The Ranks of the Black Order
by Enki Bilal, Pierre Christin
Category: Humor

Not unlike contemporary political situations in which terrorism leads to counter-terrorism in a vicious cycle, The Ranks of the Black Order illuminates the tragedy and monstrosity of violent vengeance on a human scale. The novel takes as its starting point the ultimately pointless struggles of left- and right-wing militants in Spain in 1938. Never having forgotten their defeat, a terrorist faction returns to the vilalge of Nieves and massacres its inhabitants as the story opens forty years later. Enraged by the minor coverage given the slaughter, the journalist Jefferson Pritchard regroups his brigade and resolves to wipe out their old foes from the Black Order. As one crusty old group pursues the other across Europe, the distinctions between principles, between left and right, all but vanish into a senseless haze, without victors or vanquished, leaving only victims.