Jour J - French AH Comics collection

15. Sect of Nazareth

Year 33 : Gracied by Poncius Pilatus, Jesus radicalize his adepts in the name of a sole God

Second year of Titus' reign. The praefectus Claudius came back to Rome after ten years. Ten years to hunt the Fishes, the fanatic Jewish sect responsible of Jerusalem's destruction. While all Rome thinks the sect have disappeared and that his mysterious leader, Christos, is dead, Claudius seems to be conviced otherwise, convinced that the Fishes are preparing what they call the apokalupsis.
 
These look really cool.

Interesting that the 1968 is seen as so pivotal and the fear of civil war as an expression of the ultimate worst-case scenario is repeated.

Would love for these to be done in English. If I don't get a cultural reference, there's always Google and it's fun to learn about another culture and it's pain-points and cultural nightmares. Hell, I read Night of Generals recently, and that one was virtually unreadable without grokking the set and setting and the anxieties of the era it was written in.
 
15. Sect of Nazareth

Year 33 : Gracied by Poncius Pilatus, Jesus radicalize his adepts in the name of a sole God

Second year of Titus' reign. The praefectus Claudius came back to Rome after ten years. Ten years to hunt the Fishes, the fanatic Jewish sect responsible of Jerusalem's destruction. While all Rome thinks the sect have disappeared and that his mysterious leader, Christos, is dead, Claudius seems to be conviced otherwise, convinced that the Fishes are preparing what they call the apokalupsis.

The cover art is sick! :cool::cool::cool:
 
"Jour J" (D Day) is a collection of french comics.
Every album does tell a different history (with an exception).

Just a little presentation.
...

5. Who killed the President?

November 22 1973 : America under shock after Dallas Assassination

America knew hard times, and maybe he wasn't the best president for this era of troubles. In the car that stopped because of strikers and political opponants, lies the body of the 35th POTUS : Richard Nixon.

(And yes, his presidency goes as well as you can imagine)

...

The link provided didn't work for me...

But this one does :) http://bdsnews.fr/tag/uchronie/

for specific pic of cover, http://bdsnews.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/jj.jpg
 
I haven't commented on these earlier, but reading the descriptions and seeing all the covers now, this looks like a quality edition of AH comic books. :cool:

I particularly like the ideas concerning an Islamic Columbus, da Vinci tanks deployed on the battlefield, authoritarian post-1930s France and Paris as a Cold War Berlin analogue. Creative ! :D

But you're right that the motif of a French civil war is a bit overdone in several of the backstories, I also find it hard to swallow that the 1968 protests could escalate into a nation-wide civil war and transform Paris to that extent.
 
But you're right that the motif of a French civil war is a bit overdone in several of the backstories, I also find it hard to swallow that the 1968 protests could escalate into a nation-wide civil war and transform Paris to that extent.

Well, there must be some reason to the regular presence of civil war in this collection (it's at least not the same civil war done again and again to death ;) ). I don't know it, though. French SF tends to have more pessimistic tones than American, it's maybe a factor (while not explaining it at all).

For Mai 68 PoD, it's clearly very far fetched : it's quite assumed though and not pretending to be totally plausible, the interest of these books isn't in the TL itself.
 
Are announced

16. Steppe Empire

1242 : after the burning of Rome by Mongols, Christian armies unite themselves to save the West.

(admittedly, this once was announced a while ago, but it's apparently ongoing)

17. White Star

Wednesday 17th April 1912, the Titanic, new flagshup of White Star Line arrive in New York at the end of its first trip without having knewn the slightest incident and with one day of advance on planned schedule.
 
17. White Star

Wednesday 17th April 1912, the Titanic, new flagshup of White Star Line arrive in New York at the end of its first trip without having knewn the slightest incident and with one day of advance on planned schedule.

I hope the story turn out to be a little bit more exciting than what's propose here
 
I hope the story turn out to be a little bit more exciting than what's propose here

Well, I admit there was some speculations about it : what did happened in USA this day, and how an early arrival of Titanic could have changed that.
 
