Aquarica - the albums

Before becoming an animated feature film, Aquarica was first adapted into a comic book by Benoît Sokal and François Schuiten.

The script for the comic book version is written by Benoît Sokal and François Schuiten together. The designs and dialogues are by Benoît Sokal. The cover of the first album was made by their four hands ¹⁾.

The album is published in two volumes by Rue de Sèvres ²⁾. The first volume was published in 2017. Due to the death of Benoît Sokal in 2021 the second album was not finished by Sokal. François Schuiten draw the final pages of this album ³⁾. The second volume was published in 2022.

The first volume of Aquarica is titled Roodhaven. The 72-pages album was published on October 11, 2017 by Rue de Sèvres.

USA, 1930, in the idle whaling town of Roodhaven. When a fantastical, gigantic crab washes ashore it causes a stir in the village and the scientific community, drawing young researcher John Greyford to the scene. A young woman named Aquarica has travelled aboard the beast as if from another world… to enlist Greyford to help save her people.

In addition to the standard edition, a deluxe version was published by CANAL BD ⁴⁾. This deluxe edition is limited to 1.200 copies and takes the standard version of Rue de Sèvres and enhanced it with:

• A black canvas backcover
• A different yet unpublished cover
• A numbered bookplate (1.200 copies)
• An 8-pages interview with Benoît Sokal and François Schuiten, with som additional artwork

Cover of Aquarica - Roodhaven

Cover of the deluxe version of Aquarica - Roodhaven

Some pages of Aquarica - Roodhaven.

Upon the release of the first volume of Aquarica, Benoît Sokal and François Schuiten were invited to spend the day at the headquarters of Ouest France, to illustrate the next DOF (Dimanche Ouest France), which appeared on October 8th ⁵⁾.

See also: Ouest France with Benoît Sokal.

Benoît Sokal and François Schuiten gave several interviews after the release of the first volume of Aquarica. In the following video four interviews are captured:

• RTBF – “Les têtes d’affiche : François Schuiten et Benoît Sokal” (17 October 2017).
• Un Amour de BD – “Sokal - Aquarica - T1 - Roodhaven” published by Rue de Sèvres (30 November 2017).
• Ouest-France – “Bande dessinée : Sokal et Schuiten, grands raconteurs d’histoires”, Ouest-France (8 October 2017).
• Sceneario.com – “Un retour sur la genèse d’Aquarica” (24 January 2018).

The title of the second volume is La Baleine Géante. The publication date was announced for October 2020 but was not published due to the illness of Benoît Sokal.

After the death of Benoît Sokal in May 2021, François Schuiten announced in July 2021 that he will finish this album. He had to draw about 15 pages to complete the album. A hard and emotional loaded task. This second volume was released in May 2022.

Greyford, Lieutenant O’Bryan, and Aquarica are now en route to her distant homeland, supposedly on the back of a gigantic whale. This world is outside of any known reality but with a fragile balance. A world that Baltimore and his crew, whose ship was previously ravaged by an enor- mous whale, intend to make disappear forever. A chase has begun between the whaling crew and our three heroes with the survival of an entire people at stake. Will the trio succeed in stopping the blind madness of the crew set on vengeance, who are alone because of their mis- fortunes and their beliefs?

François Schuiten presents his book “Aquarica, T2” co-written with Benoît Sokal. A video realized by the bookshop Mollat during the Festival Etonnants Voyageurs in Saint Malo ⁶⁾.

Some pages of Aquarica - La Baleine Géante

For the release of the second album of Aquarica an exhibition was organized at Galerie Champaka in Paris. Many of the pages of Aquarica by Benoît Sokal were sold.

Gallery Pages: 1 2 3 4 5

• Aquarica
• Aquarica - the movie
• Ouest France with Benoît Sokal
• Vernissage Aquarica at Galerie Champaka