BALKANS ARENA Format: Paperback

This original, fast-paced tale catapults us into the seedy underworld of a country whose violent past still echoes into a fractured present. "Prisoners" meets "The Deer Hunter."

Ex-soldier, and widower, Frank Sokol must face the ghosts of the past when he returns to his native Croatia with his Canadian-born 11-year-old son, Ben. But when Ben is kidnapped, Frank will be forced to mend deep-seated familial wounds, and resort to his military training to get him back. Nothing will prepare him for what his search for his boy will uncover.

Philippe Thirault is a French novelist and comics writer who was born in Paris in 1967. In the late 1990s, he published the novel Feathered Serpent, the trilogy Hemoglobin Blues, and his first comic series, the critically acclaimed Miss: Better Living Through Crime. He has since become a very prolific comic book creator, writing series such as Thousand Faces, The Hounds of Hell, Balkans Arena and Mandalay. He often writes stories with a historical or fantastic setting and runs writing workshops in Paris.

Jorge Miguel was born in 1963, in Amadora, Portugal. He started as an illustrator and storyboard writer, but later turned to cartoons and printmaking. Later, watercolor became his favorite technique. At the Platano publisher, he made the comics Camoes and O Fado Ilustrado. At Les Humanoïdes Associés, he began by illustrating the comedy series The Z Word, written by Jerry Frissen. He then illustrted the thriller, Balkans Arena, a one-shot comic with Philippe Thirault. Most recently, he drew the first volume of the concept series Seul Survivant (Sole Survivor) before tackling in 2016 the graphic adaptation of Julia Verlanger's novel La Croix des Décastés with Corbeyran in the screenplay. Jorge currently lives in Portugal.