The era before World War II was known as the Belle Epoque, the Beautiful Age, in France, but that was for the rich. For the poor and the working class, it was a time of harsh conditions and few opportunities, and numerous anarchist groups sprung up amid the disenfranchised. Among them was the Bonnot Gang, ideological criminals whose anarchist principles led them to go on a crime spree in France in 1911-12, robbing banks and stealing from the rich (they were the first bank robbers ever to use a getaway car). The Illegalists is their story.

Or rather, it will be their story if the graphic novel is completed. Right now, writer Stefan Vogel is running a Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds to finish it. The artist is Attila Futaki, whose credits include the Image Comics series Severed (written by Scott Snyder and Scott Tuft) and the second Percy Jackson graphic novel.

Vogel's story follows Jules Bonnot, the best known member of the Bonnot gang, a skilled auto mechanic who, at least in this telling, is led into crime by a series of misfortunes, not the least of which was to be a member of the working class in France in 1911.

What follows is a preview of the book, including a number of pages that are exclusive to Robot 6, as well as Vogel's commentary on both the story and the art.



"The opening page is based on photos of actual events from the spectacular shootout where 500 armed police officers, soldiers, fire-fighters, military engineers and private gun-owners surrounded Jules Bonnot. Attila’s life-like artwork is jaw-droppingly beautiful and his realistic style perfectly matches the real-life subject matter of The Illegalists."





"Jules Bonnot, our lead character, is an underpaid and overworked mechanic, working on motorcars for the rich and famous. He lives in a dirt poor apartment with his wife and child on the verge of being destitute. Greg Guilhaumond’s gritty undertones of color really capture the underlying moods, his lighting and shadows are brilliant and his colors spill emotion into the panels like somber blues or violent reds."







"After a co-worker is injured at the factory and cast aside, Jules is provoked by an anarchist co-worker into attending a clandestine meeting. They wind their way through the seedy alleyways and subterranean pathways of Paris to a secret giant hall where anarchists regularly meet. The hall is fraught with political argument led by a fiery Russian Anarchist. Todd Klein’s lettering is an art in itself; we are so fortunate to be working with him. He conveys the words with perfect concision, never obstructing any artwork but more so, flowing with it. His SFX are EFFIN COOL to BOOT!"





"The police chief, Xavier Guichard, and his men raid the meeting, cracking heads and taking names. In this melee Jules and the Chief violently come face to face. Laura Pierce, my co-writer, adapted the screenplay (this started out as film) to comic script — paneling out all those crucial sequences. Her understanding of structure and storytelling has been paramount in bringing this graphic novel to life.

"One of my favorite panels is Jules striking the police officer, enabling his co-worker to escape, the motion captured in the punch, the expression on the cop’s face, his hat moving one way, the stream of blood the other, Jules’ gritting his teeth—they all come together beautifully to capture this heated moment of résistance!"









"Jules is badly beaten, shackled and boxed into a jail cart with a rogue’s gallery of anarchists (a number of whom will become his accomplices later in his life).

"In a dingy cell with no one but faceless voices echoing in the darkness, Jules sinks deeper and deeper into despair. His wife visits to tell him their son is sick, but she has no means to pay for medicine.

"When a hungry, weakened Jules finally returns home, his wife, packed and ready to leave, attacks him in a violent outburst of helplessness, revealing their son has died. Jules descends into a world of pain. He is now the most dangerous type of man; one with nothing to lose. His transformation begins into France’s most fearless, clever and notorious criminal."







"Judith is from an impoverished background; she used to sell herself for money. After Jules, in a twist of fate, kills her pimp, their love affair begins and she joins his daring criminal escapades. In this sequence two street thieves try their luck on Jules and Judith."

https://d2pq0u4uni88oo.cloudfront.net/projects/397167/video-505559-h264_high.mp4