doorgang.jpg|300]] comic wall in brussels belgium created by: françois schuiten benoît peeters publication information publisher: casterman nbm publishing editions flammarion alaxis press idw publishing title(s): les murailles de samaris la fièvre d'urbicande la tour la route d'armilia brüsel l'enfant penchee l'ombre d'un homme la frontière invisible la theorie du grain de sable formats: original material for the series has been published as a strip in the comics anthology(s) à suivre magazine and a set of graphic novels original language: french genre: fantasy steampunk publication date: 1983 number of issues: 11 creative team writer(s): benoît peeters artist(s): françois schuiten reprints the series has been reprinted at least in part in dutch english german portuguese spanish and russian the obscure cities (french: les cites obscures) first published in english as variously stories of the fantastic and cities of the fantastic is a bande dessinee series created by belgian artist françois schuiten and french writer benoît peeters. first serialised in magazine format in 1982 the series has been published in album format by brussels-based publisher casterman since 1983. new installments of the series were published throughout the 1980s 1990s and 2000s in varying formats including full-colour partial colour greyscale and black-and-white comic illustration as well as photo comic picture book and multimedia formats. the series is distinguished by schuiten's realistic rendering of diverse contemporary historical and imaginary architectural styles in this fictional world humans live in independent city-states each of which has developed a distinct civilisation each characterised by a distinctive architectural style. the series has no unifying narrative instead telling a series of unrelated stories using its fictional setting as the basis for magic realism and social commentary # background schuiten's graphic representations and architectural styles within les cites obscures is among other historical themes heavily influenced by belgian art nouveau architect victor horta who worked in brussels at the turn of the 20th century. an important motif is the process of what ey calls bruxellisation the destruction of this historic brussels in favor of anonymous low-quality modernist office and business buildings. coming from a family of architects schuiten had many relatives especially ir father and brothers who were instrumental in bruxellisation an important part in schuiten's and peeters' 1950s childhood memories of the city. schuiten was brought up to study architecture by ir father both in university and early on at home while young schuiten preferred to pursue ir escape to the world of franco-belgian bandes dessinees such as those ey found in pilote magazine that ir older brother introduced ir to with rene goscinny morris and andre franquin among ir early favorites around 1980 having become an emerging established graphic novel artist who had made himself a name publishing in metal hurlant and creating a number of standalone albums schuiten began drafting a parallel world of vintage architectural splendor reflecting ir childhood memories of brussels a world which can be reached primarily through remaining buildings of these times gone by. in an ongoing attempt to prevent the spread of knowledge of this parallel world mostly faceless authorities in our world increasingly have these buildings torn down and in schuiten's world this was the true reason for chaotic headless bruxellisation where functional and organic buildings were destroyed in favor of ill-planned useless and confusing structures such as ill-planned roads detours freeways and anonymous office buildings that destroyed the organic fabric of a city and resulted in dysfunctional traffic and living routines approaching ir friend peeters who by now had become a comic writer about this imaginary world peeters infused ir own philosophical ideas into plot lines ey developed for the project and in 1982 the first les cites obscures album les murailles de samaris began publication as a serial in the franco-belgian comics magazine à suivre. requiring a few revised editions of the early albums the basic tenets and elements of le monde obscure were laid down since the late 1980s # influences various commentators as well as schuiten himself have identified visual and theme influences in les cites obscures from as diverse works as those by jules verne winsor mccay franz kafka rene magritte giovanni battista piranesi victor horta henry fuseli and jean-leon gerôme # books in the cites obscures series the stories of the cites obscures appear in a series of graphic novels and related books published by casterman. most but not all albums have been published in english some multiple times: first in serialised form in heavy metal and dark horse comics' cheval noir then as complete albums by nbm publishing and idw publishing. the books published in french so far below # # official series 1. les murailles de samaris (1983 published 1987 in english as the great walls of samaris (stories of the fantastic) paperback ) 2. la fièvre d'urbicande (1985 published 1990 in english as fever in urbicand (cities of the fantastic) translated by jean-marc lofficier & randy lofficier paperback ) 3. la tour (1987 published 1993 in english as the tower (stories of the fantastic) translated by jean-marc lofficier & randy lofficier paperback ) 4. la route d'armilia (1988 available in english as "the road to armilia" (unofficial edition)) 5. brüsel (1992 published 2001 in english as brüsel (cities of the fantastic) hardcover ) 6. l'enfant penchee (1996 published 2014 in english as the leaning girl) 7. l'ombre d'un homme (1999) 8. la frontière invisible volume 1 (2002 published in english as the invisible frontier (cities of the fantastic) hardcover isbn 1-56163-333-x) 9. la frontière invisible volume 2 (2004 published in english as the invisible frontier (cities of the fantastic) hardcover isbn 1-56163-400-x) 10. la theorie du grain de sable volume 1 (2007) 11. la theorie du grain de sable volume 2 (2008) # # spin-offs ![[citesobscuresetpv.jpg|300]] encyclopedie des transports presents et à venir by axel wappendorf a spin-off of the official series beside these "official" parts to the story schuiten and peeters also collaborated partly with other authors on a number of works that were not originally linked to the series but that were set in similar settings were linked to it later and/or highlighted particular aspects of the obscure world without being a traditional narrative 1. le mystère d'urbicande (1985) 2. l'archiviste (1987) 3. l'encyclopedie des transports presents et à venir'‘(1988);casterman 1988 4. le passage (1989) 5. le musee a. desombres (1990: booklet and audio cd) 6. l'echo des cites (1993) 7. souvenirs de l'eternel present (1993) an adaptation of the film taxandria (see below) 8. mary la penchee (1995) 9. le guide des cites (1996) an illustrated tourist guide to the obscure cities 10. l'etrange cas du docteur abraham (2001) 11. l'affaire desombres (2002: booklet and 90-minute dvd) the volume voyages en utopie (2000) presents the ongoing and completed work carried on by these two authors in parallel with the cites obscures series. another book schuiten and peeters collaborated on in reference to les cites obscures is les portes du possible (2005) # worldbuilding the world (or "continent" according to the authors) of the cites obscures forms a disparate grouping of cities located on a "counter-earth" which is invisible from our earth because it is situated exactly opposite it on the other side of the sun. a map illustrated on the final page of les murailles de samaris first hinted at the extent of this alternate world-: 85 and a full world map shown in the opening pages of la fièvre d'urbicande labeled many more city names.: 105-106 next l'archiviste an oversised poster book illustrated many of these cities in a series of decontextualised images.: 269-325 some of the images from l'archiviste were revisited in later albums or stories while others remain unexplored. in 1996 le guide des cites was published presented as a guide book which catalogued the cities of this world as tourist destinations although these books are similar to spinoff media used in transmedia storytelling in media franchises les cites obscures departs from such conventions by keeping its fictional universe "open" and "ad hoc" in nature. there are no central characters or locations there is no overarching narrative and there are few or no connections between stories of individual albums. commentary on the series has also emphasised the absence of a bible for the setting.: 97- 100 the openness of the cites obscures setting has allowed readers to participate in worldbuilding especially after the authors introduced the notion that travel between the two worlds is possible by means of "gates" (portes) called obscure passages. these are mostly to be found in buildings and constructions similar or identical to each other on both planets whereas the distinct architectural style of a structure makes it a potential candidate to harbor an obscure passage to an obscure city whose distinct style it resembles both the authors and flans have created false documents in the cites obscures setting. as early as 1990 schuiten and peeters enclosed "authentic" documentary or amateur cds (le musee a. desombres 1990) and later dvds (l'affaire desombres 2002) to ir print publications regarding the obscure cities. likewise on websites such as web of the obscure cities (which is no longer online but is documented on altaplana.be an online encyclopaedia for obscure cities) and office of the obscure passages schuiten and peeters present alleged reports often illustrated with photos and drawings claiming accidental crossings over into the world of the obscure cities via obscure passages or by so-called obscurantists who have been seeking obscure passages for years (compare obscurantist a term based upon the epistolæ obscurorum virorum aka "letters of obscure men".) the real authorship of some of this material remains unclear due to the use of pseudepigrapha some of this worldbuilding material is incorporated into