Comics / European Comics

Le vieux Ferrand: Le Dernier des fils Vol. 1

By Hervé St-Louis
May 27, 2009 - 23:02

Le Vieux Ferrand (Old Ferrand) is the story of a patriarch in a remote French village that terrorizes his family. Although he has three adult sons with their own children, he still beats them frequently.  Myriam Lopez a beautiful urban woman from Paris and her daughter move to the old bled because her husband, an oil rig worker wanted to isolate his wife from competing males with whom she could have affairs with. Sure enough all the males in the Ferrand family take a great interest in the new woman in town, although they all creep her. But an accident kills one of the sons. Who did it?

The cover with the repugnant old man made me think twice before I started reading this book. The way he is depicted in the cover is exactly the way he is inside the book. He’s a dirty old man full of perversion and violence for his wife and sons. One often hears stories about creeps, like Austrian one who locked his daughter in a basement for years and gave her many children. Ferrand is that kind of creep. This story is very interesting because it’s a thriller set in the countryside.  Although countryside folks are supposed to have a slower way of life, their wrongdoings can be a devastating and evil as anyone else.



This story smells of truth. It may have already happened somewhere and this is what is the creepiest. There are old men like that that terrorize their families and lust over innocent women. With a few comments, a few acts, Gibelin manage to make readers understand what evil they are dealing with. The story, unfortunately, ends rather abruptly and the reader already invested in the rest of the story will have to pick up the next volume to figure out where it is heading. At this point, it’s anyone’s guess.

Aris is a good illustrator. He captures the mood of the story and excels at rendering a rural setting. Each of his characters looks different. His style is a bit realistic, but their faces offer caricatures that explains their personality clearly. This series was released in 2000, but it’s worth revisiting. It has not been translated in English.

Rating: 9.5 / 10

Last Updated: November 29, 2025 - 16:51