| The Chimera Brigade | |
|---|---|
 Chimeric Brigade logo. | |
| Author(s) | Serge Lehman, Fabrice Colin |
| Illustrator(s) | Stéphane Girard |
| Publisher(s) | L'Atalante |
| Genre(s) | Steampunk, Fantastique |
| Original language | French |
The Chimera Brigade is a French comic book series by scriptwriters Serge Lehman and Fabrice Colin, illustrator Gess and colorist Céline Bessonneau. The six-volume series was published by L'Atalante between August 2009 and October 2010.
The story takes place on the eve of the Second World War, in a Europe where superhumans are thriving, having appeared on the battlefields of the First World War, amidst gas and X-rays. Summoned by Doctor Mabuse to the heart of the Austrian Alps, they watch helplessly as his plans for European domination unfold. In France, while the Nyctalope, the new protector of Paris since the death of Marie Curie, abandons international politics, the Joliot-Curie, aware of the German danger, turn to Jean Séverac. This amnesiac man, who had once worked with Marie Curie at the Radium Institute, could be the key to leading the resistance against the takeover of Europe by Doctor Mabuse and his allies, Gog in Italy, the Phalange in Spain and the troubled "Nous Autres" in the East.
By revisiting the rise of Nazism, the series aims to use fantastic allegory to explain the disappearance of superheroes in Europe, and the fact that their very existence was obscured from collective memory in the aftermath of the war. While establishing a causal link between the end of European supermen and the emergence of American superheroes, the authors pay homage to the European anticipation of the interwar period, multiplying literary references to works that have fallen into oblivion.
Awarded the Grand prix de l'Imaginaire in 2011 in the "Comics" category, the series has been extended several times, with a role-playing game adaptation and comic book series set before the events L'Homme truqué, L'Œil de la Nuit) or long after (Masqué, La Brigade chimérique – Ultime Renaissance).