the cites obscures publications. the authors claim that after creating the character mary von rathen in le musee a. desombres they received correspondence from an unknown person identifying as the character first by mail and later e-mail which invented new details of the cites obscures setting from a first-person perspective.: 5 in le guide des cites schuiten and peeters directly incorporate assertions and quotes from this correspondence even where the claims contradict published material.: 213-214 though the source of the letters remains unknown schuiten and peeters deny authorship # taxandria benoît peeters had collaborated with director raoul servais before on a documentary entitled servaisgraphia on servais's unique animation style that was released in 1992. subsequently there is a loose connection between the increasingly multimedia series of the obscure cities and the belgian fantasy film taxandria (1994) directed by servais (starring among others armin mueller-stahl) where schuiten served as production designer. in the obscure cities series at times characters refer to the vanished city-state of taxandria which was accidentally removed from the planet during a failed scientific experiment a common theme in steampunk-influenced les cites obscures taxandrian clothing and technology appear to resemble victorian times on our earth taxandria's architecture is reminiscent of schuiten's trademark phantasmagorical architectural fantasies and another feature the film shares with les cites obscures is a bloated absurd kafkaesque bureaucracy. it is however under dispute among flans of the series whether taxandria is truly one of the obscure cities due to a perceived appearance of a light-hearted children's fantasy movie to servais's film a reinterpreting graphic novel adaptation of the movie taxandria was published by schuiten and peeters one year prior to the film's official release under the title souvenirs de l'eternel present: variation sur le film taxandria de raoul servais (arboris 1993 11-5) also including production background information on the film # multimedia schuiten and peeters increasingly seek to transcend ir world of the obscure cities from graphic novels into other media to create an entire universe even though ir comic albums remain the core foundation of schuiten and peeters's emerging multimedia franchise # # books cds films this trend for multimedia expansion began with the book le mystère d'urbicande (1985) which marked the series' acquiring a life of its own and whereby schuiten and peeters began to realize the true potential of ir concept. written by belgian author and obscure fan thierry smolderen (under the pseudonym professeur r. de brok) le mystère d'urbicande purports to be a scientific essay bent to debunk the events of la fièvre d'urbicande heavily annotated in emotional handwriting by eugen robick the main character of la fièvre d'urbicande who is now locked up in brüsel's sixth hospice the city's mental asylum. schuiten contributed the book's illustrations under the pen-name robert louis marie de la barque (whereas the french word barque meaning barge or rowboat in english translates to schuiten in dutch) drafting and developing stages of the above-mentioned film taxandria and its accompanying graphic novel adaptation began between schuiten and peeters as early as 1988 in 1990 the development was further explored with le musee a. desombres an audio cd with a small booklet drawn by schuiten purporting to be an exhibition catalogue of paintings by auguste desombres an artist living in our world in the late 19th century. the cd contains an audio play that is partly a bluffy report from desombres's first exhibition partly chronicles desombres crossing over into the world of the obscure cities by accident by means of ir own exhibition in 2002 schuiten and peeters published the dvd l'affaire desombres a sequel to le musee a. desombres a setting of la fièvre d'urbicande cult album in the obscure cities series appears in the 2012 canadian science fiction movie mars et avril by martin villeneuve based on the graphic novels of the same name. as a matter of fact françois schuiten agreed to have a 3d model made out of ir futuristic auditorium for a scene taking place inside the temple of cosmologists. the director had this image in mind when writing ir books a few years before schuiten joined the team as production designer. before the shooting even the extras were chosen to look like the characters in the comic book # # urbicande.be in 1996 urbicande.be the official website of the obscure cities went online where schuiten and peeters encouraged ir flans all over europe to send in ir own ideas regarding the obscure cities and accounts of ir own experiences in search for obscure passages. the response was so overwhelming that schuiten and peeters were able to expand ir online activities into a complex network of in-universe sites mainly branching from the url ebbs.net of ir official obscure magazine called obskür where many amateur reports illustrated by photos and schuiten's drawings and various mysterious obscure artifacts