Between 24-Hour Comic Day and Hourly Comics Day, there are some incredible comics out there being produced under some extreme deadline pressure. For an example, you don't have to look any further than yesterday's Hourly Comics offerings, which saw the usual excellence from Nedroid's Anthony Clark and a trip through a day at high school from young Max Huffman. But last week, the French cartoonist Boulet showed pretty much everyone how it it was done with a truly incredible comic called Darkness.

Produced between January 24th and 25th and packed with incredible comedy and a genuinely sweet romance, Darkness isn't just the best 24-hour comic I've ever read, it's probably going to wind up on the short list of the best comics of the year, period.


Okay, so technically, it's not a 24-hour comic. As Boulet admits in his notes on the story, it actually took him all of twenty-six hours to finish. But the thing is, it'd still be amazing if it took him a month -- the fact that he was able to finish this comic in such a short amount time is just what pushes it into the realm of being astounding.

Despite the ominous title, Darkness is neither particularly dark, nor does it have any relation with the Witchblade spin-off about a mystically powered hitman. Instead, the darkness of the title is an alluring quality exhibited by a young man's roommate, Jonas, to a disastrously annoying extreme:


Through the 24 pages of the story, Boulet's expressive cartooning outlines the problems inherent in living with someone who effortlessly exudes a forbidden allure, to the point where everything he does distorts reality to take on a whole new meaning, complete with a dramatic voiceover:


It's pulled off with a seemingly effortless charm that ends up being so good that it's basically the comics equivalent of its title character. It's so frustratingly perfect that it makes other people want to give up on trying to top it. Fortunately, the end of the story is both sweet and encouraging, even inspiring.

Darkness is available to read at Boulet's website, and it's well worth your time. Keep in mind, however, that there's swearing and a bit of (hilarious) nudity involved that might make it not safe for work if your employer's strict about that sort of thing. Honestly, though?

It's probably worth getting fired for.

(via Jess Fink)

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