Live Memorium - Paperback

by Miki Makasu (Author), Benoît Bourget (Illustrator)

When digital dreams turn into nightmares . . .

Single and awkward, Tomasu works as an accountant for a company that makes sex dolls. It's not a glamorous life, but it's a living. Manipulated by his crooked boss and ridiculed by his colleagues, he suffers a series of personal setbacks throughout his life in a gigantic, lonely megalopolis. The day his mother dies, his life turns upside down. Shaken by this tragedy and encouraged by his friend, he decides to take the plunge and test Live Memorium, an illegal technology that offers its users the ability to relive their childhood memories and act differently within them. Once inside the machine, Tomasu can see his mother again and change the course of certain events that led to his deep trauma. He asserts himself with more confidence and reconnects with his childhood sweetheart, but in the process, loses touch with reality. It is the beginning of a self-destructive spiral, where the virtual world and the real world become one . . .

A dystopian tale with a cyberpunk flavor, Live Memorium projects us into another dimension. In the tradition of the great seinen sci-fi manga, this captivating story questions our relationship with technology and the solitude and emotional distress of our urbanized society. Halfway between Domû, Akira, and Black Mirror, Miki Makasu tells a unique and dizzying experience illustrated by the elegant graphic talent of Benoît Bourget.

Author Biography

Miki Makasu began his comic career writing short stories for Lanfeust and Spirou magazines. After making his debut, he worked on several one-shot stories with artist Goum before making a slight detour into animation. He co-created the Abracadabra series. He returned to publishing with the cross-media project Obscurcia and an introduction to the Ankama universe, launching his first manga, Double.Me.

Benoît Bourget developed a keen interest in comics at an early age, particularly manga, which he discovered through titles such as Yu-gi-oh, Dragon Ball, and Bleach. He experienced a visual shock through Katsuhiro Otomo's Domû, definitively marking his orientation toward manga. He left school after the ninth grade and spent several years exploring various drawing styles. After earning a scientific baccalaureate, the desire to make comics continued to lure him, despite being out of reach. He studied philosophy for a year, then found work in a hospital setting, enrolling in nursing training before being forced to Reunion Island, where he was able to devote himself to some personal projects while serving as a nursing assistant. In 2017, he self-published his first children's comic and has since continued to make drawing his focus.