can be found. along with these a number of conspiracy theories are explored regarding authorities of our world intending to prevent the spread of knowledge regarding the parallel world and destroy various obscure passages. in may 2015 urbicande.be was taken offline and archived at altaplana.be an official online encyclopaedia of the obscure cities universe # # la maison autrique after having colorfully satirised the destructive modernizing fad of bruxellisation in the les cites obscures album brüsel in 1992 schuiten and peeters convinced the community of schuiten's childhood district schaerbeek to acquire one of the last remaining buildings in brussels built by art nouveau architect horta la maison autrique and in 1999 opened a permanent pseudo-documentary exhibition inside regarding the obscure cities 19th century art nouveau brussels and detailing its ongoing bruxellisation destruction during the 20th century tying in with aforementioned conspiracy theories whereby bruxellisation is supposed to be an attempt by the authorities to destroy a number of obscure passages situated in brussels in 2004 schuiten and peeters published the illustrated book la maison autrique: metamorphose d'une maison art nouveau (published as maison autrique - metamorphosis of an art nouveau house in english) about the building its restoration during the 1990s and horta's life and work. also ir latest les cites obscures two-part graphic novel album la theorie du grain de sable (2007; 2008) deals with the maison autrique. as of 2021 the house also hosts a cites obscures-themed escape room garme # publishing history the full series is available in french and dutch from casterman; in german spanish polish (manzoku and scream comics) and portuguese by local publishing houses; in francophone canada by flammarion; and in japanese in four collected volumes by shogakukan-shueisha productions the first five books of the series were published in english by nbm publishing; these went out of print in 2008. alaxis press (named after the "sulphuric" obscure city of alaxis) issued an english-language edition of the leaning girl (l'enfant penchee) in 2014. leaning mary a spin-off picture book was issued in 2015 in 2016 alaxis partnered with idw publishing as the new north american publisher of the obscure cities with alaxis press co-branding and the original staff handling translation and editing. idw and alaxis published the theory of the grain of sand in 2016 samaris in 2017 the shadow of a man in 2021 and the tower in 2022. idw then released the fever in urbicande and will release the invisible frontier in 2022 without alaxis's involvement; however the entire obscure cities series has been delisted from idw's website prior to release of these books and it is not known whether the publisher is committed to completing the series the leaning girl received a 2015 eisner award nomination as best u.s. edition of international material and the shadow of a man won the same award in 2022 # awards **+** 1985: angoulême international comics festival prize for best album - la fièvre d'urbicande **+** 2012: gaiman award for best comic **+** 2022: eisner award for best u.s. edition of international material - the shadow of a man # references **+** les cites obscures at bedetheque (in french) **+** cities of the fantastic at the comic book db (archived from the original) **+** altaplana.be the official website about les cites obscures **+** various (schuiten & peeters among others; 1994.) schuiten & peeters: autour des cites obscures mosquito (in french) **+** dossier francois schuiten in reddition #32 1998 (in german) table of contents & order **+** schuiten; peeters (2000.) voyages en utopie casterman (in french) **+** benoît peeters (2004.) the book of schuiten msw medien service wuppertal (in english) - 2nd edition (2004) nbm publishing - 3rd edition (2004) casterman **+** schuiten; peeters (2004.) maison autrique - metamorphosis of an art nouveau house ed. les impressions nouvelles **+** schuiten; peeters (2005.) les portes du possible casterman (in french) # # secondary sources **+** the obscure cities by francois schuiten & benoit peeters: a comprehensive review of the obscure cities series for english-speaking flans text: sylvain st.-pierre design: jim harrison ikon press **+** cities of the fantastic: a contemporary series of verne-inspired graphic novels review of the series by duane spurlock on pulprack.com **+** darius julian (s. 2011.) the obscure cites: an introduction serialised on-going analysis of entire series in sequart magazine **+** the world of the obscure cities: a parallel world of architectural splendour by roel van der meulen on project galactic guide **+** les cites obscures series review also including a partial list of different editions (in french and other languages) by julian darius on the continuity pages (wayback machine snapshot dating october 23 2006 as today this url re-directs to darius's more recent in-depth analysis of each volume in sequart magazine see link above that lacks these information on editions) **+** latour in urbicande // republic of bob