2016-02-07

Les Cités obscures (literally The Obscure Cities, but initially published in English as Cities of the Fantastic) is a graphic novel series set on a Counter-Earth, started by the Belgian comics artist François Schuiten and his friend, writer Benoît Peeters in the early 1980s. In this fictional world, humans live in independent city-states, each of which has developed a distinct civilization, each characterized by a distinctive architectural style.

The world (or "continent", according to the authors) of the Cités obscures forms a disparate grouping of cities located on a "counter-Earth", which is invisible from our Earth because it is situated exactly opposite it on the other side of the Sun. Still, travel between the two worlds is possible by means of "gates" (portes) called Obscure Passages, which are mostly to be found in buildings and constructions similar or identical to each other on both planets, whereas the distinct architectural style of a structure makes it a potential candidate to harbor an Obscure Passage to an Obscure City whose distinct style it resembles. It is not uncommon for some Earthlings and inhabitants of the Cités obscures to actually come across each other (among the most notable of these travelers may be noted Jules Verne, a recurring personage in the series). On websites such as Web of the Obscure Cities (which is no longer online but is documented on AltaPlana.be, an online encyclopaedia for Obscure Cities) and Office of the Obscure Passages, Schuiten and Peeters present alleged reports, often illustrated with photos and drawings, from people that shortly crossed over into the world of the Obscure Cities via Obscure Passages by accident, and by so-called Obscurantists who have been seeking for Obscure Passages for years (compare Obscurantist, a term based upon the Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum, aka "Letters of Obscure Men"). These reports on the internet correspond to the pseudorealism of Schuiten and Peeters when enclosing "authentic" documentary or amateur CDs (Le Musée A. Desombres, 1990) or DVDs (L'affaire Desombres, 2002) to their print publications regarding the Obscure Cities.



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