Zéro absolu

English > Adaptations > Comic strips > Incomplete adaptations > Zéro absolu

Zéro absolu is a series of three science fiction albums, published between 1997 and 2000, followed in 2001 by a comprehensive publication. The French Richard Bec (1969, Rodez) made the drawings, his compatriot Christophe Marazano (1971, Fontenay-aux-Roses) wrote the script.

The story has got nothing to do with The Master and Margarita, actually. It is about a navy command which is sent to the planet Siberia to clean up a scientific basis. They have 24 hours to do it and the mission has got a «code red»: human losses are authorized, but material damage is not. Do not ask me to tell the you how it goes, reader, because I have not had the courage to read it all.

What intrigued me, though, was the fact that scattered scenes from The Master and Margarita are presented in this story, including excerpts from dialogues of Berlioz with Woland, Pilate with Jeshua, and Margarita with Azazello. That's because The Master and Margarita is the favorite book of the commander of the mission, Lieutenant Chet Nowland. He knows the novel by heart, perhaps because The Master and Margarita is the only book he’s ever read. This is not my own conclusion - it has been said by script writer Marazano in an interview.

Marazano further argues that the excerpts from The Master and Margarita were meant as a tribute to Bulgakov, whom he regards as the founder of the science-fiction literature in the Soviet Union.

Don’t worry, dear reader, you don’t have to wade through the whole story by yourself. For your convenience, your webmaster has merged all the excerpts from The Master and Margarita into a single document which you can download using the link below.

Technical details

Album
Zéro absolu - Complete - 2001
Premier acte - Programme Siberia - 1997
Deuxième acte - ASOR3 Psycho - 1998
Troisième acte - Incarnations - 2000

Artists
Richard Bec - drawings
Christophe Marazano - script

Editor
Soleil Productions, Toulon, France



Share this page |