Une sœur et deux frères qui ne se sont plus revus depuis un bail partent faire une surprise à leur père et fêter ses 70 ans. Mais il a disparu !

Une bande dessinée sur les relations entre frères et sœurs, les non-dits, les rengaines, l’amour familial souvent maladroit…

Et ce père retrouvé (oui, je divulgache un tout petit peu, là) qui en ajoute une couche.

Et c’est touchant comme la famille ( )

Ellsworth Humelsine is a distinguished retired professor. When his children decide to surprise him to celebrate his eightieth birthday, they are notified of Ellsworth disappearance. Usually, he always returned within 24 hours. But another resident of Big Bear Resthome for the Elderly tells them about their fathers' Orchidea, a “story about stars and life in the universe”.

Virgil has eight children and a maid who can't do the job, Ruby is an unlucky actress and Seymour is an awkward hitch. Both are well established in their adult life, but only in appearance. As they look for their father, they ramble on each other's lives, share problems, relapses and their own self-centeredness. When they find Ellsworth, they notice him younger and get to finally meet Orchidea.

The story is beautiful but not brilliant and I ended up being a bit disappointed since the narrative make me suspect a different ending. Aesthetically it's appealing: the colour palette is dull, revolving around blues, browns and yellows, and there's a great visual description, with composite backdrops.

I do recommend it but, if you haven't read anything by Cosey yet, maybe you should start with Looking for Peter Pan, a comic about Melvin Z. Woodworth, a British writer who comes to seek inspiration for his third novel in the village of Ardolaz, in the Valesian Alps. It's a journey into the past, punctuated by quotes from Peter Pan by James M. Barrie. ( )