LSCatilina said:
17. White Star

Wednesday 17th April 1912, the Titanic, new flagshup of White Star Line arrive in New York at the end of its first trip without having knewn the slightest incident and with one day of advance on planned schedule.
I wonder how the ship will have avoided the Iceberg and how the Titanic's career would have evolved in the following years. Just hope they don't go giving the ship the Blue Ribbon...

Don't know how much this could affect History though. There is a small part of me that always suspected that the survival of some of the big fortunes who were on the ship could have had an impact on the 1929 crash but I'm not knowledgeable enough on economics to be sure about that. Oh, and there was also President Howard Taft's aide-de-camp, Archie Butt, on the ship but I don't know if that could have any political impact.

What is sure though is that the White Star Line would have had quite the rep for its luxury liners if Titanic hadn't sunk. That's more or less what Ismay was aiming at.
 
16. The White Star
17th April 1912 : the Titanic arrive in New York from Southampton without any trouble at the end of its first trip.

1912, inaugural trip of Titanic. On board, Maxim Waterson, a young gentleman from England going to the United States. Twenty years later, the liner is shipwreck.
With the boat disappear managers of the Nazi Parti, including the already famous Adolf Hitler. In the same time, in America, the Waterson media empire's ascencion continue and influence more and more global politics.

(They're really pushing it for this one)

17. Napoleon Washington
1799 : The adoptive son of the Founding Father of the American nation, go on quest to Eldorado

Carlo Maria Bounaparte, victim of corsican vendettas, decide to leave for Americas. In the New World, he engages himself on the side of american rebels et befriends the most famous of them, Washington. Before dying on battlefield, he makes the father of american nation to became as well one for his son...

18. Operation Charlemagne

1943 : French Forces strikes at the hearth of Perfidious Albion.

1914", France and England are now at war. A small legion of french volunteers decided to join London to fight Laval's fascist regime. They doesn't know yet that a deadly menace is on the city...The french government is working on rocket launching. Would the french resistant networks be able to stop Operation Charlemagne in time?
 
Apparently the next one about the mongols burning down Rome and Christinanity uniting against it

So what exactly happen in the titanic one
 
Apparently the next one about the mongols burning down Rome and Christinanity uniting against it
Actually this one is due since at least one year. I'm not sure it will show up eventually.

So what exactly happen in the titanic one
Didn't read it yet. Apparently something about a media magnate willing to make the world know of his peaceful ways...by force!
 
Didn't read it yet. Apparently something about a media magnate willing to make the world know of his peaceful ways...by force!

Pretty much that: one kind on the fore of the ship notices the iceberg on time and the Titanic swerves away. Said kid grows up to be a media magnate, immensely rich, and using his fortune and influence to ruthlessly impose a world peace movement.

I found it one of the least enjoyable "Jour J". The POD is used to butterfly away a ton of events and I didn't have so much to suspend my disbelief than hanging it by the neck and leaving it to rot.
 
SGallay said:
Pretty much that: one kind on the fore of the ship notices the iceberg on time and the Titanic swerves away. Said kid grows up to be a media magnate, immensely rich, and using his fortune and influence to ruthlessly impose a world peace movement.

I found it one of the least enjoyable "Jour J". The POD is used to butterfly away a ton of events and I didn't have so much to suspend my disbelief than hanging it by the neck and leaving it to rot.
Honestly, the tome sucks from the start. The way the Titanic was saved nearly had me bashing my head against a wall... Our hero observes stars at the bow of the ship using a telescope, his father comes scolding him leading the kid to unwillingly spot the iceberg, his father goes warning the lookouts who use their binoculars (which BTW they didn't had OTL...) and thus the ship is saved because the iceberg is seen minutes earlier. It's a bit too easy from my POV, not to mention that there are some who suspects that even if they had binoculars, the lookouts might not have seen the Iceberg in time anyway.

Besides, the most annoying part for me was that they saved the Titanic only to conveniently have it sink the same way (hits an iceberg, 1500 dead) 20 years later... Just so they could kill Hitler and Einstein (yes, the two are onboard the same ship. In fact, it's a SS that kills Einstein because the Führer refuses to board the same lifeboat as a jew...)

