Graphic Novel Review: Raowl Volume 1: Beauty and the Creep by Tebo

Posted on August 17, 2023 at 6:27 am by Gene Ambaum

Raowl Volume 1: Beauty and the Creep by Tebo. Europe Comics, 2019. 72pp. Available in electronic format only in English. https://www.europecomics.com/album/1-beauty-creep/

Raowl is a beast who wants to rescue a princess. Unfortunately he has a weakness; when he sneezes he turns into Herbert, a handsome prince. In beast-mode he’s more than a match for hordes of monsters, soldiers, dragons, sea creatures, and even immortal cannibals. He chops them all up! And entrails fly! (The princesses, in general, are not impressed.)

This is the fun sort of fairtytale-ish story that I’d have loved as a kid, and that I find amusing as an adult. It’s lighthearted, cartoonishly gory, and more than a little weird. (I read it after reading pages by and featuring Tebo in L’Atelier Mastodonte, a series written and created by a number of France’s top cartoonists.) To my knowledge this is the only book of Tebo’s available in English.)