Walking the line between history and historical fiction, the series traces the events that followed the death of Joseph Stalin, the supreme leader of the Soviet Union, who died in March 1953 and whose death led to a power struggle for the control of the Central Committee between Lavrentiy Beria and future leader Nikita Khrushchev. Most of the story is focused on the rise and fall of Beria, narrating his struggle to hold on to power. The first volume, "Agonie", won the Historia Prize in September 2011, and the second, "Funérailles", won "le Prix Château de Cheverny de la bande dessinée historique" in the Rendez-vous de l'histoire festival in 2012.