The main character is a jerk that inherits a newspaper from William Thomas Steed (real-life journalist, medium and passenger of the Titanic OTL) as well as his father's company after said father committed suicide during the 1929 crash. And he also owns a big ass skyscraper that is taller than the Empire State Building because his father wanted to own the highest building in New York and waited to see which one would hold the record first... It seems he is pretty corrupt, believes in Eugenism and his so-called World Peace Movement is more or less a Well-thinking Totalitarian Dictatorship...

Really, one of the worst tomes of Jour J from my POV. I know I'm not that big of a fan of the saga (I have a heard time suspending my beliefs and thinking of it as good AH) but that tome really stinks.
 
I Know the Serie and read it

It's a roller coaster ride true Alternate History some good, some bad.
like this good ones:
1. Russians on the Moon!
2. Paris, Soviet sector.
3/4. Red September / Black October
5. Who killed the President?
and the brilliant . 6. Power to imagination?
or 7. Vive l'Empereur! (with Austrian diplomat named Adolf..)
13. Omega or the concept second hundred year war between France and Britain

Other makes no sense what so ever:
8. Paris is still burning
9. Apocalypse on Texas (ABS senario were France and Britain survive intact a nuclear WWIII)
10. The Kennedy Gang (WTF is that about ???)

Or the turbidity
11. Tuileries' Night, french King family escape in Hot air Ballon
12. The Lion of Egypt, eeh Leonardo da Vinci works for Mameluk ?
13. Colomb Pacha, moslem Cristofo Colombo voyage into hart of darkness

other French publisher counter with
Wunderwaffe and World War 2.2 some lame alternate WWII scenarios

bottom line
Jour J is wonderful french Comic eerie about Alternate History
and if you can understand French buy them over amazon or other online seller
 
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I think you put too much focus on ASB-ness of the comics.
Granted, according AH.com's standards, it's the closest thing of "ASB pride" we ever had.

On the other hand, french (and generally european) alternate history is pretty much relaxed about plausibility standards (and giving how well are doing authors pretending to be plausible on this regard, it's for the better, really).

Don't get me wrong : some weren't interesting to begin with. But it's less PoD and AH related than writing and handwaving.

For example :
9. Apocalypse on Texas (ABS senario were france and Britain survive intact a nuclear WWIII)
You're narrowing it a bit. Basically Cuban crisis going nuclear, Cuba and USSR turned into radioactive glass, and USA having lost its main centers and going balkanized. (Presidents Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, and Charlton Heston).
Basically, the Cold War continues, but between France/UK (that doesn't survives intact to the war, would it be only regarding the climate and radioative damages) and China that supports Mexico tentatives to annex back Texas.

Good story material, if a bit "wild goose chase", but the authors manage well (for me at least) to balance between ground operation storytelling and political background : 7/10

10. The Kennedy Gang
Quite enjoyed this one.
It does have a butterfly net, but the Prohibition in New England and Kennedy senior smuggling booze from New Orleans (basically, Britain never get to annex French North America) is an interesting idea.
The "put everyone famous in the TL" is really an obstacle, tough.

Denounciation of a sort-of segregation between French and natives, with a thriller story is good enough for that you don't need to put "famous faces" that only make disbelief suspension.

Overall, I'd give it a 6/10 but admittedly without the art, it would be lower.

Wunderwaffe and World War 2.2 some lame alternate WWII scenarios
I liked the first two WW2.2. actually.
Again, it's defenitly not what you'd call plausible, but a good AH story doesn't have to be so.

The infamousness of Sealion scenarios on this board is less related to its implausibility, IMHO, but to the unability of anyone being able to make a good and original story about it. (SS-GB was quite good)

You have as well Uchronie(s) (even if it's more related to parallel timelines than AH, but again, french AH is more relexed about classifications, as French SF in general)

To resume it, it's about a same character, Zack Kosinski, in three different New York : New Byzantium, New Harlem, New York (apparently ours), New Beijing, New Delhi, each city being a small mini-series related to a macro-series.
 
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